While there were bits and pieces of Daring to Drive that were interesting, and Al-Sharif is certainly to be commended for her courage and passion to bring about positive changes for women in Saudi Arabia, overall this book just didn't grab my attention. (And I feel so bad for saying so!)
One reason is that the first half of the book, other than the initial few pages about her arrest, was really slow. She details growing up in Saudi Arabia, and while those are glimpses of her life there, I didn't feel like I learned anything new. She also spent a lot of pages talking about the radical brand of Islamic religion popular there, and how she felt affinity for that in her youth. Not only was it frustrating to read, but my eyes glazed over from all the religious information.
This book also suffers a lot from telling instead of showing, like "Here's something that happened to me, and then here's something else that happened to me". At times, it feels like the author is trying to include every single incidence of her life instead of choosing those that help her narrative. Or that she's trying to pad enough words in to make a book. When you put so much stuff in, a lot of it isn't really relevant and can be cut out to help with the pacing. And there isn't enough attention devoted to the core bits.
Perhaps this is a case of it's me and not the book. So many others have really loved this book, and while I didn't get much out of it, it still shines a light on a worthy topic.
Readaroo Rating: 2 stars
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