The Golden Chariot

A griping tale of oppression for women in Arabic culture is found in Salwa Bakr’s The Golden Chariot.  The main character, Aziza, kills her step-father, after he decides on another woman, rather than stay with Aziza as his sexual partner after decades together.  Aziza’s step-father duped his wife (Aziza’s blind mother) of the relationship he began with her when she was under ten years old.  When her mother dies, she continues to live with him throughout her adult life, until the point in which he decides he has found a new woman.  Aziza takes a knife and plunges it into his heart while he is asleep.  She is found guilty of the crime and is sentenced to solitary confinement for fourteen hours each day while in prison.  She dreams of escaping this world and ascending directly into heaven in a golden chariot.   While in prison, she introduces numerous women imprisoned with her, whom she plans on taking with her.  Each of the women who have been incarcerated have similar stories as Aziza, some even more compelling.  Each chapter provides the background stories of two additional woman, ranging from sexual abuse, rape, drug-addiction, poverty, prostitution, and stolen opportunities.  In some way these women become Aziza’s kindred spirits.  Each of the women are escaping the “prison” that they inhabited before coming to this prison.  Bakr’s story captures the multiple injustices that have occurred to this society in transition.  Each of the women portrayed yearn for a life better for their children, and those who are removed from the horror that they have experienced.  Bakr’s rather short stories for each woman is detailed and shows the reader how difficult it is to be a woman in a male dominated culture.  In the end Aziza’s dream comes to a climax…  is it a real escape, or is it solely a dream  that will never be answered?  I was very moved by the book and would encourage this as a top read on the list.