Half the Sky - Nicolas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn

Another book club read. My email follows.
"Half the Sky was extremely different from what I usually read. I tend to favor fiction of any sort over non-fiction, but I didn't dislike this. I couldn't sit down and read large portions of this book at a time; instead, I read about a chapter a day throughout June. Doing that made it more enjoyable and manageable to read, because, in my opinion, it was too heavy to read all at once. I believe that the stories would have been less unique had they been lumped together. Actually, that is probably my largest criticism of the book. While I think that it raised some very important and interesting points, I also believe that it was heavy-handed and longer than it would have needed to be.

Many of the stories were, however, very interesting and heart-breaking. It's incredible to think that there are actually women who are treated this way in other parts of the world! Even more incredible is how resigned most of these women are to their situations, in some cases even encouraging the behavior (as is the case with female genital mutilation). It's an incredibly sad situation and the people who willingly go over there to help are, I believe, to be admired. That said, I do believe that they could have at least mentioned that it is not just overseas that this stuff happens. While women in America are not oppressed and have their rights, there is a serious sex trafficking business right here in America that should be stopped as well. Women's rights should be fought for at all levels, not just in the worst cases, and that means focusing on what's happening here, too.

Also, while I do think that Kristof and WuDunn acknowledged the cultural context of these problems, they most glossed over it. In some situations (sex trafficking or rape) it's not much of an issue, but in many other cases (FGM, the education of women, or the desire for sons) it is. They made it seem like a few classes would change the culture, but I don't believe that it would be that easy! While the cultural context doesn't make these things right, it does make them significantly harder to deal with, and I believe that it's important to keep the cultural context in mind when talking about these issues.

Interestingly enough, while I was reading Half the Sky, I picked up two books that were concerned with women's rights - Gone With the Wind and Peony in Love. Reading those two books in the larger women's rights context has been unique.

As far as the rest of the book goes - I was less impressed with the numbers and statistics than I was with the stories of the women. I think they erred when they wrote whole paragraphs (which turned into pages) of statistics instead of gently incorporating them into the stories or commentary. Much of the time I ended up skimming over these pages because it was so much to take in. Also, I thought that Kristof and WuDunn were unnecessarily slanted to the "left" while writing this book. I think that politics are irrelevant when talking about what "regular people" can do to help. All that the constant editorial comments about conservative politics ended up alienating me personally and I thought that this book was a prime example of one that could have been improved upon by eliminating the political slant.

In the end, I didn't dislike this book, but I didn't find it as wonderful or moving as a lot of people online seem to have found it. I thought the stories were interesting, the statistics useless, and the politics grated on me. Has anyone read Three Cups of Tea? I have heard that it is similar, and I wanted to pick it up, but if it's going to be more of the same, I believe I'll pass. It does, however, seem like it will be more uplifting and more about building schools (rather than just the sad stories) than Half the Sky. I'd be interested to hear any comments on Three Cups of Tea!"

2/5 stars