Product Description
An astonishing first-hand account of a young womans life lived under the tyranny of the Taliban.Born into a middle-class Afghan family in Kabul in 1980, Latifa spent her teenage days talking fashion and movies with her friends, listening to music, and dreaming of one day becoming a journalist. Then, on September 26, 1996, Taliban soldiers seized power in Kabul. Suddenly, streets were deserted. Her school was closed. Phones were cut. The radio fell silent. And from that moment, Latifa, just sixteen years old, became a prisoner in her own home. The simplest and most basic freedomslike walking down the street alone or even looking out of a windowwere forbidden. Latifa had never worn a veil before, but was now forced to be swathed in a chadri, the state-mandated uniform that covered her entire body. Her disbelief at having to hide her face was soon replaced by fear, the fear of being whipped or stoned like the other women shed seen in the streets.Latifa struggled against an overwhelming sense of helplessness and despair. In a step of defiance, she set up a clandestine school in her home for a small number of young girls. To avoid arousing suspicion, the children were not allowed to attend every day, nor could they keep regular hours. Latifa knew that she was risking her life for something that could change little. But the teaching gave her a reason to get up in the morning, it helped restore meaning in her life. Latifa eventually escaped to Europe with her parents.My Forbidden Face provides a poignant and highly personal account of life under the Taliban regime. With painful honesty and clarity, Latifa describes her ordered world falling apart, in the name of fanaticism that she could not comprehend, and replaced by a world where terror and oppression reign. Latifa and her parents escaped Afghanistan in May 2001 and were brought to Europe in an operation organized by a French-based Afghan resistance group and Elle Magazine. Since then she has been writing My Forbidden Face in collaboration with Chekeba Hachemi, the founder of Afghanistan Libre. They both live in Paris. This is her first book.
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 A lightweight account
This is a short book about a girl growing up in Afghanistan and it ends abruptly. Personal accounts of hardship are difficult to turn into good literature unless woven into the historical and political context of the country (as is done in Reading Lolita in Tehran) or reflect a poetry and imagery which counterbalances the mundane (as in The Diary of Anne Frank, with which this book is compared). That said, the writer makes a good job of describing the times leading up to the Taliban regime and the factual horror of that time. The book became more interesting once she started trying to do something about it, and began her small school. I would recommend this book for younger readers who know nothing about Afghanistan, and for those who want a quick account of its horrors through the eyes of a woman. For a much better and more in depth account, I'd go for the Sewing Circles of Herat.
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 My Forbidden Face
This is a great little book which gives a personal, moving account of the years after the Taliban took over Afghanistan. I'd recommend it to anyone with a desire to know more about that part of the world.
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 When Home Becomes Prison ( happeeface )
Home became prison for women when the Taliban arrived. And I don't think Taliban rule was a picnic for most men either. "Latifah" did a great job of describing the deep depression of women whose lives suddenly became worth nothing with no hope and no dreams allowed.
This book was mentioned in a reader review of the book "A Thousand Splendid Suns". A reviewer implied that that the author plagiarized "Latifah's" book. I was curious so I bought "My Forbidden Face". I see no signs of any plagiarism at all. Can't imagine what the reviewer was thinking.
Another reviewer of "My Forbidden Face" wanted to know the reasoning behind the Taliban rules so that she could understand better. The Taliban wanted to demoralize and subjugate the people for complete control. That was the reason behind every crazy pronouncement.
I have to agree that the editing was poor and the timelines confusing. I had to re-read some portions of the book because I thought I missed segments. Turns out I didn't miss anything--what I was looking for wasn't there.
Definitely worth reading for the young woman's account of what life was like in Afghanistan during that time period. Scary and heartbreaking.
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A Non-Muslim American Woman's Comments
I was eager to read this book because I wanted to learn about women's experiences in Afganistan at the hands of the Taliban. The title, "My Forbidden Face: Growing Up Under the Taliban, etc", indicated to me that this would be a personal, information-packed book on the subject. But as others have already said, the book was quite sketchy regarding the information it supposedly covered. Most of the Taliban decrees that Fatima listed were shocking to me, a western woman, and I wanted to understand her plight in greater detail. But instead I ended up with more questions than answers. Why was whistling forbidden (including ridiculously, even teakettles)? Why were photographs and paintings forbidden? Why were no books except the Quran allowed (that one would kill me for sure!)? What did she and her sisters do to pass the time living basically under house arrest for 3 years (besides lay on their bed, and listen clandestinely to the BBC in the evenings)? When she taught school, what did she teach and how did she teach it? How did the children respond? I would have loved to get a more personal account of her situation than I can get reading news stories. How does the Taliban's version of Islamic rule differ from non-Taliban rule? Why would the Taliban want to get rid of women, as she stated? These questions perplex me. I want to know the truth, I want to understand more.
When she said the United States' policies in the Middle East were mistakes and mishandled, I would like to know specifically what she was referring to. I don't doubt for a minute that the U.S. has bungled things in that region, probably on a grand scale, but I truly wanted to know what she thought first hand. Instead I think maybe she was superficially stating other people's views that she may not have been old enough to process yet.
As a non-Muslim American woman, Fatima's life and religion could not have been more opposite to mine than if she lived on another planet. Maybe Fatima will write another book after she has matured a bit so that she will add a more thorough account of her experiences to help those of us living in a far different world to understand the clash between our two cultures. Because I do believe that with knowledge and understanding of the other side, a way can come to get through this mess.
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Could have used a competent editor, but good effort ( bluecanary_99 )
This book jumps around a lot. The author could have used a better editor. Since this book deals with a lot of historical aspects of growing up in Afghanistan, a linear format would have worked better than the back and forth the author uses. One day her brother's fighting the Soviets. Then he's married in another country, then he's fighting the Soviets. You get the idea. It's a little hard to keep track of who's doing what.
As to the descriptions of the author's life, however, it was pretty good, but I don't feel she adequately captured the horrors of what was going on, at least not compared to other books I've read on the subject. More detail and expansion would have been good.
However, the book was very good, especially from one so young. I do recommend it.
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