Here are some customer reviews of
Not Without My Daughter
: HI....I havent read the BOOK YET but i saw the movie and i thought it was great!.........I have a friend who is dating a Muslim but he's not from Iran but i recommend the movie and probably the book also. I am going to read the book and i am SURE it is good as the movie.
 Having lived in Iran for seven years as an American wife of an Iranian I was disturbed to read this book's descriptions of life in Iran. I cannot dispute that one woman could have terrible experiences, but it is disturbing that she makes little effort to explain how unusual her experience was. Unfortunately there are few other memoirs by Americans who lived in Iran to compare with this one. We tend to be fascinating by the exotic other and neglect to describe how many common qualities shared across the globe. Many of my Iranian friends were hurt and offended by the misleading descriptions. If you read this book, make sure to read something to counterbalance it, maybe Persian Pilgrimages. In contrast to Betty, I found my Iranian relatives to be hospitable, warm and kind, and concerned for a person alone without her family. I found that Americans who did not like Iran were primarily those who wanted it to be a replication of the US. It is not. But I met no American who was terrorized or abused. Instead, despite American aid to Iraq - which was attacking Iran in the 1980's, and American Aid to the dictatorial Shah in the 1970's, Iranians felt overwhelmingly positive towards Americans....though they had some distorted views about us as well, imagining that women are frequently [molested] in the streets in the US (well it happens but not frequently) ... Do we need books that reinforce or dispel our [myths]?
Captivating book, but the hurt that she suffered loosing her husband seeps through the pages of the book.
It shows in her writing style.
The fact that she loved her daughter so much is understanding, but little is ever said about her son's and the fact that she may never see them again is not felt in the book.
She must have known by the length of her relationship with Moody that what is expected of a wife in the Iranian culture is much different than what is expected by an American husband.
She also must have known that the children are considered the responsibility of the husband after they reach a certain age.
Iranians love to talk about their homeland and surely in the conversations she and Moody had in their relatively long relationship, these matters of child raising, and duties of the parents were discussed, even if in a matter of conversation though it wasn't established that he felt that way personally.
To put it bluntly, she sounded shocked about the fact in the book, but I'm not sure why.
I am an American and have had 2 Iraninan husbands's, divorced both times.
It's not a matter of who's wrong or right persay, but what culture were you raised in.
Though I do not condone physical abuse, it's a fact that it happens in every culture all around the world.
You can take the Iranian out of Iran, but you can't take Iran out of the Iranian, and so on and so forth with American's.
The book not without my daughter is a very good book. It is thrilling and heart beating. This was a book that got me hooked on it and when I read it I did not want to put it down. This is a sad story and no ladie should be treated the way Betty was treated. I think it takes lots of courage to do what Betty did. Betty told a story like no one has ever told a story and this has to hurt and give her pain inside just to tell this story. Put yourself in her shoes and lets think of what we have and cherish it.
 I would advice everybody to reathis book. It gives a good picture of the current situation in Iran and the relationships between men and women, and how big the influence of religion can be.
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