Research Paper on:
Book Review of Story of Zahra by Hana al Shaykh

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
indicate how the book impacts society and third of all, to determine if the book should be read by others, and why. Using this aforementioned format, this paper will provide  a review of Hanan al-Shaykhs The Story of Zahra, which was published in 1986. This paper will explain the books content, its meaning and its importance.  The overall plot of the story involves escape. Zahra, who is born and raised in Lebanon, attempts to escape her terrible existence - terrible in  that she is a woman in Lebanon and terrible in that Lebanon, during the period of time in which this book takes place, is a war-torn country. She is considered,  by her family, a "misfit," whose mother mistreats her daughter by using her as a cover for her sexual liaisons with another man (Zahra Review). Meanwhile, Zahras father gets angry  with her because she keeps picking at her pimpled face, which reduces her value as a prospective bride (The Story of Zahra: A Review). He eventually beats her when he  suspects her role in his wifes infidelity (Zahra Review). She visits an uncle in South Africa, hoping to find peace there, but  finds problems there, too, when her uncle becomes sexually interested in her and she agrees, in order to fend of his advances, to try marriage with his friend Majed (The  Story of Zahra: A Review). However, when Zahra learns that it isnt the externals that cause conflict, but rather, the internals, she returns to her war-torn country to try to  find her own inner peace. Sadly, she does not succeed, becoming a victim of her own countrys mindless and all-pervasive violence (Zahra Review).