I am Malala

To make it clear, rating a book is different from judging its author.

I think the book is a combination of historical facts, political agencies and personal reflections on each event that happened during her lifetime. Malala is apparently influenced and empowered by her father who was extraordinarily outspoken about rights to education and owning a huge school despite intimidating warnings from the Taliban. Due to this fact, mostly her father’s voice reverberates throughout the story. Unlike Tara Westover in Educated (2018), whose characteristic is contrasting to her father’s, Malala Yousafzai grew up with a very open-minded Islamic father who was always on her side.

It is undeniable that Malala herself is inspiring and courageous, so I just think it would be better if she spent more space writing thoughts filtered through her own viewpoint.

Still, this is a good book. I learned much about the historical foundation of Pakistan, the emergence of the Taliban and complicated conflicts among different denominations of Islam.