{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20260406T231758Z","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/1956763023?tag=bookfrontier-20","asin":"1956763023","authors":["Sabeeha Rehman"],"book_id":"9781956763027","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781956763027","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781956763027.jpg?v=20260406T231758Z%3A2026-04-06T23%3A17%3A58Z","description":"From the author of Threading My Prayer Rug , an eye-opening view of life in Saudi Arabia. It’s Not What You Think is a wry, incisive account of working in Saudi Arabia that offers insight into that insular patriarchal society, what is so attractive to expatriates living there, and what was contradictory or confining about it for a naturalized American who is a woman and a Muslim. A hospital executive in New Jersey, Sabeeha relocated with her oncologist husband to Riyadh, the most conservative city in the country, intending to remain two years. They ended up staying for six. Her book takes the reader on a journey of discovery that mirrors her own. Offered an influential position at Riyadh’s most prestigious hospital, she first has to obtain her husband’s permission to work. In public spaces, she quickly encounters the morality police but also learns the freedom of the abaya. Sales men staff the lingerie department. Women in Riyadh do not work in public places, yet they hold positions of authority within corporate culture; and outside Riyadh, she discovers that women-owned-and-operated businesses flourish, and Bedouin women could drive in the desert decades before Riyadh’s ban was relaxed. Through Sabeeha’s eyes, we see how Saudi and Western expat cultures coexist within the boundaries of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” how traditions define the identity of the Saudi nation, and how to discern what is “culturally appropriate” versus what is required legally. As she dons pilgrim’s garb, we join her on the hajj, to discover the intensity and spiritual high of the devout.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9781956763027","publication_date":"20221011","publisher":"Arcade","slug":"it-s-not-what-you-think","subtitle":"An American Woman in Saudi Arabia","title":"It's Not What You Think"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"HIS026010","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Arabian Peninsula History","score":0.7699,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"POL035010","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Human Rights","score":0.6943,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"BIO002040","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Arab & Middle Eastern Lives","score":0.6889,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"HIS026010","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Arabian Peninsula History","score":0.7699,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"POL035010","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Human Rights","score":0.6943,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"BIO002040","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Arab & Middle Eastern Lives","score":0.6889,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"BIO002040","confidence_band":"high","label":"Arab & Middle Eastern Lives","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"BIO022000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Women's Lives","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"TRV015000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Middle East Travel","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"Arabian Peninsula History","score":0.7699,"slug":"arabian-peninsula-history"},{"label":"Human Rights","score":0.6943,"slug":"human-rights"},{"label":"Arab & Middle Eastern Lives","score":0.6889,"slug":"arab-middle-eastern-lives"}],"reader_fit":["Good for readers who enjoy Arabian Peninsula History","Good for readers interested in memoir","Good for fans of Memoir"],"related_lists":[],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["Karen Elliott House"],"book_id":"9780063390355","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780063390355.jpg?v=20260406T231758Z%3A2026-04-06T23%3A17%3A58Z","score":13.1143,"title":"The Man Who Would Be King","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780063390355"},{"authors":["Googoosh","Tara Dehlavi"],"book_id":"9781668067420","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781668067420.jpg?v=20260406T231758Z%3A2026-04-06T23%3A17%3A58Z","score":12.5626,"title":"Googoosh","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781668067420"},{"authors":["Avi Shlaim"],"book_id":"9780861548101","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780861548101.jpg?v=20260406T231758Z%3A2026-04-06T23%3A17%3A58Z","score":12.236,"title":"Three Worlds","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780861548101"},{"authors":["Alan Verskin"],"book_id":"9781503607736","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781503607736.jpg?v=20260406T231758Z%3A2026-04-06T23%3A17%3A58Z","score":12.2294,"title":"A Vision of Yemen","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781503607736"},{"authors":["Rashid Khalidi"],"book_id":"9781250787651","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781250787651.jpg?v=20260406T231758Z%3A2026-04-06T23%3A17%3A58Z","score":12.1296,"title":"The Hundred Years' War on Palestine","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781250787651"},{"authors":["Ghaith Abdul-Ahad"],"book_id":"9780593536889","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780593536889.jpg?v=20260406T231758Z%3A2026-04-06T23%3A17%3A58Z","score":11.5524,"title":"A Stranger in Your Own City","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780593536889"},{"authors":["Jim Krane"],"book_id":"9780312655433","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780312655433.jpg?v=20260406T231758Z%3A2026-04-06T23%3A17%3A58Z","score":11.4063,"title":"City of Gold","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780312655433"},{"authors":["Daisy Hernández"],"book_id":"9780593730171","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780593730171.jpg?v=20260406T231758Z%3A2026-04-06T23%3A17%3A58Z","score":10.362,"title":"Citizenship","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780593730171"}],"topics":[{"evidence_refs":["keyword:women in islam"],"label":"Women","score":0.5667,"slug":"women"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:travel essay"],"label":"Travel","score":0.0972,"slug":"travel"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:middle east"],"label":"Middle","score":0.0689,"slug":"middle"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:memoir"],"label":"Memoir","score":0.0644,"slug":"memoir"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:living abroad"],"label":"Living","score":0.0519,"slug":"living"}],"what_you_get":["Themes: Women, Travel, Middle.","Reading lane: Arabian Peninsula History and Human Rights.","Publisher: Arcade."]},"llm_signals":null,"source_presence":{"amazon":true,"book_detail":true,"goodreads":true,"llm_signals":false,"similarity_seed":true},"stats":{"amazon_ratings_count":308,"goodreads_ratings_count":338,"goodreads_reviews_count":78,"quality_score":0.9148}}