“Infidel” Ayaan Hirsi Ali

I got this book from audible.com sometime in the past year. I have a backlog of recorded books lately because when I trained for the half marathon and the triathlon this year I did it with others, so I didn’t get as much listening in. I’m trying to make up for that by walking to work and back, but I’m struggling. Too many excuses to drive the car instead of walking, but I managed to finish “Infidel.”

This memoir is read by the author, which is my preference. I don’t think it would have been right to have someone with a Midwestern accent tell the story of this Somali woman who grew up in Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and Kenya, and then settled as an adult in Holland. There is much controversy around Hirsi Ali’s conservative and critical view of Islam, and I probably should have engaged with that part of the book more, but it was her developing years and questioning of her religion that I connected with most. The voice she wrote in was appropriate throughout the book, effectively speaking through the eyes of a child, an adolescent or an adult as needed.

She reflects on the difference in her life from childhood to adulthood, and how there are people living in Africa as if it were in a past century. As a child, she struggled to succeed in school and was constantly told by her mother how stupid she was. They were moved from country to country where school was taught in a different language each time. Hirsi Ali’s struggle to rise above these barriers, her fight to attend University and not just study for a trade, and her success in graduate school as a political science student is an important part of the story that is overshadowed by controversy.

She has critics on both sides of the religious fence, but her message is about women’s rights, albeit in the context of Islam. It was very interesting listening to this book about a woman finding her way through religion and politics as an immigrant while also reading “True North” about an Australian woman doing the same in different economic circumstances and at an earlier time.