The Girl with Three Legs

August 15, 2011
Miré, “the daughter of a Somali general, a survivor of female genital mutilation, a survivor of an abusive arranged marriage to a relative, now an activist for African girls and women,” brings all these personae together in her memoir. Miré is at her most compelling in her graphic rendering of the harrowing genital procedure performed on her. She studiously avoids politics (“I didn’t want to get involved with the north and south politics in Somalia”), but readers unfamiliar with those politics may be disoriented when they impinge, as they do. Bits of Miré’s account border on the ethnographic: chewing qat (leaves and twigs meant to stimulate the mind); a spirit dancer’s purification ceremony ; her surprise arranged wedding made “with the blessings of my family and without my knowledge or agreement.” Miré’s sojourn to America, by way of Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and France, and the saga of making her film, Fire Eyes, are reported more minutely than is engaging. Although the telling is long-winded and the dialogue bland, Miré’s personal, passionate, and persuasive rejection of any cultural defense of female genital mutilation makes compelling reading. “I own my story, my body, and my voice,” Miré asserts, “and no one can stop my mission to end the practice.” Her “mission of speaking out to end the abuse of girls” is well served by her heartfelt account.

October 1, 2011
Daughter of a powerful Somali general, Mir' suffered, at age 13, the excruciating pain of female genital mutilation (FGM), but she has survived to become a global activist against the atrocity. She tells her story as victim and as powerful militant. The family betrayal is always with her: How can she ever forgive her mother for the cruelty of FGM, and her father for going along with it, and then for the arranged marriage to an abusive cousin? But she does escape, leaves her family and her culture, has therapy and reversal surgery to restore normal sexual function, and finds love and friendship in Europe and then in the U.S, always driven by her passionate cause. She describes an appearance on Oprah, her alliance with Alice Walker, and the story behind the making of her film, Fire Eyes. There is a lot of repetitive detail in this account, but readers will be caught by the urgency of the contemporary cause, rooted in the anguish of one brave woman.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)