Yasmeena's Choice
A True Story of War, Rape, Courage and Survival
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Narrated by:
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Parisa Johnston
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By:
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Jean Sasson
About this listen
This is the true story of Yasmeena, a bright and beautiful young Lebanese woman who was imprisoned in Kuwait during the first Gulf War. Yasmeena's shocking journey is a tale of the madness of war, of the sexual brutality unleashed by chaos, and of one woman’s courage to stand in danger’s way to aid her fellow sufferers. This is an explicit, graphic, and honest book. It is for mature audiences only.
Jean Sasson has spent her career sharing the personal stories of courageous Middle Eastern women. Princess: Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia
was an international bestseller. It has become a classic, taught in colleges and high schools and devoured by anyone who aspires to understand the Middle East. Yasmeena was quite literally an innocent abroad. She was a college educated, English-speaking flight attendant graced with an unusual amount of confidence and sophistication. She was also a virgin and a conservative Muslim daughter and sister. When Yasmeena's flight out of Kuwait was delayed, it was because Saddam Hussein had just invaded Kuwait. Iraqi soldiers threw her into a woman's prison where the guards committed ghastly sexual attacks and tortured the women in excruciating ways.After Yasmeena was brutalized by the captain of the prison, she thought she was the most unfortunate woman on earth. But that was before she befriended Lana, whose brutal rapist took glee in inflicting hurt. Yasmeena used her position as the captain's favorite to protect her friend, though she also was forced into a wrenching decision.
Yasmeena's Choice reads like a thriller. As the Americans and other allies march into Kuwait and the Iraqis flee, Yasmeena escapes. Eventually she finds a safe harbor where Sasson interviews her and records every horrific element of her experience. Sasson has wanted to write this story for many years. But she knew that the sexual explicitness and violence would make the tale difficult to publish. A year ago, Yasmeena's story and the choices she was forced to make invaded Sasson’s dreams. She realized that now was the right time to share the story. And so here it is, Sasson's testament to an articulate, angry, brave young woman who not only survived but who was eager to share her story with the world.
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By: Thomas Thompson
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The Daughter of Auschwitz
- My Story of Resilience, Survival and Hope
- By: Tova Friedman, Malcolm Brabant
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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A powerful memoir by one of the youngest survivors of Auschwitz, Tova Friedman, following her childhood growing up during the Holocaust and surviving a string of near-death experiences in a Jewish ghetto, a Nazi labor camp, and Auschwitz.
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Very interesting and well told
- By Tracy F. on 03-31-23
By: Tova Friedman, and others
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Death Is Hard Work
- A Novel
- By: Khaled Khalifa, Leri Price - translator
- Narrated by: Neil Shah
- Length: 5 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Abdel Latif, an old man from the Aleppo region, dies peacefully in a hospital bed in Damascus. His final wish, conveyed to his youngest son, Bolbol, is to be buried in the family plot in their ancestral village of Anabiya. Though Abdel was hardly an ideal father, and though Bolbol is estranged from his siblings, this conscientious son persuades his older brother Hussein and his sister Fatima to accompany him and the body to Anabiya, which is - after all - only a two-hour drive from Damascus. There's only one problem: Their country is a war zone.
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The bleakness of living in a war-torn country!
- By Susan on 03-20-19
By: Khaled Khalifa, and others
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The Damage Done
- Twelve Years of Hell in a Bangkok Prison
- By: Warren Fellows
- Narrated by: David Tredinnick
- Length: 6 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1978, Warren Fellows was convicted of heroin trafficking between Thailand and Australia. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in the notorious Bang Kwang prison - better known as the Bangkok Hilton. It was the beginning of 12 years of hell in a place where sewer rats and cockroaches are the only nutritious food, where prison guards laugh as they deliver pulverising blows, and where the worst punishment is the khun deo - solitary confinement, Thai style.
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Remarkable -- in every way! Every minute is great
- By Eric Schurr on 12-05-13
By: Warren Fellows
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The Hadassah Covenant
- A Queen's Legacy
- By: Tommy Tenney
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 13 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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When the king is murdered, Esther struggles to understand God's role for her and the people of ancient Persia. And in a parallel story set in the Middle East, the Israeli prime minister's wife must delve into the past to fight terrorism in the present.
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The Hadassah Covenant
- By Alice on 05-26-10
By: Tommy Tenney
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The Stories of Eva Luna
- By: Isabel Allende
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Pena
- Length: 2 hrs and 44 mins
- Abridged
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Immerse yourself in a world of love, vengeance, compassion, and irony with the evocative stories of Eva Luna. Author Isabel Allende introduced this well-loved character to audiences in her earlier novel, Eva Luna. Listen to Allende talk about the role of writing in her life in Giving Birth, Finding Form. This program also features Alice Walker and Jean Shinoda Bolen.
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Better some Allende than no Allende
- By Perschon on 12-04-14
By: Isabel Allende
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The Blue Between Sky and Water
- By: Susan Abulhawa
- Narrated by: Jennifer Woodward
- Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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It is 1947, and Beit Daras, a quiet village in Palestine surrounded by olive groves, is home to the Baraka family. Eldest daughter Nazmiyeh looks after her widowed mother, prone to wandering and strange outbursts, while her brother, Mamdouh, tends to the village bees. Their younger sister, Mariam, with her striking mismatched eyes, spends her days talking to imaginary friends and writing.
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Horrible pronunciation
- By Debra Sabah Press on 11-08-18
By: Susan Abulhawa
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The Association of Small Bombs
- By: Karan Mahajan
- Narrated by: Neil Shah
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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When brothers Tushar and Nakul Khurana, two Delhi schoolboys, pick up their family's television at a repair shop with their friend, Mansoor Ahmed, one day in 1996, disaster strikes without warning. A bomb - one of the many "small" bombs that go off seemingly unheralded across the world - detonates in the Delhi marketplace, instantly claiming the lives of the Khurana boys, to the devastation of their parents. Mansoor survives, bearing the physical and psychological effects of the bomb.
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A tragedy of manners
- By jdukuray on 07-22-16
By: Karan Mahajan
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Golden Earrings
- By: Belinda Alexandra
- Narrated by: Caroline Lee
- Length: 20 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Catalina, grand-daughter of Spanish refugees, is a disciplined student with the School of the Paris Opera Ballet. Little gets inthe way of her career until the visit of an otherworldly being, who leaves her a mysterious pair of golden earrings. Given a quest, Catalina realises she must explore her own Spanish heritage and makes the connection between the visitor and ‘La Rusa’, a young Andalusian flamenco star. La Rusa died in exile in Paris in 1952, her death ruled as suicide. But as Catalina begins to discover, there were those in the community, who had good reason for wanting La Rusa dead.
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Fabulous story
- By Paddington on 10-19-12
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The Queen of the Tearling
- A Novel
- By: Erika Johansen
- Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren
- Length: 14 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Magic, adventure, mystery, and romance combine in this epic debut in which a young princess must reclaim her dead mother’s throne, learn to be a ruler - and defeat the Red Queen, a powerful and malevolent sorceress determined to destroy her. On her 19th birthday, Princess Kelsea Raleigh Glynn, raised in exile, sets out on a perilous journey back to the castle of her birth to ascend her rightful throne. Plain and serious, a girl who loves books and learning, Kelsea bears little resemblance to her mother, the vain and frivolous Queen Elyssa.
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Volume changed a lot
- By Nik on 12-20-14
By: Erika Johansen
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When She Woke
- By: Hillary Jordan
- Narrated by: Heather Corrigan
- Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Hannah Payne awakens to a nightmare. She is lying on a table in a bare room, covered only by a paper gown, with cameras broadcasting her every move to millions at home. She is now a convicted criminal, and her skin color has been genetically altered. Her crime, according to the State of Texas: the murder of her unborn child, whose father she refuses to name. Her color: red. The color of newly shed blood.
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A Thoughtful Dystopia
- By Amy on 01-28-13
By: Hillary Jordan
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Two Rings
- A Story of Love and War
- By: Millie Werber, Eve Keller
- Narrated by: Yelena Shmulenson, Eve Keller
- Length: 7 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Trapped in Poland in 1941, like many Jews, Millie Werber went from the Radom Ghetto to slave labor in an armaments factory, survived Auschwitz, and toiled in a second factory until liberation came on April 1, 1945. She faced death many times but lived to marry a good man and fellow survivor. Meanwhile, she concealed a photograph in her closet and carried a secret in her heart.
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What a love story
- By Sbear on 11-19-18
By: Millie Werber, and others
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Behind Enemy Lines
- The True Story of a French Jewish Spy in Nazi Germany
- By: Marthe Cohn, Wendy Holden
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Marthe Cohn was a young Jewish woman living just across the German border in France when Hitler rose to power. Her family sheltered Jews fleeing the Nazis, including Jewish children sent away by their terrified parents. But soon her homeland was also under Nazi rule. As the Nazi occupation escalated, Marthe's sister was arrested and sent to Auschwitz and the rest of her family was forced to flee to the south of France. Always a fighter, Marthe joined the French Army and became a member of the intelligence service of the French First Army.
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Amazing story of a fighter and survivor
- By Magalie Busch on 05-06-19
By: Marthe Cohn, and others
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Carthage
- A Novel
- By: Joyce Carol Oates
- Narrated by: Susan Ericksen, David Colacci
- Length: 19 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Zeno Mayfield's daughter has disappeared into the night, gone missing in the wilds of the Adirondacks. But when the community of Carthage joins a father's frantic search for the girl, they discover the unlikeliest of suspects…a decorated Iraq War veteran with close ties to the Mayfield family. As grisly evidence mounts against the troubled war hero, the family must wrestle with the possibility of having lost a daughter forever. Carthage plunges us deep into the psyche of a wounded young corporal haunted by unspeakable acts of wartime aggression.
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A Major Disappointment!!
- By Anne on 01-23-14
What listeners say about Yasmeena's Choice
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- DME DETROIT
- 04-24-21
Heart wrenching
This book evokes deep emotional suffering of the characters in this book. Knowing that Yasmeena survived made it have somewhat of a happy ending. Knowing that the things that happened to these women is true and could happen to any woman who was trapped in a war torn country is not only shocking but scary. I remember the invasion of Kuwait I was a girl probably 14 years old 15 years old at the time and I had a friend who her family was here on vacation from Kuwait so it kind of hit close to home because I know that that could’ve been her fate if her and her family hadn’t been on holiday in the United States. This was a part of the war that I never thought about until I read this book and it broke my heart to know that innocent women were brutalized and tortured.
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- Amy Franklin
- 08-18-16
May I never know if I am so Courageous
This story is intense & hides nothing. As a woman who lived in Q8 & fell in love with its people, I was happy to hear an author sing this countries well earned praises. The stories are brutally honest & therefore difficult to listen to. May the many victims of wars find peace in their hearts. Thank You, Yasmeena & Jean Samson for having the fortitude to share these stories with the world.
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- Janice P. Swan
- 12-26-14
Kept me rivited
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Yes I would. It is an eyeopener to the difference in the lifestyle between the east and west in order that we could have open discussion about the story and what women from the east face.
Who was your favorite character and why?
The main character of the story - she used her head to survive. It was interesting how the comparison was made between the two females in the story.
Which character – as performed by Parisa Johnston – was your favorite?
Yasmeena
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Yes
Any additional comments?
Even though Yaseema was given a lot of freedom, there were still cultural restrictions which would have made her an outcast should her family have known that she was a victim of rape. So sad.
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2 people found this helpful
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- F KB
- 10-30-22
Heartbreaking and excellently written
Jean Sasson writes in a way that makes you feel like you are right there. This book was difficult to get through, not because it wasn’t good. On the contrary, this book was incredible. It was difficult to finish because of how detailed Jean Sasson was about the atrocities endured by the women in that prison. Thank you for telling this story. Thank you for being in awareness to the horrendous treatment that those women survived.
On a side note: I was not very impressed by the narrator. She was extremely robotic, and at times very monotone. But, she was clear and the recording was free of glitches.
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- Kelleefornia
- 03-13-15
Not what I expected.
I would like to start out by saying I think what these innocent women were forced to endure is an abomination. My heart aches for them and their tribulations. I think it's equally abhorrent what their own families do to them as a result. I don't think it's prideful to be ashamed of your own daughter, sister, friend for being the victim of a horrendous, violent crime. I find it to be culturally and willfully ignorant and grotesque.
Having said all of that, I found it nearly impossible for me to be compassionate towards Jasmeena regarding anything other than her capture and rape. The ridicule that comes from her culture and family and HERSELF is no different from the arrogant way, I felt, that she treated people that aren't as thin, as pretty, as affluent as her or her family.
It was obvious to me that, by the way the author beat the dead horse again and again, that being rich, pretty and thin made her better than most in her own eyes. She simply saw this as fact. I get that she's small, but did we have to hear about it again and again and again? The materialistic nature of the descriptions of people and possessions made it difficult for me to be as sympathetic as I probably should be.
Although I'm incredibly empathetic and sickened by the kidnap, rape and torture these women had to endure, it was difficult for me to set aside Jasmeena's thoughtlessness and lack of humility towards anyone outside of her caste and feel as much compassion for her as I truly wanted to. As a whole, I feel a tremendous amount of compassion for these women, but so much so for the poor women that don't have all of the material things that the rich, privileged women like Jasmeena feel entitled to.
This is just my opinion and my "feelings" after reading this book. I'm enraged actually. I find what happened to these women and what continues to happen to them abhorrent.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Abigail
- 05-11-20
Excellent!!!!
I’ve read many books written by Jean Sasson and I have never been disappointed. Yasmeena’s Choice is a book that very well explains the horrors that occurred during the Kuwait invasion by Iraq. It is very graphic and strong story to read. I loved the narrator, she takes into the story, you will want to read it in one seating but at the same time you don’t want it to end. I have been trying to get the audible for The Rape of Kuwait (a book that the author talks about in this book) with no success . I highly recommend this book.
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- Thom Pierson
- 10-13-19
Jean Sasson
I’ve read most of Ms. Sasson and just like the others, this book does not disappoint.
While gruesome in its details, it is most important that no qualms be had about such as story. It is not for the faint of heart.
What amazes me most is to read some of the reviews posted by my fellow readers who decry the story told as abhorrent and wonder how a society could shun raped women. How they agree forced by the government to give birth.
This is baffling to me as in the USA, in 2019 there are states passing laws that prohibit abortion regardless of how a pregnancy came to be. States like Alabama that passed a law outlawing all abortions regardless of rape, incest, fetal defects; a complete takeover of a woman’s body and choice.
And even as insane as that sound, the state wants to give parental rights to the rapist, so no only does the woman have to carry a baby that is a constant reminder of her rape, but also has to deal with her rapist sharing 50/50 parental rights with his or her victim.
Add to that the constant shaming and blaming of rape victims and add to that the numbers of “rape kits” that are lost, misplaced or hidden by the authorities; Depriving victims of the evidence needed.
There is not one religion nor society that can be singled out because the stories told in this book are part of humans’ darkest nature.
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1 person found this helpful
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- A. Woolf
- 05-05-18
Tragic
while the story was tragic and painfully descriptive, it was still very eye opening and informative about the way women are treated in wartime in the middle east.
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