Summer Reading
During summer 2009, all incoming new GCSU students will read Woman at Point Zero by Dr. Nawal El Saadawi (available at a discount at Paw Prints Bookstore on the GCSU campus, the books will be in stock for purchase during Orientations). You will discuss the book in small groups called "circles" and then have it as an assigned text in your English 1101 class.
Kendra Matko, of the Colonial and Postcolonial Literary Dialogues program at Western Michigan University says of the book:
"Woman at Point Zero is a powerful Egyptian novel relaying the life story of a woman awaiting death row in a Cairo prison for murdering a pimp. Her crime is one she confesses to with no shame.
"The book opens with a confident, concerned woman psychologist and author trying to learn the story behind quiet, patient Firdaus. She is a mysterious ex-prostitute who refuses to speak with anyone in or out of the prison. Firdaus at last agrees to speak to the woman psychologist/author, and slowly unravels her tragic life history before the woman. It is a lifetime rife with abuse, oppression, abandonment, being taken advantage of on all levels, and of consistent rejection - by nearly every human she encountered from child to adulthood. "Firdaus takes readers through her turbulent childhood, from being abused and witnessing the abuse of her mother by her father, to the twisted molestation by her uncle, betrayal by lovers, and on to bitter exploitation by pimps, and last and possibly most ruthless - the persistent taunting of men, women, and law enforcement - as she struggles to live an adult life she has been given no tools to live."
Nawal El Saadawi is an Egyptian writer and activist who is well-known for her writings regarding the plight of women in Islamic societies. Once the Egyptian Director of Public Health, she has been imprisoned, threatened, and dismissed from positions in her country due to her political activities. She says of these experiences, "Danger has been a part of my life ever since I picked up a pen and wrote. Nothing is more perilous than truth in a world that lies."
We hope you'll find her book thought-provoking, and know that you'll especially enjoy getting to meet Dr. El Saadawi in your book discussion circles and at Freshman Convocation on Friday, August 14th. After your circle meeting, you'll be in a question-and-answer session with Dr. El Saadawi and hear her Convocation address that night as you are inducted into GCSU's Class of 2013.
