Winter in Arabia Book

I received this book from a dear friend and it spent years on my bookshelf until I finally finished it. What a bizarre book for a modern Arab-American to read. On the one hand, Stark is completely phenomenal to be a woman with two other female companions in rural Yemen in the 1930s. She speaks fluent Arabic and has an understanding of the culture that, frankly, I've never seen in many modern books about this part of the world. There are incredibly funny moments where the locals trick her into buying things or solving their disputes. However, there is always that strange balance between her obvious love of the Yemeni people and her firm feeling of superiority. She is wildly learned, quoting poets and philosophers in Greek and Latin. It is impossible to not see it as the colonial, rich, white woman come to be amongst the "natives." Still, her discussions about the treatment of women in this part of the world and the ways in which women interact in community are fascinating. A beautiful counter to all the male explorers of the era.