Advance Reading Copy Disclosure:
Thanks to BookLookBlogger and the publisher for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review. I have read Not Without my Daughter by Betty Mahmoody and I have seen the movie based on mentioned book. This drew my attention to this book, as well as the cover and title. This does not affect my opinion of the content or the book in my review.
“What Kombiz didn’t understand was that I didn’t need to talk to my dad to make peace with his place in my life. I did that years earlier, and I laboriously repeated the process each time he resurfaced. This was no exception.”
Hello!
IT seems everybody heard about the movie Not Without my Daughter or at least read the book of the same title by Betty Mahmoody. Not Without my Daughter told the story of Betty Mahmoody, an American mother who saved herself and her daughter from her husband when they lived in Iran. Have you ever wondered what happened to the daughter? I did and I was happy to have discovered the book My Name is Mahtob. You read about Mahtob’s point of view and her take on the story; back, when she was an only five-year old. How she had to witness when her mom had been beaten by her father, how they have been held hostage in Iran, as well as their escape over the mountains. Mahtob lived in constant fear of being “legally” kidnapped again, as her father has threatened to do. Besides that, he threatened to kill her mother.
When they finally made it back to America, Mahtob’s emotional journey was not over however. She dealt with panic attacks, nightmares, changed her name and survived a life-threatening illness. At some point, the book is written through the eyes of a child, which made me realize again how much kids in fact do perceive and understand. Mahtob memorized so many details about these eighteen months she spent in Iran that are different from her mother’s story. It is also shocking to read about the school she attended in Iran – even more the entire school system. This is a very honest book and you won’t find her sugar-coating anything. It is a great follow-up if you have read Not Without my Daughter.
Also, did you know that Mahtob’s father, Sayyed Mahmoody, wrote a book as well? Which also had been made into a movie? Get Betty Mahmoody’s follow-up For the Love of a Child here.
Thank you for reading my blog.
