[Book Review] I am Malala: The Story of the Girl who Stood Up for Education and was Shot by the Taliban

 

I am Malala is a book that talks on the issue of women’s education and how she tried to make sure that children—especially female—get a basic education. The book is divided through four parts: the life of Malala’s parents before her birth, Malala’s childhood memories, her activist days, and the last part talked about her recovery in the UK along with her new life after the shooting. Throughout the beginning of the book—the chapters where Malala explained her father’s life and struggle—Malala laid the foundation for the next chapters by explaining the country’s condition—or in this context: Pakistan, important extremist actors and how they influence the country’s security along with her right as a woman, and most importantly her father’s strong idea on children’s education.

Her father’s idea on children education is an important part in the book—aside from the fact of the detailing description on her village’s destruction. It influences and resonates throughout the book from the beginning to the ending. Malala is strongly influenced by her father’s idea on equal right and how children—and especially women—should be able to gain the best access to education. She described how looking up at her father has made her to strongly push with her right for education and speak up for it when extremist groups try to take them right away. The book also described the political condition in Pakistan as to how and why the extremist movements in her village couldn’t be stopped or fully eradicated. Malala also tried to describe how her village—and some other bordered territories—are tightly surrounded by not just a national-level conflict but an international-level conflict.

Malala explained the US’ involvement in Pakistan, the lack of response from Pakistan in responding to the extremist movements in the country, and the unstable political conditions that kept going on her village that pushed her family’s finance and security to be on edge.

Malala also talked about her current life in which she is now receiving a good education far away from her country. Her family and Malala haven’t been able to get back to their village due to political issues—especially as to how her shooting turned out to be one of the biggest international events and it made the extremist groups pushed in a spotlight. It was the first time that the international world really heard what happened in the small villages across Pakistan. Malala expressed her sadness on being away and homesick—although her new environment offered her the best sense of security that she couldn’t get back at her hometown. Malala also covered her speech experience on the UN and her experience meeting the world’s leaders to gain their attention on the education right for women in her village.

The book is one of the bestsellers although it’s banned to get into Pakistan (as what my quick search on Google says). At some points, I understand why the book is banned—Malala touched many sensitive topics in her book. When I said sensitive, it’s not just a sensitive general topic but more to a sensitive government issue such as corruption and the government’s link to terrorist groups. For example, there was a discussion of how the Pakistanis government would only do something on random extremist groups’ member if the US becomes frustrated with the lack of results from Pakistan. Malala also pointed out the lack of attention the government puts on its rural areas which resulting on the rapid spread of extremist beliefs and one of the reasons for her frustration as the extremist groups would always rise to power whenever it was close to pushing them to stop.

Malala explained that the existence of these terrorist groups has caused a great disturbance in the country’s security and especially towards her education. As someone who likes studying, the instability and insecurity make it hard for Malala to continue studying at schools.

When I read Malala’s story, I was sad. Malala explained some of the specific situations that happened in her country—she pointed out how the radicalism grew on a small scale and then escalated into a bigger matter. Somehow, what she wrote hit close to home for me. I have seen how Indonesia has slowly adopted some values and norms that Malala pointed out as the rise of the extremist groups in her home country. But, what saddened me the most is the fact that “women don’t need to have a higher education because they will end up satisfying their husbands at home” is not an exclusive idea in Indonesia but around the world. As the years go by, I thought that this kind of ideas has gone. However, as it turns out, with the help of social media, there have been many suppressing ideas of how women should behave and do—especially on education.

I am Malala is such a strong and powerful book. It made me wish that it was only fiction because how cruel the world is when you realized that a teenager had to get shot for the world to realize there is something wrong with the way women’s basic rights and needs are taken away.