This book presents the life stories of five working class women from Egypt in the 1970s. Atiya has masterfully written the tales in the voices of the women who told them to her. The stories contain fascinating ethnographic information about living conditions and customs of the region and the time. Together, they give a picture of women's issues in Egypt, especially regarding family bonds and power, women's work, establishment of gender roles, marriage, and female circumcision.

My primary interest was "Ancient Egypt" when I first arrived in Egypt, but I quickly became fascinated by the contemporary culture as well. I searched for books that would illuminate what I was seeing around me, in vain. I was especially interested in the plight of women in Egypt, and there didn't seem to be much writing on the subject. Luckily I came across this gem of a book which turned out to be exactly what I was looking for. The stories of 5 Egyptian women are lucidly told by this remarkable Egyptian author. This book gives a glimpse into a world one must usually be born into in order to understand. Thank you Ms. Atiya!

Khuul-Khal is an excellent insight into the life of Egyptian women. The way the author has kept the women's own style of telling their stories, made me feel as if they were talking to me directly. I felt deeply touched by some of the stories. Khuul-Khal is a very moving book and I can't recommend it enough to anybody who wants to learn more about Egyptians and their customs.

The typically snotty Kirkus Review hardly does justice to this book which manages to depict
harem life without sensationalism as well as an unflinching look at a tragic romance. Ramza's story is one of a spoiled
and pampered child who gradually abandons her home and family for a lonely freedom. Feminist beliefs are costly
for Ramza, but Out el Kouloub clearly believes freedom for her society was worth the price for the pathbreaking few women who defied custom. The translator's introduction is valuable in providing context for the novel, with some interesting notes on style and "free translation" that may explain the somewhat florid prose.

Out El Kouloub's Ramza is a fine fictional work that contributes to the understanding of the aristocratic harem institution in Egypt and the factors that helped bring its destruction in the 1920's through the vicissitudes of its heroine Ramza Farid. The harem had survived and flourished throughout the Ottoman Empire for centuries until internal social and political changes and growing European influence in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries closed the harem officially. In the Ottoman Empire proper this occurred in 1909 after the Young Turks seized power from Sultan Abdulhamid II who had become increasingly conservative in an attempt to curb socially liberalizing ideas that had started to threaten the future of traditional institutions such as the harem.
More significantly, some articulate and resilient harem women actively began to object their condition and were captivated by feminist ideals that eventually prevailed against the harem and those who continued to identify with it. Houda Sha'rawi became famous in Egypt for openly objecting to the wearing of the veil in public and in the Ottoman Empire proper Halide Edip expressed a discontent at the harem system which is reminiscent of Ramza's. Notions of marriage and family were inseparable from the harem institution and a rejection of the harem system necessarily entailed one against the majority of societal notions of women's rights and status.