I am Malala: The girl who stood up for education and was shot by the taliban -Malala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb

Genre: Autobiography
Unputdownable Quotient: High
Over all rating: 4/5
I have read only one biography till date -Martin Luther King Junior's. That too in a Reader's Digest special edition collection...waaayyy back in 2007 or 2008. And this book is the first autobiography that I have ever read and  to cut a long story short, I loved it! While there are many inspiring and great autobiographies written by great men and women, (of which I have read none and hence cant draw a comparison) am sure this will sneak into your heart. By no standards is this book a literary gem. The prose is very simple and straightforward and I feel this makes the book very powerful.
I had no idea that such a book was on shelves. My librarian thrust it upon me on my last visit and I took this book so as to not to offend him. I was putting off reading this book for quite some time and when I finally opened it day before, I couldn't keep the book down.
When you read this book, you feel as if your friend has suddenly opened up to you and is pouring her heart out. It is like as if she is sharing her hopes, fears, the trials and tribulations that she has faced till date. So simple and poignant that you feel inspired to do something for the humanity.
The book is not only about Malala. It is about her beloved homeland Swat and all her fellow Pashtuns. The book gives us such disturbing insight on the state of politics and governance and plight of Pakistanis that you cant help but empathise for them. She paints such a stark and frank picture of how the pestilence called Taliban sneaked upon them. When you read this book, you realise how much we take things for granted. And you can't help but feel apprehensive -if this can happen to them, how much longer before our world also comes crashing down on us? And that apprehension makes you a little more appreciative of what we have.
The book begins with the day Malala gets shot and ends on how her life is now in Birmingham, UK. Malala talks about her life in Swat, her father Ziauddhin Yousufzai -who runs a school in Mingora, her mother and her brothers and her friends and her teachers. She brings to fore her day to day life in Swat and in her school. The book is very engaging as Malala and her Father -a man who you will grow to admire during the course of the book, have an eventful life. Swat itself undergoes so much -the earthquakes, the talibanisation, the floods, Pakistan's fight against Taliban. All these are captured insightfully on a macro and micro level in this book. We also get a brief glimpse on the history of Swat and Pashtuns and Pakistan.
I don't want to write any more about this book because I want you all to go read it. And trust me, you will not regret it. If nothing else, you may stop seeing Pakistan as an enemy and feel sorry for its citizens. And more importantly, you realise that not all Muslims are fanatics and Islam too preaches nothing but love, peace and forgiveness -like all other religions.

PS: To understand what am trying to say about Pakistan, take a look at this.

Coming up next...Bartimaeus Trilogy

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