Daring to Drive
A Saudi Woman's Awakening
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Narrated by:
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Lameece Issaq
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By:
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Manal al-Sharif
About this listen
A ferociously intimate memoir by a devout woman from a modest family in Saudi Arabia who became the unexpected leader of a courageous movement to support women's right to drive.
Manal al-Sharif grew up in Mecca the second daughter of a taxi driver, born the year fundamentalism took hold. In her adolescence she was a religious radical, melting her brother's boy band cassettes in the oven because music was haram: forbidden by Islamic law. But what a difference an education can make. By her 20s she was a computer security engineer, one of few women working in a desert compound that resembled suburban America. That's when the Saudi kingdom's contradictions became too much to bear: She was labeled a slut for chatting with male colleagues, her teenage brother chaperoned her on a business trip, and while she kept a car in her garage, she was forbidden from driving down city streets behind the wheel.
Daring to Drive is the fiercely intimate memoir of an accidental activist, a powerfully vivid story of a young Muslim woman who stood up to a kingdom of men - and won. Writing on the cusp of history, Manal offers a rare glimpse into the lives of women in Saudi Arabia today. Her memoir is a remarkable celebration of resilience in the face of tyranny, the extraordinary power of education and female solidarity, and the difficulties, absurdities, and joys of making your voice heard.
©2017 Manal al-Sharif (P)2017 Simon & Schuster AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Story
For her whole life, Souad Mekhennet, a reporter for the Washington Post who was born and educated in Germany, has had to balance the two sides of her upbringing - Muslim and Western. She has also sought to provide a mediating voice between these cultures, which too often misunderstand each other.
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A timely book with poor narration
- By F. AHMAD on 07-15-17
By: Souad Mekhennet
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In Order to Live
- A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom
- By: Yeonmi Park
- Narrated by: Eji Kim
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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In In Order to Live, Yeonmi Park shines a light not just into the darkest corners of life in North Korea, describing the deprivation and deception she endured and which millions of North Korean people continue to endure to this day, but also onto her own most painful and difficult memories. She tells with bravery and dignity for the first time the story of how she and her mother were betrayed and sold into sexual slavery in China and forced to suffer terrible psychological and physical hardship before they finally made their way to Seoul, South Korea - and to freedom.
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Wow. What a story!
- By Jfm on 02-01-16
By: Yeonmi Park
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God's Double Agent
- The True Story of a Chinese Christian's Fight for Freedom
- By: Bob Fu, Nancy French
- Narrated by: Hayden Lee
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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God’s people are hiding in plain sightTens of millions of Christians live in China today, leading double lives to hide from a government that relentlessly persecutes them. By day, Bob Fu was a teacher in a communist school; by night, he was a preacher in an underground house church network. This edge-of-your-seat book tells the true story of Fu’s conversion to Christianity, his arrest and imprisonment for starting an illegal house church, his harrowing escape, and his subsequent rise to prominence in the United States as an advocate for his oppressed brethren.
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a great book, very informative.
- By Charles on 09-21-15
By: Bob Fu, and others
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Pieces of Me
- Rescuing My Kidnapped Daughters
- By: Lizbeth Meredith
- Narrated by: Suzie Althens
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1994, Lizbeth Meredith said good-bye to her four- and six year-old daughters for a visit with their noncustodial father only to learn days later that they had been kidnapped and taken to their father's home country of Greece. Twenty-nine and just on the verge of making her dreams of financial independence for her and her daughters come true, Lizbeth now faced a $100,000 problem on a $10 an hour budget.
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You really won't want to stop listening!
- By Artist's Eye on 07-17-18
By: Lizbeth Meredith
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Factory Girls
- From Village to City in a Changing China
- By: Leslie T. Chang
- Narrated by: Susan Ericksen
- Length: 14 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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A book of global significance that provides new insight into China, Factory Girls demonstrates how the mass movement from rural villages to cities is remaking individual lives and transforming Chinese society, much as immigration to America's shores remade our own country a century ago.
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Living in Shenzhen - and What A Disappointment
- By Abstraction on 03-01-10
By: Leslie T. Chang
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Under Red Skies
- Three Generations of Life, Loss, and Hope in China
- By: Karoline Kan
- Narrated by: Allison Hiroto
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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A deeply personal and shocking look at how China is coming to terms with its conflicted past as it emerges into a modern, cutting-edge superpower.
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An intimate view of real life in China
- By Lonnie G. Hardy, Jr. on 08-15-19
By: Karoline Kan
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Find Me Unafraid
- Love, Loss, and Hope in an African Slum
- By: Kennedy Odede, Jessica Posner
- Narrated by: Korey Jackson, Mandy Siegfried, P.J. Ochlan (foreword)
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Find Me Unafraid tells the uncommon love story between two uncommon people whose collaboration sparked a successful movement to transform the lives of vulnerable girls and the urban poor. With a foreword by Nicholas Kristof.
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A difficult and rewarding listen
- By R. MCRACKAN on 08-23-18
By: Kennedy Odede, and others
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Excellent Daughters
- The Secret Lives of Young Women Who Are Transforming the Arab World
- By: Katherine Zoepf
- Narrated by: Katherine Zoepf
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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For more than a decade, Katherine Zoepf has lived in or traveled throughout the Arab world, reporting on the lives of women, whose role in the region has never been more in flux. Only a generation ago, female adolescence as we know it in the West did not exist in the Middle East. There were only children and married women. Today, young Arab women outnumber men in universities, and a few are beginning to face down religious and social tradition in order to live independently, to delay marriage, and to pursue professional goals.
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Best book on Middle East written this decade
- By Zuzana B on 07-02-17
By: Katherine Zoepf
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Mighty Be Our Powers
- How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War; a Memoir
- By: Leymah Gbowee, Carol Mithers
- Narrated by: Kimberly Scott
- Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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As a young woman growing up in Africa, 17-year-old Leymah Gbowee was crushed by a savage war when violence reached her native Monrovia, depriving her of the education she yearned for and claiming the lives of relatives and friends. As war continued to ravage Liberia, Gbowee’s bitterness turned to rage-fueled action as she realized that women bear the greatest burden in prolonged conflicts.
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Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer, and
- By Kathy on 10-07-11
By: Leymah Gbowee, and others
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Without You, There Is No Us
- My Time with the Sons of North Korea's Elite
- By: Suki Kim
- Narrated by: Janet Song
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Every day, three times a day, the students march in two straight lines, singing praises to Kim Jong-il and North Korea: Without you, there is no motherland. Without you, there is no us. It is a chilling scene, but gradually Suki Kim, too, learns the tune and, without noticing, begins to hum it. It is 2011, and all universities in North Korea have been shut down for an entire year, the students sent to construction fields - except for the 270 students at the all-male Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST).
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The King and I meets Mary Poppins
- By Michael on 02-22-15
By: Suki Kim
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The Fox Hunt
- A Refugee's Memoir of Coming to America
- By: Mohammed Al Samawi
- Narrated by: Assaf Cohen
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Born in the Old City of Sana’a, Yemen, to a pair of middle-class doctors, Mohammed Al Samawi was a devout Muslim raised to think of Christians and Jews as his enemy. But when Mohammed was 23, he secretly received a copy of the Bible, and what he read cast doubt on everything he’d previously believed. After connecting with Jews and Christians on social media, and at various international interfaith conferences, Mohammed became an activist, making it his mission to promote dialogue and cooperation in Yemen. Then came the death threats....
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Engaging and informative memoir
- By Mark on 08-02-18
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Marina and Lee
- The Tormented Love and Fatal Obsession Behind Lee Harvey Oswald's Assassination of John F. Kennedy
- By: Priscilla Johnson McMillan
- Narrated by: R.C. Bray, Joseph Finder
- Length: 24 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Marina and Lee is one of the best and truest audiobooks about the Kennedy assassination. Priscilla Johnson McMillan came to the story with a unique knowledge of the two main characters. In the 1950s she knew Kennedy well for a time when he was hospitalized with Addison's disease. She talked to him frequently, brought him books, knew his wife, and formed a strong opinion of the sort of man he was. What is astonishing is that she also knew Lee Harvey Oswald.
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Now I know why he did it
- By Rodd on 06-09-14
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City of Lies
- Love, Sex, Death, and the Search for Truth in Tehran
- By: Ramita Navai
- Narrated by: Sylvia Lisle
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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In today's Tehran, intrigues abound and survival depends on an intricate network of falsehoods: mullahs visit prostitutes, local mosques train barely pubescent boys in crowd-control tactics, and cosmetic surgeons promise to restore girls' virginity. Navai paints an intimate portrait of those discreet recesses in a city where the difference between modesty and profanity, loyalty and betrayal, honor and disgrace is often no more than the believability of a lie.
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Impossible to Put Down
- By Leonard on 10-19-14
By: Ramita Navai
What listeners say about Daring to Drive
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Kenda Na
- 02-10-19
Great story
A strong woman that is going against all the society in Saudi Arabia! Loved this book!
The Narrator Lameece Issaq did a great job speaking Manal’s voice! She gave me strong emotions when listening to her!
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- Cheryl
- 02-17-18
The story of Women living in Saudi Arabia
I enjoyed reading about Manal's struggles living in a society that does not respect women. Not allowing women to drive is just one of the problems that women and girls face in Saudi Arabia. I see a revolution or an enlightened leader in the future of this nation. The system won't survive otherwise.
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- Ana
- 09-30-21
Riveting
A must read. Inspirational! The story of a woman that did not give up and continues to believe things will change for women.
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- TampaGirl
- 01-14-24
Outstanding autobiography
Fabulous book. Eye opening. Truly remarkable what Manal has experienced and her will to drive change to help women in Saudi.
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- HarveyH
- 09-05-18
A Call for Decency and Respect
Ms. al-Sharif courageously addresses the blatant disregard for women in a religion dominated society. The horrid genital circumcision of young girls nearing puberty; the permission required from a male to travel, obtain a place to live, or obtain a divorce; aspects of control granted even to a widower's son or derelict old father. Ms. al-Sharif's awakening comes in her ability to overcome numerous obstacles in her job in a male dominated though westernized Saudi oil company; through her enjoyment and participation in her child's play at her place of employment in activities otherwise forbidden to girls in Saudi society; and in a year working in the eastern U.S. through friendships she made that included a man from Alabama and a Jewish woman. Followed by her daring to drive, resulting in jail time, where again she demonstrates her humanity through her care and consideration of those in jail with her, women more unfortunate than herself. After the publication of the book, success for Saudi women in being permitted to drive. Much more progress is still to be made.
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1 person found this helpful
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- jaycon
- 07-24-17
Great book, poor narration
What did you love best about Daring to Drive?
The story is fascinating, heart-breaking, and eye-opening. I learned a lot about women's rights (or lack thereof) in Saudi Arabia.
Manal's beliefs about her religion and culture change throughout her youth. She does such a nice job helping the reader understand the familial, social, and cultural influences that contributed to her beliefs and perspectives at various points in her adolescence and young adulthood. It is so easy to understand why, at one point in her life, she embraced an ultra-conservative form of Islam.
What was one of the most memorable moments of Daring to Drive?
Her excitement about getting a Barbie doll when she was a child was really interesting to read about -- as well as the ultimate demise of the Barbie.
Would you be willing to try another one of Lameece Issaq’s performances?
Yes. However, I was really, really disappointed with her narration of this book. Manal experiences a great deal of pain, fear, grief, etc. throughout the book. However, Issaq's tone is consistently one of irritation. She just sounds irritated (and a bit egotistical) throughout. I find it hard to believe that when, for example, Manal was imprisoned and had no idea how long she would be held (and how long she would be away from her son, who becomes very, very ill while she is in prison) that her primary mood was one of irritation. I found the tone to be very distracting throughout the book.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
The whole book moved me! One moment in particular that I've thought about a lot was when she was finally released from jail. She says that she couldn't wait to sleep with her arms around her young son. As a mother myself with only one child -- a son -- that would have been my first thought, too.
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- AAAmuid
- 12-19-19
informative
Reading from around the world is empowering. so glad that our book club chose this to read.
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- Suzanne
- 07-15-17
An eye opening story
Such a young writer with an emotional and eventful life. Written in a fluid way, I learned a lot and enjoyed every bit of it. We need more women with her intelligent courage. Thank you Manal.
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- Sara
- 07-01-17
The rain begins with a single drop
Although I'm a female Saudi and often subjected to the same injustice as Manal; listening to this book made me cringe in disgust every time she's been mistreated and violated.
I'm forever grateful for what she's done and I do believe that rain begins with a single drop. As of today, the campaign #stopEnslavingSaudiWomen has completed 360 days and the level of awareness and normalization of women's rights have never been this positive. Thank you, Manal.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Leahmgordon
- 08-03-17
the rain begins with a single drop
Manal al-sharif is a hero. her story is profound and moving. It is an important piece of feminist writing and it is very well-read. I wish I had children that I could ask to read this book.
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