I generally try to stay out of this stuff, but I guess I'll toss in my two cents. To begin with, I thought it might be valuable to give some background information on Nawal el Saadawi. Here is the wiki page and her homepage. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nawal_El_Saadawi http://www.nawalsaadawi.net/
Nawal el Saadawi is a fairly significant dissident figure within Egyptian politics, and also an important feminist globally. Within those roles, she has been a forceful critic of both the Egyptian state and the fundamentalist opposition (while remaining anti-imperialist.) Her novels are also fairly normal fodder for intro level women's studies courses. I thought it was a little disturbing that someone who spent time in jail for their political dissent would be compared to the East German secret police.
Robert Wood