Week 51: I am Malala

This week's book:
I am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban
By Malala Yousafzai, co-written with Christina Lamb

Sorry, very late this week.

This week's book took me forever to get through not because of the book being poorly written, but for the fact that it's a dense but good read. The story of Malala is the story of her country. A land she explains as paradise has been filled with the Taliban, causing nothing but heartbreak and repression. But somehow through all of it, our author/heroine stays focused on her drive to make sure that children, especially girls, are educated. Even being shot at close range in the back of a bus has not stopped her passion for the cause.

To be honest, 2018 has been a pure poopfest for me on a personal level. My family has had two painful losses, my cousin lost her daughter after only getting to hold her for a few hours, and my grandfather passed away just a few days ago. Both of these losses have hit me in different ways, but both have hurt my heart. Along with the passing of two family members, I have suffered two miscarriages and been told my my son's kindergarten teacher that my son was not ready for school. Both of these issues have truly left me feeling like a failure on all fronts. I have been told that none of this was my fault, and yet I am still left with the feeling of being poop at my job as a mom. But while reading this book, I had to keep reminding myself that my situation could be much worse. Let's be honest, it isn't always easy when you are hurt or mad or sad or just feeling all around poopy which I have been. So this book kept being pushed aside to read other things.

I am very glad to have read this book. But if I'm going to be completely honest, I wanted to learn more about not just what happened before she was shot, but after as well. The book ends right after she was shot and her family has been forced to move to England. Her family feel displaced and her impact on the world wasn't fully in force. She hadn't received her Nobel Peace Prize yet, and all in all I feel like the book was right on the cusp of where Malala's story was just becoming her own story. She is going to school at the school her father started or being moved because of flooding or something else has gone wrong. I feel like the book could have been delayed a little. I have learned that she has a new book that will come out in September and I am thinking about picking that up. Perhaps it will cover more of her recent activity and crusades. I would definitely recommend the book, just know it's not the whole story.