Book Review: Girls of Riyadh

The Girls of Riyadh by Rajaa Al-Sanea was recommended to me by the same friend who suggested Room. Jennifer S. you have good taste in books!!!The Girls of Riyadh is told in emails sent to a listserve of people in Saudi Arabia by an unknown woman describing the lives of her four best friends. These emails are seen as incredibly outrageous as it portrays what Al-Sanea as an author, and then  unnamed narrator would consider a more realistic impression of what life is like for "some" Muslim women in the Middle East-specifically Saudi Arabia. The Girls of Riyadh was definitely intriguing (I think I use this word a lot when describing books!!). It's hard not to judge the lives and choices these women make without comparing them to the Western world and I don't think that's fair, religion, culture, and society are different, which doesn't necessarily mean better or worse, just different!
The Girls of Riyadh is kind of like Sex and the City meets the Muslim world (I think my friend might have described it that way to be honest), and definitely had me thinking about friendships, relationships, men, love, and relationships!