Review: Inside the Kingdom - My Life in Saudi Arabia (Book, 2004)

Thursday, March 31, 2016
I like to diversify my perspective, so I picked up this book to explore “the other side” of Saudi life. I realised that in my attempt to discover Saudi Arabia through books, I had unwittingly mostly read books on stories of Saudi nationals. I had of course read books on Saudi Arabia by authors from different countries, but the stories they told were (mostly) of life from a Saudi perspective. Perhaps this is an effect of my own experiences—as a non-resident alien living in a foreign country, it is hard to come across works by non-nationals that truly take the time to understand and relay the experiences of people from another society without particular pre-oriented leanings.

And perhaps foreigners should not be expected to tell the stories of others without bias—as people, our stories surely will be coloured by our perspective—which is certainly not a terrible thing. Still, I have discovered that because so little is known of regions like “the Middle East” and “Africa,” books from the perspectives of foreigners easily become the authority on the lives of others, and to take only that account as a reader will simply not give me a fair exploration or understanding of regions that do not have the global ‘airtime’ or platform that many Western countries do.

In any case, this book gave me an opportunity to look into this idea of mine that the perspective of non-nationals may be ill-equipped to tell relay balanced stories of unfamiliar regions, and to brush up on my understanding of Saudi society, which I had initially delved into five years ago…




The Rundown

Country: USA; on Saudi Arabia, 2004
Author: Carmen bin Laden
Genre: Memoir, Non-Fiction, Autobiography,
Languages: English
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Pages: 224
Love it or Hate it? Read it… with a grain of salt

Synopsis in A Sentence: The wife of one of the brothers of Osama bin Laden tells of her experiences from Switzerland and Iran, through courtship in the U.S. and marriage into the Saudi Arabian clan of the bin Ladens.

Think: Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia.
Mob wives in Saudi Arabia, with a lot less intrigue, and a bit more political analysis

The Good:  For what it is, Inside the Kingdom offers a very insightful story, taking us through the layers of veiled mystery that is Saudi Arabia. Most of us will never get the chance to experience the hidden kingdom, so this book is indeed one of the few resources that gives us valuable historical context and insight into the daily lives of true Saudi elite.

The author’s experience is invaluable in that she experienced transformations through Saudi history that have rarely been penned down in this way—from the viewpoint of a personal account. From Carmen bin Laden’s story we experience the changes through Saudi society, from the ‘70s through the ‘90s. So we learn of the initial construction of the country after the oil boom, the first buildings of supermarkets and malls and the relative freedoms that existed in Saudi life. We learn how global events like the Siege of Mecca, the Iranian Cultural Revolution and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan impact Saudi society and the lives of men and women in the country. For this insight, this book is valuable and appreciated.

The prose is clear and well written, with small anecdotes unravelling the personal story of one bin Laden family and the elites they roll with. The book very clearly takes a stand on the state of Saudi Arabia, its people, the impact on religion on the country, and an analytical outlook into the role of the country future global politics, all from the author’s perspective. And while I value the book for this unique perspective, I also take the ideas it espouses with a fair grain of salt…
                                           …because I have read more. I try never take one book for what it says on a subject—I try explore varying viewpoints especially viewpoints challenging my own: read fiction, non-fiction, historical accounts, political and socio economic analyses, and then use that insight to discern what a society may really be really like.


The Bad: There is a fundamental problem with seeing one culture from another cultural lens, yet remaining unaware of our own coloured cultural lenses and experiences. So how may we be able to put aside our lenses, and how do we truly try to take a balanced view on ideas we may have not previously known, may not understand, and possibly may not even be interested in?

This book does what I decry the most in books— it looks at experiences from an alien perspective, not even attempting to truly take a look at what it may be like to be born into that society. Every society has a unique outlook, and honestly, every society thinks that they have it best—until their experiences are challenged by a way so different it is perplexing, uncomfortable and may eventually even become threatening.

In this book, we look at Saudi Arabia from a foreigner’s perspective—A woman who identifies as Western—A woman who was never particularly interested in understanding the society she went on to live in and become a part of. And there is a distinct difference between deliberately seeking to live in and take part in a society, and marrying a man from that society for the sake of love.

This book may be enlightening to a novice explorer of Middle Eastern societies when it comes to issues of women’s life in Islamic countries and the absoluteness of family. It will also certainly be enlightening to women who think they can get married to a man without marrying his family. It will be educational to those who might have not considered the legal complexities involved in an international marriage and the impact that national laws have on the lives of families. But if these essentials were already known, then this book will be one of those that goes on about the restrictiveness of Islam and the oppression of women and the “backwardness” of Saudi culture. And these are not my words. It is clear through the story that the author had not quite considered the implications of the decisions she made when she married a Saudi man, let alone a bin Laden—one of the most elite and influential families in the world.

While being of Iranian and Swiss decent, Carmen bin Laden’s perspective is particularly Western, which is certainly not a negative thing. There is however an issue when there is such a patronizing regard—when a person thinks that she can be the answer to a society— When a person in-fact thinks that her little daily actions can, in her words, “modernize” the society. From the accounts in her book, and as a foreigner living in another country, Carmen bin Laden seemingly did not attempt to take Saudi Arabia for what it was, but would rather have Arabia  become Western. Even as a foreigner living in another country, I cannot help but think of this as condescending and even bearing undertones of colonial-like thinking.

In all fairness, the author herself seems to have experienced a fair amount of condescision in her life, particularly in Saudi Arabia. Yet the notion that by hosting tennis parties in her villa she could show Saudi men the importance of engaging with their wives as equals, and hence help transform—even modernize—the country is deeply, deeply misguided.


The Verdict: The stories and experiences and insight that Carmen bin Laden’s book brings to the world is valuable. It is better that the stories be told than not. At the same time, especially for readers not yet exposed to books on the Middle East, to take this entire book completely, without considering its leanings and the particular perspective that it portrays would only mystify insight into an already mystified country.

It is certain that the Middle East has challenges, like every region of the world. To more effectively gain insight into Saudi and Muslim societies in the English language, I would highly recommend books by Rajaa Alsanea, Ameera Al Hakawati, and Jean Sasson, written by Saudi, British, and American authors with less tinted viewpoints on the region. Their books highlight the challenges of the region without sugar coating them, yet they take the time to do what effective books should—deliver understanding on a subject (or two) J

3/5 Stars


Memorable Quotes:
1.     “One of the students in my English class was a Saudi named Abdel latif. He was dumb struck when he heard I was engaged to Yeslem bin Laden. He came up to me very formally to say that he had known Yeslam’s father, who had died in 1967. On the other side of the world, Abdel latif was the first person to open my eyes to the body of Saudi legends surrounding Sheikh Mohammed bin Laden…

2.     ”One March morning in 1975, Yeslam woke me with the news that King Faisal had been assassinated—shot by one of his nephews. I could feel his sense of panic and urgency. Saudi Arabia was in an uproar, Yeslam told me. It was claimed that the assassinator was deranged but it was most likely a revenge killing, Yeslam said. The murderer’s brother had been executed 10 years previously for participating in an Islamic fundamentalist revolt against the king’s decision to authorize television in the kingdom.”


3.     “Still, try as I might, I never could manage to teach my daughters to practice the manipulative, underhanded behaviour that characterized the women around me. Perhaps for the children’s’ good, I should have made that effort, but I felt powerless to prepare them for lives as Saudi women. I hated even thinking about it.”

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