My Name Is Mahtob: The Story that Began the Global Phenomenon Not Without My Daughter Continues By Mahtob Mahmoody

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This is the story of an extraordinary young woman’s triumph over life-crushing trauma to build a life of peace and forgiveness. Two decades ago, millions of readers worldwide thrilled to the story told in the international bestselling memoir Not Without My Daughter that told of an American mother and her young child’s daring escape from an abusive and tyrannical Iranian husband and father. Now the daughter returns to tell her side of the story, not only of that imprisonment and escape but of life after fleeing Tehran: living in fear of re-abduction, enduring recurring nightmares and panic attacks, attending school under a false name, battling life-threatening illness—all under the menacing shadow of her father. My Name Is Mahtob: The Story that Began the Global Phenomenon Not Without My Daughter Continues

This is a wonderful follow-up to Betty Mahmoody’s books, “Not Without My Daughter” and “For the Love of a Child.” In fact, of all three books, this one is my favorite. I loved reading the story from Mahtob’s perspective and could hardly put it down. I found it very engaging from the beginning and I went through it quickly. Mahtob strikes me as a beautiful, compassionate soul who, despite all that she has gone through, seems to feel no bitterness whatsoever. Her resilience and faith are incredible.

Some of my favorite quotes:
“As hard as I fought to hold on to my anger, to continue to hate my dad, the tugging of the good memories eventually found an inroad to my heart. No one is all good or all bad. The reality that my father would forever be a part of me was inescapable. A big part of making peace with myself was rediscovering the good in him and claiming that as my inheritance. The act of forgiving wasn’t like flipping a switch—forgiven . . . unforgiven . . . forgiven . . . unforgiven . . . forgiven.”

“It was baffling to me that some people viewed our story as an anti-Iranian or anti-Muslim statement. That simply was not the case. The story is nothing more than an account of a piece of my family’s journey. If anyone reflects poorly on Iran and Islam, it is my dad for doing what he did, not Mom or me for talking about it. Even so, it’s unfair to judge Iranians or Muslims by my dad’s behavior.”

Finally, when she talks about her struggles with Lupus:
“The body is reached through the spirit. First you have to heal the soul. Then you can work on the body.” Memoir Not a great book at all. Very interesting life story, and I feel for the author and her experience and the challenge of coping with trauma, but the writing is weak and at times bends to the melodramatic while also managing to paint very flat portraits of the people in her life. Occasionally, (too often for my taste), she marches staunchly into evangelical christian rhetoric. This book seems to try and walk a line between memoir and personal religious testament. Overall a disappointment.
Memoir I have always found the concept of forgiveness troubling. What I mean to say is, what is it exactly ?
Does it mean it is ok what what was done ? Or Let bygone be bygones and lets move on together ?
Or what ?

I have read a number of things on the subject of forgiveness, both what it is and what it is not. Most have said it is basically a cancelling of the debt, the debt you feel is owed to you as a wronged person. Usually that is followed by this can happen whether or not you want to restore the relationship or to just walk away. It usually ends with by doing so you are giving yourself a gift, the gift of a bitterless life and supposedly when this happens, the name or actions of that person,(and this may take years ) will no longer give you an emotional charge, just a neutral feeling and no anger, crying, resentment, etc.

I mention the above because the author continuous states throughout the book that she has forgiven her father for abducting her and her mother and bringing them to Iran and holding them there against their will, as well as beating the living daylights out of her mother.

Yet .....................she never misses a chapter without calling his actions/him evil, narcissistic, controlling, abusive, lazy, arrogant and a host of other negative adjectives.

So being a natural ponderer, I wondered about the relationship between so called forgiveness yet the chronic emotional charge that takes place every time the subject of her father comes up.

A very readable story that most people know about from seeing the Sally Field film, ' Not without my daughter ', only it is from her perspective and not her mother's.

It was a real page turner and despite her traumatic youth, graduated college with a degree in psychology and is a very devout Lutheran.

Her father died in 2009 and she basically could not care less. I can not say I blame her at all, I could never love someone who was that rotten to me. Memoir Mahtob Mahmoody ist keine Schriftstellerin, was man natürlich auch am Schreibstil merkt. Das war mir klar und stört mich nicht weiter. Was mich allerdings sehr wohl stört, sind zwei Punkte:

1. Mahtob und ihre Mutter Betty haben ohne Zweifel Schreckliches durchgemacht, was ihnen widerfahren ist, ist ungerecht und entsetzlich. Dennoch st0ße ich mich an Mahtobs schwarz/weißem Weltbild. Der Iran ist schlecht, Amerika ist gut. Für mich zu undifferenziert (obwohl ich es mir nicht anmaße sie dafür zu verurteilen, habe ich doch nie eine ähnliche Erfahrung machen müssen).

2. Die großzügig eingestreuten Kommentare über den christlichen Glauben im Allgemeinen und Mahtobs eigenen Glauben im Besonderen. An und für sich kein Problem, jedoch ist der Ton oftmals belehrend und zu missionarisch für meinen Geschmack.

Alles in allem eine einfach zu lesende, teils langatmige, teils spannende Schilderung einer außergewöhnlichen Kindheit und Jugend. Memoir Trebuia neapărat să citesc povestea asta si din perspectiva copilei, pentru că uneori unii oameni au tendinta să exagereze, însă de această dată am descoperit că nimic nu a fost scos din context, pentru că înafara câtorva lucruri pe care poate le-au interpretat diferit, ambele, atât mama cât și fiica au trăit lucruri îngrozitoare.
Mahtob a rămas cu sechele, psihice si fizice, pe care le-a depășit cu greu. (Ba eu tind să cred că nu le-a depășit niciodată, chiar dacă ea a zis că a făcut-o). E cumplit să te simți veșnic cu o țintă pe spate, să te muți atât de des, să o iei din nou și din nou de la capăt, să încerci să uiti și totusi să visezi în fiecare noapte... grea traumă.
Știți însă ce am obs? În cartea mamei, tatăl are pasaje întregi unde nu este arătat chiar ca un monstru, pe când în cartea fiicei, deși sunt câteva momente în care ea își amintește cu plăcere de tatăl ei-iubitor, este subliniat clar si concis faptul că toate s-au întâmplat din vina lui, că el a fost cel care a distrus familia și că pt o chestie religioasă/doctrină politică, a dat la o parte tot ceea ce era frumos în viața lui. Nici eu nu aș fi vrut să mai am vreodata de-a face cu el, așa că nu o invinovatesc pe copilă absolut deloc.
Ce sa zic, Betty și Mahtob au fost norocoase până la urmă. Au reușit să scape, să-și găsească un nou drum, dar multe nu reusesc. Asta e adevarata tragedie. Poate noi ca oameni avem ceva de învățat din asta.
Scriitura este în același ritm ca al primei cărți, dar se vede oarecare diferență de perceptie. Am citit-o la foc automat, pt că îmi doream să aflu ce s-a întâmplat cu ele și încotro li s-au îndreptat pașii.
Încă nu am văzut filmul, dar nu sunt sigură că îmi doresc să o fac. Poate cândva.
5 stele. O carte, o lecție despre renastere și regăsirea de sine... Memoir

You can escape but are you ever free

The story of Mahtob and her mother's escape from her abusive father in Iran is gripping, sad and horrific. Told from Mahtob perspective as she grew up loving her father until her father changed and moved his family back to Iran. Once in Iran he abused and held his wife captive until they escaped. Mahtob sense of who she is quite remarkable and impressive. Her mother had bestowed on her daughter a very strong identity of her heritage and her independence.

I do have to say that after awhile, the story left me exhausted and I think due to Mahtob's relationship with her father that has never been resolved. A validation on both parties (Mahtob and her father) over took Mahtob's testimony. The exhausting part is there is no true freedom in Mahtob's testimony.

A Special Thank You to Thomas Nelson and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review. Memoir This is an amazing book.
It’s been years since I read Not Without My Daughter by Betty Mahmoody, and I’ve been haunted by it ever since. It was one of those stories that you just never forget. You really should, I could even say, must read that one first. Especially, as it didn’t really have an ending. If you’ve read it, you know what I mean. They were free but not safe. They were home but on the run. I didn’t read, or know about, For the Love of a Child her second book. This was the book that finally gave it a sense of conclusion for me.
I didn’t even read the synopsis, let alone note the publisher and so was completely surprised by how her story turned out, very pleasantly surprised. Not that everything was easy after her mother rescued her. It’s heartbreaking to read what she went through year after year. Despite it all, she has such an incredible joy. It’s not a cheap hilarity, nor is it an unrealistic focusing on only the good. Rather it’s a joy built on the belief that God has all under his control. That was what made this book so wonderful to me. She knows God’s love. With certainty, she claims a relationship with ‘the Father of the fatherless’. There isn’t a lot of Scripture or even doctrine, but the Gospel was given.
It’s a straight biography. She walks you through her memories starting with what she remembers of the years before and in Iran. Naturally, as she gets older her memories are more vivid and connected. It is fascinating. It really helped close the story from the first book.
How can someone who has gone through so much still carry on let alone thrive? Her answer is so hopeful. I found it very encouraging and I believe you will too.
Memoir Кофти е на мемоар да слагам 1 звезда, но няма как да дам повече на книга, която след първата четвърт съм започнала да прехвърлям.

Не без дъщеря ми беше сензация през 90-те и почти не познавам жена, която да не я е чела. Книгата изпълни своята функция - заговори се за рисковете при смесени бракове с мюсюлмани, една тема, която дотогава не е била на дневен ред. Дори и сега, 30 години след излизането ѝ, пак е първото нещо, за което се сещам като чуя за подобни бракове.

Най-сетне свободна е историята на дъщерята от Не без дъщеря ми - Махтоб. Мисля, че авторката ме загуби още на първите страници с обилните си спомени, които има от 4-годишна възраст. Въобще не вярвам, че някой може да има такива подробни спомени на такава ранна възраст. Нататък следва много вайкане, самосъжаления, сериозни здравословни проблеми и най-вече - обилна религиозност. Почти на всяка страница се говори за Бог, пастори, молитви и бъка от библейски цитати. Много досадно. Стилът е сантиментален и се точи като локум с някакви дребни и незначителни случки.

Като цяло с нищо не допринася тази книга към историята на семейството, явно става дума само за пари. Те вече всички се изказаха по темата - в книги, филми, лекции. Ама че цирк направи това семейство от драмата си, добре платен цирк обаче. Е, сама съм си ви��овна - любопитна бях какво се случва с това девойче. Вече знам. Сега очаквам книга от внуците, братовчедите, съседската котка и т.н. Memoir A story about the life of Mahtob, a story about her power of forgiving her father. Memoir So this is almost a sequel of sorts to Not Without My Daughter, from Mahtob's perspective. If you've ever wondered about what happened to Betty and Mahtob Mahmoody after the events of that book/movie, this is for you.

You may think you know the whole story just from reading (or watching) Not Without My Daughter, but not surprisingly, Mahtob's story is different from Betty's. (Obviously, right? Because who doesn't see things differently as a child than as a grownup?) It's bigger value, though, is in letting us know what happens after they get back to the states and about the rest of their lives up to this point.

It's also (as you might expect) an incredibly inspiring story. It's incredible to think of what the two of them survived, especially in light of the fact that they both seem to be incredibly kind, giving people.

Recommended. Memoir