Sarah S. (tigrrrl) -
Helpful Score: 1
I rated this book 4 stars.
In The Woman Who Fell From the Sky, author Jennifer Steil recounts her engrossing adventure as an American journalist in Yemen working for an English-language newspaper. Throughout her memoir she explains various hurdles shes encountered as a Western woman living in an Islamic country. While her intentions are to adapt to the culture as seamlessly possible, including wearing a hijab to cover her hair, Steil quickly learns that she is not able to hide her Western ways in both appearance and as a journalist.
An intriguing window that allows the reader to peer into the life of Yemeni culture, Steils memoir expresses the hardships and restrictions imposed on Yemeni life through the eyes of a Westerner. Her writing tells of the struggles that women face in a country dominated by men, the difficulty for both foreign and Yemeni journalists to report accurate news stories in a country that lacks accountability and reliable witnesses, and the overall impact and influence of religion on day to day living. Despite all the hurdles and trials encountered, Steil paints a fascinating portrait of Yemeni life and quickly falls in love with all its beauty and mystery. Steils journalistic voice and descriptive encounters make for an entralling story that is difficult to put down.
In The Woman Who Fell From the Sky, author Jennifer Steil recounts her engrossing adventure as an American journalist in Yemen working for an English-language newspaper. Throughout her memoir she explains various hurdles shes encountered as a Western woman living in an Islamic country. While her intentions are to adapt to the culture as seamlessly possible, including wearing a hijab to cover her hair, Steil quickly learns that she is not able to hide her Western ways in both appearance and as a journalist.
An intriguing window that allows the reader to peer into the life of Yemeni culture, Steils memoir expresses the hardships and restrictions imposed on Yemeni life through the eyes of a Westerner. Her writing tells of the struggles that women face in a country dominated by men, the difficulty for both foreign and Yemeni journalists to report accurate news stories in a country that lacks accountability and reliable witnesses, and the overall impact and influence of religion on day to day living. Despite all the hurdles and trials encountered, Steil paints a fascinating portrait of Yemeni life and quickly falls in love with all its beauty and mystery. Steils journalistic voice and descriptive encounters make for an entralling story that is difficult to put down.
Juliana (philippaj) -
~ CULTURALLY FASCINATING, WELL-WRITTEN, AND AT TIMES ABSOLUTELY HYSTERICAL (4 stars) ~
THE WOMAN WHO FELL FROM THE SKY: AN AMERICAN JOURNALIST'S ADVENTURES IN THE OLDEST CITY ON EARTH is the memoir of Jennifer Steil, a 37-year-old journalist who goes to Sana'a, Yemen in 2006 to teach a three-week crash course in journalism to the reporters of the YEMEN OBSERVER ... and ends up staying for a year. Her time there will change the course of her life and she meets a cast of wonderful, exasperating, funny, interesting, annoying, generous, stubborn, and complex characters.
Steil starts off with dreams of drastically transforming the struggling English-language newspaper into a well-written, well-oiled machine that could be a force for democracy in a country where freedom of the press is questionable. Shortly after embarking on this venture, she realizes that this goal is beyond her - or any single person's - reach, however the significant temporary changes she manages to implement during her tenure there and the drastic lasting impact she has on the skills and lives of her reporters are undeniable. This was a very enjoyable and enlightening read and one I would definitely recommend to friends - especially my female ones, though this is a book everyone can enjoy.
AN AMERICAN JOURNALIST IN YEMEN:
One of the most fascinating things about this book was reading about the country of Yemen and how one American woman experienced and observed it. Steil includes intriguing details about Yemeni life, gender relations, attitudes, beliefs, culture, habits, etc. There were also touching, memorable, and some very sad side stories that she relates, glimpses into the lives of different people she meets or learns about during her year there.
Additionally, it was interesting reading about certain current events (the maelstrom over the Danish cartoons, Saddam Hussein's execution) and comparing my experience of them here - with the American media and the American reactions - to Steil's experience of them in Yemen - with that country's media and that population's reactions. Other "exciting" events include Steil visiting a mostly-Somali refugee camp, having one of her co-workers tried and risk the death penalty for publishing an editorial, and being almost-sued by the Ministry of the Interior.
In trying to transform the YEMEN OBSERVER, Steil has to deal with different work ethics, conceptions of time and deadlines, and journalistic standards; a belief that plagiarism can be journalism and anything you find on the internet must be true; and poor (or nonexistent) English language and writing skills. However, we see the change that occurs in both the paper and the reporters and despite many obstacles that Steil has to deal with up until the end - her staff sometimes not being paid, her successor quiting anew every day, being told to retract certain articles or not cover certain topics - there is no doubt that her time and efforts were not in vain.
HUMOR GALORE:
It must be said that about the second half of the book has some of the funniest passages I've read in a long while; I was laughing out loud on *several* occasions. I'm sure you will react the same way, between the English mistakes (ex: the Ministry of Tourism is referred to as the Ministry of Terrorism), Steil being told to go through a dusty pile of x-rays when they can't find hers and "see if you can find one of ribs" (she's cracked hers), and the unbelievably hysterical episode that results from a surprise vibrator.
WOMEN, MEN, AND GENDER RELATIONS:
The differences between gender roles/relations in American and Yemen were sometimes fascinating, sometimes horrifying, and sometimes surprisingly nonexistent. The women reporters in this book were absolutely wonderful and I'll agree with Steil: they were my favorites too :-). I loved Zuhra (I'll admit I was thrown by a twist at the end) and wanted to cheer her, Adhara, Radia, Enass, Najma, and Noor as they become the "professional journalists" they aim to be. For me this was a window into a new world - and an eye-opening one at that.
NOT REALLY A LOVE STORY:
Steil remarks somewhat caustically midway through the book that it seems Yemeni men are as faithless as American ones, though instead of having secret mistresses they marry the other women they fall in love with; she then later becomes the girlfriend/lover/mistress/whatever of the married British Ambassador, Tim Torlot. This apparently caused an uproar and slight diplomatic crisis in Yemen, a country where adultery is punishable by death. I was not looking forward to reading about a love triangle in which the protagonist is "the other woman," however Torlot only comes on the scene at the way end of the book (perhaps the last 1/6, if even that), and so is not a central part of the story (which personally I preferred).
MISCELLANEOUS:
The story is written in vignette form, divided into twenty-four chapters and including an epilogue. ~ There is a beautiful poem at the beginning of the book: "she was a woman / who fell from the sky in robes / of dew / and became / a city". ~ On April 26, 2010, Ambassador Tim Torlot (now Steil's fiance) narrowly escaped an attempted assassination by a suicide bomber.
THE WOMAN WHO FELL FROM THE SKY: AN AMERICAN JOURNALIST'S ADVENTURES IN THE OLDEST CITY ON EARTH is the memoir of Jennifer Steil, a 37-year-old journalist who goes to Sana'a, Yemen in 2006 to teach a three-week crash course in journalism to the reporters of the YEMEN OBSERVER ... and ends up staying for a year. Her time there will change the course of her life and she meets a cast of wonderful, exasperating, funny, interesting, annoying, generous, stubborn, and complex characters.
Steil starts off with dreams of drastically transforming the struggling English-language newspaper into a well-written, well-oiled machine that could be a force for democracy in a country where freedom of the press is questionable. Shortly after embarking on this venture, she realizes that this goal is beyond her - or any single person's - reach, however the significant temporary changes she manages to implement during her tenure there and the drastic lasting impact she has on the skills and lives of her reporters are undeniable. This was a very enjoyable and enlightening read and one I would definitely recommend to friends - especially my female ones, though this is a book everyone can enjoy.
AN AMERICAN JOURNALIST IN YEMEN:
One of the most fascinating things about this book was reading about the country of Yemen and how one American woman experienced and observed it. Steil includes intriguing details about Yemeni life, gender relations, attitudes, beliefs, culture, habits, etc. There were also touching, memorable, and some very sad side stories that she relates, glimpses into the lives of different people she meets or learns about during her year there.
Additionally, it was interesting reading about certain current events (the maelstrom over the Danish cartoons, Saddam Hussein's execution) and comparing my experience of them here - with the American media and the American reactions - to Steil's experience of them in Yemen - with that country's media and that population's reactions. Other "exciting" events include Steil visiting a mostly-Somali refugee camp, having one of her co-workers tried and risk the death penalty for publishing an editorial, and being almost-sued by the Ministry of the Interior.
In trying to transform the YEMEN OBSERVER, Steil has to deal with different work ethics, conceptions of time and deadlines, and journalistic standards; a belief that plagiarism can be journalism and anything you find on the internet must be true; and poor (or nonexistent) English language and writing skills. However, we see the change that occurs in both the paper and the reporters and despite many obstacles that Steil has to deal with up until the end - her staff sometimes not being paid, her successor quiting anew every day, being told to retract certain articles or not cover certain topics - there is no doubt that her time and efforts were not in vain.
HUMOR GALORE:
It must be said that about the second half of the book has some of the funniest passages I've read in a long while; I was laughing out loud on *several* occasions. I'm sure you will react the same way, between the English mistakes (ex: the Ministry of Tourism is referred to as the Ministry of Terrorism), Steil being told to go through a dusty pile of x-rays when they can't find hers and "see if you can find one of ribs" (she's cracked hers), and the unbelievably hysterical episode that results from a surprise vibrator.
WOMEN, MEN, AND GENDER RELATIONS:
The differences between gender roles/relations in American and Yemen were sometimes fascinating, sometimes horrifying, and sometimes surprisingly nonexistent. The women reporters in this book were absolutely wonderful and I'll agree with Steil: they were my favorites too :-). I loved Zuhra (I'll admit I was thrown by a twist at the end) and wanted to cheer her, Adhara, Radia, Enass, Najma, and Noor as they become the "professional journalists" they aim to be. For me this was a window into a new world - and an eye-opening one at that.
NOT REALLY A LOVE STORY:
Steil remarks somewhat caustically midway through the book that it seems Yemeni men are as faithless as American ones, though instead of having secret mistresses they marry the other women they fall in love with; she then later becomes the girlfriend/lover/mistress/whatever of the married British Ambassador, Tim Torlot. This apparently caused an uproar and slight diplomatic crisis in Yemen, a country where adultery is punishable by death. I was not looking forward to reading about a love triangle in which the protagonist is "the other woman," however Torlot only comes on the scene at the way end of the book (perhaps the last 1/6, if even that), and so is not a central part of the story (which personally I preferred).
MISCELLANEOUS:
The story is written in vignette form, divided into twenty-four chapters and including an epilogue. ~ There is a beautiful poem at the beginning of the book: "she was a woman / who fell from the sky in robes / of dew / and became / a city". ~ On April 26, 2010, Ambassador Tim Torlot (now Steil's fiance) narrowly escaped an attempted assassination by a suicide bomber.
