Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women is the story of
Brook's intrepid journey toward an understanding of the women behind the
veils, and of the often contradictory political, religious, and cultural
forces that shape their lives. In fundamentalist Iran, Brooks finagles
an invitation to tea with the ayatollah's widow - and discovers that
Mrs. Khomeini dyes her hair. In Saudi Arabia, she eludes the severe
segregation of the sexes and attends a bacchanal, laying bare the
hypocrisy of this austere, male-dominated society. In war-torn Ethiopia,
she watches as a female gynecologist repairs women who have undergone
genital mutilation justified by a distorted interpretation of Islam. In
villages and capitals throughout the Middle East, she finds that a
feminism of sorts has flowered under the forbidding shroud of the chador
as she makes other startling discoveries that defy our stereotypes about
the Muslim world. Nine Parts of Desire is much more than a captivating
work of firsthand reportage; it is also an acute analysis of the world's
fastest-growing religion, deftly illustrating how Islam's holiest texts
have been misused to justify the repression of women. It was, after all,
the Shiite leader Ali who proclaimed that "God created sexual desire in
ten parts, then gave nine parts to women."
