Burned Alive

Burned Alive is the true story of Souad, a young Palestinian woman whosurvived an attempted honor killing carried out by her brother-in-law. Thisautobiography, documented by Marie-Thérèse Cuny and translated fromthe French by Judith S. Armbruster, is narrated in such a way that the readerscan develop a familiarity with the complicated dimension of genderroles, the prevalence of asymmetrical standards of male and female morality in misogynistic societies, and their impact on women. The plot developsin a way designed to inform the reader that honor killing, although outwardlypracticed as a customary punishment for an illicit sexual relationship,is, in reality, a brutal form of female suppression.The book, divided into five parts, covers two different stages of Souad’slife. Now forty-five, the first phase of her life took place in a small WestBank village where, at the age of eighteen, she experienced the atrocity ofan attempted honor killing because she had had premarital sexual relationshipswith a man. Through an aid worker named Jacqueline, Souad miraculouslysurvived and was moved to Europe, where she began the secondphase of her life. She now lives with a loving husband and three children,following her tryst with death, twenty-four operations, and innumerableexcruciatingly painful recovery procedures ...