In the Land of Invisible Women - Qanta A. Ahmed

I'm back in South Carolina visiting my parents, so I'm back to reading random books off my mom's bookshelf (such as American Dirt and The Office of Historical Corrections). This time around, I decided to dive into something very different from sci-fi and fantasy. In the Land of Inivisible Women is Dr. Qanta A. Ahmed's autobiographical account of her time in Saudi Arabia in the early 2000s. What an incredible, intense, brutal book to read!

TL;DR: I recommend giving it a skim if you find a random copy lying around.

Ahmed's story relays her life during two years as a visiting doctor in Saudi Arabia. Each chapter focuses on either a medical issue (e.g., people dying in horrible car accidents) or a religious experience (e.g., shopping for an abbayah). The author is simultaneously fascinated and frustrated; she launches herself into a foreign culture, where her extensive medical experience and her personal relationship to Islam are thrown into a new, often severely oppressive light.

I should quickly mention that this book is unnecessarily long and verbose (as the Goodreads reviewers are quick to say). The author relates far too many details and over-explains every single interaction. However, if one can forgive the heavy-handedness of a first-time author, I think the book stands up well as a window into the fascinating and often infuriating puzzle of life in Saudi Arabia.

My favorite part of this book was Ahmed's hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca. Through this experience, the author deepens her connection to Saudi Arabia, Islam, and her fellow Muslim women. Befitting of a pilgrimage, the experience is laced with serendipitous and surreal encounters that put her face-to-face with the realities of Saudi society. For example, Ahmed gets to stay in an air-conditioned, maid-staffed tent, but, just outside the tent encampment, she sees pilgrims bundled in rags sleeping wherever they find cool ground.

I also appreciated how Ahmed candidly presents the hyper-masculinity and severe social repression present in Saudi society. For example, during the author's abbayah shopping escapade, she sees how malls are segregated to keep unmarried men out; she also finds a feeling of safety in being fully veiled, especially after she and her female friends are followed by a car full of catcalling men later in the book. Indeed, nearly every anecdote shows how Saudi society is built around extremely strict gender roles and familial duties -- even dating is illegal.

While reading, I found myself bouncing between feeling overwhelmed by the oppressive society and motivated by a sense that these stories are critical to read. Every time Ahmed was yelled at to cover her hair, or ignored in the hospital because of her gender, or made to feel left out due to her foreignness, I felt indignation paired with new understanding. The author's message is that Saudi Arabia is a country of dramatic contradictions. Sons go to great lengths to make sure their mothers stay veiled during life-saving treatment at the hospital, men greet each other with tender kisses in a country where homosexuality is a crime, and emergency room doctors drive at breakneck speeds without wearing seatbelts. Given the culture shock due to being raised in England and living in the U.S.A., all Ahmed can do is write what she sees.

Overall, I would recommend skimming this book in fits and starts over several months if a copy falls into your hands. Take time to chew on the amazing and uncomfortable world that Ahmed describes, and make sure to read about the progress that has been made for women's rights in Saudi Arabia since this book's publication.