How long does it take to read The Forbidden Woman =?
L'interdite
Malika Mokeddem
The Forbidden Woman = by Malika Mokeddem takes about 2 hours 52 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 2 hours 52 minutes
An evening's read
First published 1998. 156 pages, about 42,900 words.
6 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 4 hours 46 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 2 hours 52 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 1 hour 47 minutes |
The page count is the median across 2 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
The Forbidden Woman tells the story of Sultana, an Algerian woman doctor who, after years spent living in France, returns to her native village in order to attend the funeral of a former lover. The clash between her origins and the Westernized life she now leads is explored in telling detail against the backdrop of current events in Algeria. A work that combines insight into both political and personal matters, The Forbidden Woman develops a complex portrait of a country torn between progress and prejudice, secular life and Islamic fundamentalism. In this passionate book, Malika Mokeddem places special emphasis on the position of women in modern Algeria. The frequent indignities and injustices suffered by the narrator reflect the plight of women in a society marked by patriarchalism and religious fundamentalism. Yet the novel also suggests that, along with modernization, there are emerging demands for women's rights in Algeria - demands that might well signal a vastly different future for this tormented nation.
Subjects: Fiction, Social life and customs, History, Women, Fiction, general
