This is a pretty fast read.
With only 219 pages, you can easily finish it a 3 hour flight.
Carmen Bin Ladin were married to the infamous Osama Bin Laden's brother. Do not expect insider secrets of the Taliban though as you won't be getting any of those.
Coming from a half Swiss half Persian parentage, Carmen was brought up with values of freedom and free will. However, it all changed when she followed her husband back to his hometown, Saudi Arabia.
The Bin Laden family's ranking were right on top of the pyramid, almost on par with the royal family. This however, did not give Carmen any upper hand because she's a woman and a foreigner.
I was horrified upon reading on what life is like in Saudi Arabia. But then again, the stories were dated way back in the 70s and 80s. In her own house, Carmen was not allowed to instruct her house decorators on how she wanted to arrange the furniture as they refused to take orders from women. Women, during those days, were also not allowed to drive, shop at malls or walk around with full abaya and only a black netted veil to see through.
After reading Inside The Kingdom, i finally got why the Western society thinks that Islam is an oppressed religion. It is sad though, that they might never find out that a real Muslim society are not a bunch of extremists and terrorists.
I do feel that Carmen gave a few vibes that might give readers the wrong idea about Islam. But to be fair, i understand that her stories are just tales of her journey and (lack of) endevours. It is just one person's view and perception. But at the same time, we all know that a lot of people might generalize all Muslims like the ones that they read about in this book.
Just as the story of life in Turkey shocked me, the rigidness of the Arabs also caught me off guard. All this while, I've known how religious they are, but I never knew that it has reached a level that is out of my comprehension.
Inside The Kingdom is a light piece of non-fiction with simple sentences and yet is laden with life stories. I believe we can all learn a thing or two on how to be better human beings through this book.
Have fun reading!
:)
