I rate this book a 3/5 stars. Ayaan Ali has done expectational research into the sexual assault crisis in Europe and the affects of it. Here book is thought provoking, eye-opening, and in many ways convicting. She challenges the ideals that we have today and asks what it means to be liberal and what it should mean. For the quality research that she does her book was hard to keep focus because as she points out the issues that we are seeing I was constantly asking the question, “so what can we do to change things?” without receiving an answer. Here book is 18 chapters and out of the 18 only 4 of them cover solutions in thoughts on what we can do to change things. She dedicated the first majority to the many issues of sexual assault and immigration. I wish that she would have pieced where she introduced and issue and the problems and then gave the solution for it after discussing it and before moving on to the next issue. Framing the book as she did, I was constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop.

She does a great job of pointing out the issues with sexual assault: not taking women seriously, the police not doing enough, the light sentencing or no sentencing, the way that a victim has to prove themselves over and over again, the intrusive nature of the way women have to prove they have been assaulted, the fact that have to face their predator over and over in court to get a sentencing, and this double standard idea that the predator’s life is being ruined through the case and the victim’s hasn’t been by the assault. The issue I have again and again each chapter is not “maybe she is wrong” or “are the statistics true?” The issue I have is that she is only giving example after example to back up her point, but not giving a solution. I am aware and understand what is happening but what are we to do? I want to know how to help. How to decrease the horrors that exist for us women for simply being women. I want to know...where do we go from here? And it isn’t until the last four chapters that she gives that which is tough because it would be really easy to lose readers before they get to that point.

Other than the framework of her book I thought the information was incredible and something no one is talking about. It felt very contradictory to what I have learned in the past. It is very convicting for me, as a liberal and a feminist, to hear from an immigrant the issues she faces. It poses obvious questions that many have heard before such as: if the roles were reversed and this was happening to men would they do something about it? I find myself leaning toward not believing Ayaan’s research, which is crazy, and second guessing her because of the convicting, controversial, and contradictory views that she is speaking on. It is hard to rate and review because I feel so split. I feel that I can’t speak on this as a Caucasian American who has lived with so many privileges that my nightmares don’t come close to the actual horrors that these women have lived through and the other side of me that says “that’s the point;” that I have to use my voice and my privilege to make people listen and pay attention to what is happening.

Ali made me open eyes and realize that there are women that are left behind in the current feminist movement as much as we don’t want to believe it. “Progress is progress” is a quote that I think comes to mind when I think of the attitude that I have had toward my feminist journey and while that remains true, we have to be aware of where we are progressing and what is falling through the cracks. We also have to look at if that progression is turning a blind eye or regressing other movements. Ali isn’t wrong to say or believe that “we need a new feminist movement” but maybe we don’t have to wait for a new one maybe we just need more awareness and to reawaken the current movement.

If you are looking to understand what women, especially migrant women, in Europe are going through and looking to be convicted in a way that gets you moving to help others and you love research this is the book for you.

*I received a free copy of this book in return for an honest review.*

A well written well researched book about immigration.Full of charts and statistics the author on the personal side shared her story of sexual vabuse and other difficult stories.Important informative a book that will engender much discussion highly recommend.#netgalley #harper

Rooted primarily in facts and charts, Ayaan Hirsi Ali addresses the problems with the mass immigration from majority Muslim countries where mistreatment is unfortunately more common as the culture is just simply different there. She addresses how these immigrants are impacting women's rights and freedoms within the area. Spoke from the middle ground and as an asylum-seeking refugee, she offers important context and personal anecdotes.

I thought this was very informative. It's not an easy read by any means - the subject matter is very heavy and may be too much for some, but it's well researched and relies heavily on statistics and data to shine a light on a real problem. Ayaan Hirsi Ali has first hand experience with immigration, Muslim culture and her own sexual abuse and is an important voice for equality and women's rights worldwide.

This book has many tables with statistics on rapes and sexual assaults in the EU, and that is exactly what's going on there. However, the author is contradicting herself while explaining the problem. The introduction is dedicated to bash anyone who is not so called progressive or liberal, she even brushed up on the Soviet Army raping German women, conveniently forgetting to mention how many Soviet women were raped by the German soldiers, but perhaps for her Soviet women's lives do not matter as much. I do not agree with Putin but I did not see how his mention is relevant to the rape of the German women by some criminal immigrants from Asia Minor. The author refuses to see the problem is not Islam or Syrians, and not even immigration but on one hand, the big politics and bad decisions of Angela Merkel, who Germans keep electing, by the way, as well as the liberal justice. LIBERAL justice. It is progressivism and liberalism that defend the rapists and liberal courts that let them go to commit more crime! If they got more severe punishment, others would be cautioned and they would think twice before doing something like that. If people were smart during election times and wanted to defend themselves, they would never have chosen the officials they have multiple times.

This is an uncomfortable book that needs to be read. So often, women in America raise their voice about womens rights, yet they turn a blind eye to religions/cultures that harm women. It can be daunting in America to pay attention to every cause (because everyone has a cause) - but if American women want to make real changes, they need to understand the differences and horrors of women being exploited and harmed. American women have it so much better than other cultures.
You want to be a brave woman? Read this book.
You want to understand about exploitation in order to correct it? Read this book.
You want to read a powerful book about a survivor? Read this book.
If you want to understand where America is heading and if things don't change womens rights and freedoms will be set back - read this book.
Thank you Ayaan for writing this book and never giving up the fight. Thank you NetGalley and the Publishers for giving me an ARC of this powerful book.