2.5
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A young family's struggle to survive and maintain their dignity while being wrongfully held in a remote Moroccan desert jail for almost two decades. If you are looking for a real example of the power of human dignity when everything else has been stripped from you, look no further. ( )

A fascinating and terrify account of a young girl's life in prisons. Her family was held as political prisoners ( )

I registered this book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/14429509

Malika Oufkir, her siblings and mother are imprisoned in Morocco for about 20 years for crimes committed by their father, who was executed. This is the story as Malika tells it, with the help of writer Michele Fitoussi.

The tale begins with Malika's childhood. Her father holds a high position in the government, is friends with the king. when the king wants to "adopt" Malika as a small child, her parents really can't say no. Apparently this kind of arrangement was not uncommon at the time: Malika remains the child of her parents but sees them only rarely. Nevertheless, she is connected to them, particularly to her mother.

Living in the various palaces through her childhood, Malika is guarded, unable to move freely. She is thus already in a prison of sorts.

When she is a young woman of 19 her father takes part in some kind of attempted coup. It fails and he is executed. The family is then restricted and soon taken to prison. They spend 20 years in various prisons, some of which allow access to relatives and provision of decent food, and unfortunately one of which is horrifyingly cruel. It is from this worst prison that the family manages to escape, through a tunnel meticulously planned and dug with tiny instruments.

I'm not giving anything away here; the dust jacket contains this information.

Clearly it's an amazing story, for a rich, pampered family to fall on such hard times and to find the strength to endure and escape. I only wish it were told better. I do not know where the problem originates - with the writer or with Malika - but the narration is flat and leaves us hanging time after time. I feel it would have been a better book if more of the details were finished - many stories just peter out - and if some of Malika's relatives were fleshed out more, as they seem to appear out of nowhere, with offhand references to how important they had been in the past. I would also have liked more detail on how the family dealt with things like the condition of their teeth after the years of neglect and lack of adequate nutrition, which are mentioned only briefly. I think such information would help us grasp better what it felt like to be in this situation, from beginning to end.

I felt that Malika tends to glorify her role here. She probably was important in the development of the escape plan and much else that helped the family hold together, yet she repeatedly tells us how great she was.

It's an important book for the story it tells. I only wish someone else had written it. ( )

The story of Malika Oufkir and her family was interesting but I didn't find the writing compelling enough. Malika, her mother, and siblings were imprisoned for 20 years following the execution of her father who attempted to assassinate the king of Morocco in 1972. To get plucked out of those pages of her early life of luxury in the palace and then on extravagant trips as a teen, into the dungeons of concealment when her entire family is taken away as if to be erased from existence is quite a hostile contrast. There were indeed moments where I felt nervous about what they had to undergo during their time in the desert jail and I was able to feel that sense of suffering and pain. However, it felt very much like reading a journal heavy on the emotion but leaving out possibly important details. Malika naturally shouldered a great deal of responsibility since she is the oldest child of her siblings, so that was to be expected. However it felt as if she was making a lot of her points from an arrogant, selfish point of view. Her family's plight to get out of jail seemed to be credited mostly to her strength and abilities to help her family cope rather than much else. Passages often contradicted one another which made it confusing to separate fact from her memory. I think this book needed stronger writing or at the very least, another once-over from an editor. The subject matter was certainly fascinating enough to have deserved this. ( )

i don't know exactly why i didn't enjoy this. her life was so horrible. ( )

Review: Stolen Lives by Malika Oufkir. This is an amazing true story. I wasn’t to sure about the story at first because it started out slow but not to far into the book it captivated my interest and I couldn’t believe what this family went through for so many years. This is Malika’s story and she narrates from her point of view but after reading the book I thought Malika’s mother and five siblings were all treated horribly inhumanely. Their father, General Mohammed Oufkir attempted to murder King Hassan II of Morocco and was caught and executed and his family paid twenty years in a secluded prison for his crime. What makes the story fascinating was that Malika was adopted by King Hassan II when she was five to be a sister/companion to his daughter, Princess Lalla Mina. Once Malika turned eighteen her royal status no longer had any meaning with her birth father and he conspires to kill the King. Once this happened she returned to her birth mother and siblings. It wasn’t long before the King imprisoned Malika, her siblings and her mother as punishment for her father’s crime. Their imprisonment started out in a guarded house and after a short time they were moved to a secluded area in the desert and placed in isolated cells. As I read on I was amazed Malika was able to convey the hopelessness and hope, the physical changes, the emotional torments, the hunger and deprivation, fear and courage that they all endured during the twenty years in prison because it gives their story more power and allows for a glimpse into unimaginable existence. She was like a mother to her siblings by inventing games and telling fantasy stories throughout those years to encourage her family to stay alive. One day she finally came to the conclusion that they were all going to die so why not try to escape. It didn’t mater if they got caught because the way their health was they weren’t going to last much longer. With little strength she encouraged her family that they could get away. Even being watched closely they managed to work long and hard digging a tunnel with a spoon, a small iron bar and a cover to a can to gain freedom. Four of them managed to escape but became discouraged when they couldn’t get any one to help them and wherever they went they were looked on as suspicious. Malika was frustrated and felt escaping wasn’t getting them their freedom. Finally one day someone listened….Hassan II wasn’t looking good in the eyes of his people. He knew he had to take action and undo what he had done. So he imprisoned the family in another home under guard with plenty of food but no freedom….while he kept telling them they would be released soon….but soon didn’t come for another five years…. ( )

Compelling true-life events are told in a haphazard manner with no “story telling” ability. Although I was intellectually horrified at what this family was subjected to and amazed at their determination to survive, the story was told with such detachment that I consequently felt emotionally detached. I know it’s nonfiction but I expected to FEEL something and the cold, disjointed litany of facts left me wanting. Her descriptions of everything (from people, to events, to material aspects of her world) were often disconcertingly contradictory, sometimes within the same paragraph, so it was difficult to form a clear picture of reality (e.g., she loved living in the palace, she hated living in the palace; she loved the feeling of freedom while riding horses, she did anything she could to get out of riding horses, etc.). Maybe this duality is a consequence of coping with an entire life experience, one way or another, of imprisonment and oppression? ( )

This memoir is written by the daughter of a General Oufkir, who was a high ranking Moroccan official. After her father attempted a coup against the Moroccan king, the author, her mother, her siblings, and family friends are all imprisoned for twenty years as retaliation. This book is an account of those twenty years.

I found the first half of this book to be extremely boring. I wasn't very interested in the author's life in the palace and it just seemed to drag on and on. It got a little better towards the end. The author suffered horrible things and I'm always amazed that people can persevere through such a horrible imprisonment.

My problem with this book was again the expectations I had going in. I have read a lot of memoirs, and I absolutely love learning about political and social situations of other countries as it is interwoven with a personal story. I really wanted there to be something more of the Moroccan political situation woven into the story. I realize the author was isolated during this time, and had no idea what was going on in the country, but I think that is where the co-author could have stepped it up and done a little more research into the political background. I guess that was just beyond the scope of the book, and maybe not what most people would want. It just seems like if you are going to write such a heart wrenching book, it would be valuable to slide a little more historical education into it. Oh well. I may have given this book three stars, but I'm trying to spread out my ratings and give more things one and two stars.

If anyone knows any good books about Morocco, let me know. ( )

Intriguing as books about long stints in prison are, I normally avoid them as I feel I've had my fill of those kind of trauma books. But the blurb on the back cover of this book piqued my interest when I came across it on a hotel 'borrow / take' bookshelf, and it turned out to be fascinating, haunting and thought-provoking in equal measure because of the unique background of the story teller.

Malika Oufkir led a very privileged life in Morocco. Born to a wealthy heiress who thought nothing of selling an apartment block to fund a new couture collection, and a powerful army general who was the king's closest aide, the king demanded that her parents let him adopt her at the age of 5 to become a companion to his own daughter of the same age.

For 11 years she lived inside the king's world, and her account of this closed world of concubines, palaces the size of cities, and extreme opulence was utterly fascinating. This on it's own would have been enough to fill a novel, but when her father led a failed military coup in 1972 and was executed, she and her mother and 6 siblings plus 2 members of staff were banished, becoming part of the network of 'disappeared' political prisoners.

This book is a moving account of the 20 year imprisonment of the family in various desert prisons, where they are held in horrifying conditions whilst the regime waits for them to eventually die. How this imprisonment comes to an end is the stuff of Hollywood movies (no spoilers), yet for the family their ordeal can never truly be in the past. After 20 years they came out of prison as adults in their 20s and 30s, yet essentially they were still locked in the mental age they were when they were taken, not having had the opportunity to mature in the way normal adults do, yet enduring way beyond what most people ever have to face.

Traumatic as the family's story is, this is an amazing story of resilience, hope and courage. The setting in Morocco was fascinating, the insight into the royal lives enthralling, and the plot more extraordinary than anything fictional.

I couldn't put it down - 5 stars. ( )

This is a terrible story. But you say "hey lady, you gave this 5 stars". I say, not terribly written, it's certainly interesting and draws us into a different culture, a different time. What is terrible is how humans treat other humans. And that is what is terrible about this story. My heart was broken on multiple occasions while reading this. I think I cried from start to finish. What people suffer, that is heart breaking. What children suffer is even more heart breaking. The fact that this is a true story. That this women lived this story is the most heart breaking of all. And yes you should read it. Heart break is a good thing. ( )

This is a terrible story. But you say "hey lady, you gave this 5 stars". I say, not terribly written, it's certainly interesting and draws us into a different culture, a different time. What is terrible is how humans treat other humans. And that is what is terrible about this story. My heart was broken on multiple occasions while reading this. I think I cried from start to finish. What people suffer, that is heart breaking. What children suffer is even more heart breaking. The fact that this is a true story. That this women lived this story is the most heart breaking of all. And yes you should read it. Heart break is a good thing. ( )

Very interesting story by a woman who experienced things few have seen. She tells about growing up in the palace being raised by the king as an adopted daughter. She also tells about being an incredibly privileged jet setter in her teen age years. Finally she tells about being a prisoner, living in horrifying situations. She is very insightful, and can see both good and bad, throughout her life. Would definitely recommend it. ( )

A fascinating and terrify account of a young girl's life in prisons. Her family was held as political prisoners ( )

A fascinating and terrify account of a young girl's life in prisons. Her family was held as political prisoners ( )

Wow! An incredibly powerful story of a family that was locked up as political prisoners for twenty plus years. The suffering they endured is beyond belief. I could not put it down and just had to find out what happened. Just read it. ( )

Although this book was well-written, and, despite it's subject matter, easy to read, it felt flat to me. It would have helped if the events had been put into some sort of historical/cultural/political context, and if there had been more reflection on what things meant. ( )

I am not generally a fan of Oprah books and do not read them BECAUSE they are Oprah books. Most of the time, I find them depressing and awful. This book, though depressing and awful is also a compelling story of survival, family and shows just how quickly one can go from skipping through the gardens to being held prisoner for years and years.

I've seen criticism of the author's writing style, selfishness and inconsistency, which I can see, but that I don't hold against her. She was a prisoner HER ENTIRE LIFE, while in the palace and while in the desert. After enduring what she did, I feel it's appropriate that she's self-congratulatory and isn't sure of facts.
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Morocco.

Brought up in privilege, Malika, her mother, and her younger siblings were disappeared after their father's failed coup against King Hassan II (also Malika's adoptive father). They spent many years in squalid desert prisons and, after a successful escape that allowed them to contact foreign governments and press, a number of years of house arrest and surveillance. It's quite the amazing survival story. ( )

This book is a Documentary about the life of Malika Oufkir her father was the General for the king. The king even adopted her when she was little. Then her father turned against the king and was excited for treason. The king then imprisoned his entire family for twenty years until they escaped to France. I really liked this book it is all about how politics can crush humanity. This book shows that even if you are put through the worst time of your life your family is the most important thing in it. I also liked that while she was imprisoned she wrote stories to stay alive and to keep her family alive as a writer this was very moving. I give it a 4 out of 5 it flows well and is worth the read. This audio book was bought at Great Escape. ( )

Harrowing, uplifting, amazing and tragic in so many ways. The story of Malika Oufkir and her family. She was born the daughter of the King of Morocco's closest aide. She spent her younger years in the palace after the King adopted her to be a companion for his young daughter.

Then in 1972 her own father was executed for attempting to assassinate the King and her life of luxury ended. She and her mother and siblings (all children) were then imprisoned for twenty years under horrible conditions because of her father's actions.

The story is one of amazing resilience as they strive to keep each other going in these horrible circumstances using their family's love and humor as tools and weapons against evil and imagination as perhaps one of the best defenses of all.

It is a great tale of this family's triumph over tragedy and cruelty. ( )

This is the heartbreaking story of a woman and her family being cast out and jailed and her final redemtion after years of deprivation. I enjoyed the descriptiveness and flow of the chapters. The tone was easy to read. Hard to believe what cruelty lies in this world. ( )

This book is a Documentary about the life of Malika Oufkir her father was the General for the king. The king even adopted her when she was little. Then her father turned against the king and was excited for treason. The king then imprisoned his entire family for twenty years until they escaped to France. I really liked this book it is all about how politics can crush humanity. This book shows that even if you are put through the worst time of your life your family is the most important thing in it. I also liked that while she was imprisoned she wrote stories to stay alive and to keep her family alive as a writer this was very moving. I give it a 4 out of 5 it flows well and is worth the read. This audio book was bought at Great Escape. ( )

The story was riveting, but the storytelling quite lacking. ( )

Fascinating read - made me even more grateful to be an American! ( )