The Forbidden Other
Adrianne Allison

Reviewed by Ashley Merrill

Basically this book is broken up into her three trips to Jerusalem.  Adrianne Allison talks about her experiences, the people she meets, etc.  What you, the reader, will come to quickly understand is that this book changes from innocently comparing and contrasting our culture to the Islamic Palestinians, into very subtle statements about why America is sub par in comparison to Palestinians in Jerusalem. In the end of the book she decides that it is her calling to become a Muslim and goes through the correct channels to do just that.  In a nut shell, Adrianne Allison learns, (on her own accord) to hate America. 

You may think that this is a strong statement, but trust me.  If you don’t believe me, then read the book and you will see. She makes hundreds of comparisons of the two cultures.  The following are some of my favorites:  A comparison is made about how the Palestinian culture does not eat pig because they are expensive, and one of the cleanest animals.  She makes a statement that says that for every pig eaten by Americans, a baby suffers. She is insinuating that we spend time raising pigs to eat and as a result we let babies starve because we don’t spend our money on them.  Another comparison she uses is how much cleaner Palestinians are than Americans; especially when it comes to bathroom habits.  She says that we use toilet paper while they not only use toilet paper, but they have a hose like apparatus with water that comes out and cleans them. Another point she makes is that in America we do not prevent sexual harassment; we fix it after it already occurs.  Muslims make sure that it doesn’t get to that point; they make it so that a man and a woman don’t stay in a room alone together.  If they do, then the devil is in the room with them. Is any of this making any sense? Is she ticking you off yet?

Another point brought up is that women who wear burkas aren’t forced to wear them. She says that the American media makes us all believe that they do, but really they wear what they wear because they choose to.  She says that when they choose to wear a burka then it is showing power and femininity.  Maybe this is true in some parts, but I don’t need our media to tell me that in some places women are stoned because they do not don the proper attire. 

With all of that being said, I must admit that this book enraged me, and I had to put it down several times; in fact, I am surprised that I was able to get through the entire thing.  This book was also the cause of many debates between my husband, friends, and I.  The one thing we all agreed on was how this woman could write such things, and have the audacity to try and get it published here in America.   

Adrianne Allison has a skill for writing, and can put sentences together well, but that’s as far as I’m willing to go on the “kudos” part of my review.  I would not recommend this book to anyone, and I hope that no one picks this book up and eventually it just goes away.