I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced

#432
Title: I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced
Authors: Nujood Ali with Delphine Minoui
Translator: Linda Coverdale
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
Year: 2010
189 pages

This is a straightforward account by a young Yemeni girl of her arranged marriage to an abusive man much older than she. Where it matters is that the author successfully petitioned for a divorce, setting precedent and inspiring other girls and young women to contest forced marriages.

My engagement with Nujood and her story was interfered with by what I presume is Delphine Minoui's writing as well as the fact of translation. I didn't experience Najood's first-person story as her own, but as one told to and interpreted by an adult. Her voice was rendered confusingly as both too mature and overly cute. If you can put this aside, this is a quick book and a good look at female life in less privileged parts of the world.