Book of the Week: I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced by Nujood Ali

I can’t even begin to describe how I feel about this book. It was a sad, shocking, disturbing, and inspiring story. I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced is an autobiography about Nujood Ali a young yemeni girl from the village of Khardji who was married off to a man 3 times her age by her father. He saw it as a chance to make some money and have one less mouth to feed. I’ve always known that there are certain cultures and countries that believe in a arranged marriage but I never realized that children were being sold/married off. I never agreed with arranged marriage because it’s most of the time it’s something that’s forced upon you and you have no choice in the matter. But who am I to judge someones beliefs. In this book Nujood tells her story of abuse at her husbands hands and of her daring and risky escape. Nudged obtained her freedom with the help of local advocates and the press; which is an extraordinary thing to have achieved in Yemen where almost half of all girls are married under the legal age. She successfully got the law changed to make 17 the legal age for marriage. But that didn’t last long. The muslim religious authorities got the law repealed as they say that it is up to the parents to decide when to marry off their daughter.

Tribal Proverb states “To guarantee a happy marriage, marry a nine year old girl.” When I read that I closed the book because I couldn’t understand why this is something any one could believe in. I know that this is culturally and sometimes religious. But these are children that are being stripped of their childhood and dignity for money.

This book also really put things into perspective because women are constantly complaining or begging to get married and they don’t realize how lucky they are to have a choice. In America there are laws in place that won’t allow you to marry a minor. I think we take for granted our freedoms and are desperate for the wrong things. I reccomend this book to everyone. Even though there are points where you can tell the co author takes over her story. It’s still very powerful and moving.