I am Malala (Autobiography) by Malala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb

"Ouff" and "wow" were my immediate reactions when I finished the book. A lot of mixed feelings and emotions that this book got me into. This is a well-written book. I love how Malala and Christina were able to come together to make sure the book shares Malala's life in details, and it felt like I was there with Malala and her community. It breaks my heart to learn about what they had to go through.

About the book, I appreciate how Malala made sure readers know that her women are powerful and strong and able to do many things as the men, if not more, in addition to sharing how cultural norms have limited women on pursuing many things. A few passages that I noted that I thought were powerful were:

• page 116, where it says: "[…] In the Holy Quran, it is not written that men should go outside and women should work all day in the home.[…] A man goes out to work, he earns a wage, he comes back home, he eats, he sleeps. That's what he does. Our men think earning money and ordering around others is where power lies. They don't think power is in the hands of the woman who takes care of everyone all day long, and gives birth to their children.".

• page 215, where it says: "[…] I know my mother didn't like the awards, because she feared I would become a target, as I was becoming more well known. She herself would never appear in public. She refused even to be photographed. She is a very traditional woman and this is our centuries-old culture. Were she to break that tradition, men and women would talk against her, particularly those in our own family. […]"

  • The last phrase resonates with me deeply, because I feel that sometimes those who are closely related to us don't realize that they are the ones limiting our growth, because of so much fears of breaking the social and cultural norms.

• page 219, where it says: "[…] In Pakistan, when women say they want independence, people think this means we don't want to obey our fathers, brothers or husbands. But it does not mean that. It means we want to make decisions for ourselves. We want to be free to go to school or to go to work. Nowhere is it written in the Quran that a women should be dependent on a man. The word has not come down from the heavens to tell us that every woman should listen to a man."

These are only a few parts that I remember to note. Highly recommend the book. It was a page-turner for me.