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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
I remember starting this book years ago and really enjoying it. However, my friend lost my copy so I was only able to finish it this year and I have a very different perspective. The book is fine but I have some critiques.
I think the book doesn't read as a cohesive novel, it reads as a selection of articles you would find in a university magazine. All interesting and you can see the deep thinking but it lacks the originality of thought and understanding of others. It feels like reading every other undergraduate essay from first year.
I kept wanting the author to both step away from her experience and dive deeper. I think the author also came across as very young and had a lot of youngest child syndrome. She talked at length about her experiences with her culture and her family but rarely mentioned their opinion or their thoughts. It sounded selfish in a way even though I could see the references to her constant concern for her family so it was a weird juxtaposition.
I could see that the author had engaged with some big cultural texts but hadn't really explained them to the reader. I knew the texts from my own research and studies but because she didn't ground them, they just came across as references that reinforced the authors privilege. Which was weird to experience while reading of the difficulties this author had faced.
Overall, I think that the book had merit but lacked the depth it needed for the subject matter. I think it is a strong debut but there needs something to ground it further.
I think the book doesn't read as a cohesive novel, it reads as a selection of articles you would find in a university magazine. All interesting and you can see the deep thinking but it lacks the originality of thought and understanding of others. It feels like reading every other undergraduate essay from first year.
I kept wanting the author to both step away from her experience and dive deeper. I think the author also came across as very young and had a lot of youngest child syndrome. She talked at length about her experiences with her culture and her family but rarely mentioned their opinion or their thoughts. It sounded selfish in a way even though I could see the references to her constant concern for her family so it was a weird juxtaposition.
I could see that the author had engaged with some big cultural texts but hadn't really explained them to the reader. I knew the texts from my own research and studies but because she didn't ground them, they just came across as references that reinforced the authors privilege. Which was weird to experience while reading of the difficulties this author had faced.
Overall, I think that the book had merit but lacked the depth it needed for the subject matter. I think it is a strong debut but there needs something to ground it further.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Xenophobia
A fairly fast but enjoyable read about Zoya's experiences with racism and sexism growing up in Canberra. Particularly liked her explorations of poverty and privilege as a Fijian-Indian-Australian when visiting India.
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Such a thought-provoking read which I devoured within only a few days. Each chapter reads like its own essay, uncovering a different area of Zoya's life – from her Fijian-Indian diasporic identity, intersectional feminism, casual racism in Australia, to animal welfare and its links to privilege. At this memoir's core lies the experience of having a mixed ethnic and cultural identity and how that shapes one's own sense of self and relation to the rest of the world. A fascinating book which I'm glad I picked up – highly recommend it.
In her razor-sharp debut, No-Country Woman: A Memoir of Not Belonging, Fijian-Indian-Australian writer Zoya Patel charts the chasm that results from juggling three cultures at once, never completely belonging to any of them yet constantly being aware of how each has informed her identity.
Read the rest of my review here on Books+Publishing: https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2018/06/01/108689/no-country-woman-a-memoir-of-not-belonging-zoya-patel-hachette/
Read the rest of my review here on Books+Publishing: https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2018/06/01/108689/no-country-woman-a-memoir-of-not-belonging-zoya-patel-hachette/
Full of wisdom, resilience, passion and insight, this is an excellent and highly readable memoir-slash-essay-collection by a brilliant young writer.
Patel explores migrant guilt, female friendship and vegetarianism in ways I could strongly relate to. She interrogates race and religion in an intelligent and engaging manner through a feminist lens. Her hyphenated life as a Fijian-Indian-Australian is the central focus of the book and I thought she teased out the facets of each part of her identity in thought-provoking and illuminating ways. I devoured this memoir and felt the second half was particularly strong. Also, we all need a friend like Melissa!
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
reflective
medium-paced
Struggled to put this one down. Zoya’s writing is incredibly engaging and she writes with such passion. Regardless of your background this is a must read. We can all do better when it comes to listening & supporting marginalised groups. I am a firm believer in reading & listening to people whose experiences differ greatly to our own - this is where our knowledge & learnings truly begin to develop.
This memoir and broader discussion about identity and belonging collectively was a really engaging read, one that I think really hit its stride in the final few essays.
Patel presents a memoir of her life between Fiji, Australia, and Scotland, and interspersed in these thematically and event-focussed essays are broader engagements with these broader themes of race and religion and feminism. It’s a really effective use of form to share a personal perspective on these topics and engage the reader in broader discussions simultaneously—I did feel it leaned more into the memoir aspect and at times left me reaching a little further in its critical engagement with other texts or broader context (and I feel like it *did* set out to have this bigger conversation)
In light of discussions in the book community in 2020 alone, the comments Patel makes around representation in literature (specifically works by white writers) really struck a chord, particularly this idea of manufacturing inclusion in fiction. If you’ve been following along with the critical reception to Craig Silvey’s HONEYBEE for example, much of what is discussed by Patel regarding racial diversity is readily extrapolated in regard to other intersections of representation in literature.
I really enjoyed the way Patel explored her own journey with feminism, and the whiteness of this space in the literature she consumed as a teen. I think she touched on some really interesting discussions around the privileges in white liberal feminism, the whiteness of individual freedom conceptually, and some of the limitations of looking at “women” as a binary concept, and I would have loved to have seen this explored further (for example, in much the way she engages with Reni Eddo-Lodge’s text).
I really connected with Patel’s discussions around identifying as “Australian” and what that even means—the complexities inherent in that, and particularly how that changes when you are living overseas.
For me, the standout essays were Against the Tide, Bidding the Biddai, and How to Be An Ally To People of Color—Take Two. This is a truly engaging read and Patel is a literary voice I will eagerly follow (very excited to see that she is Chair of the 2021 Stella Prize Judging Panel).
Patel presents a memoir of her life between Fiji, Australia, and Scotland, and interspersed in these thematically and event-focussed essays are broader engagements with these broader themes of race and religion and feminism. It’s a really effective use of form to share a personal perspective on these topics and engage the reader in broader discussions simultaneously—I did feel it leaned more into the memoir aspect and at times left me reaching a little further in its critical engagement with other texts or broader context (and I feel like it *did* set out to have this bigger conversation)
In light of discussions in the book community in 2020 alone, the comments Patel makes around representation in literature (specifically works by white writers) really struck a chord, particularly this idea of manufacturing inclusion in fiction. If you’ve been following along with the critical reception to Craig Silvey’s HONEYBEE for example, much of what is discussed by Patel regarding racial diversity is readily extrapolated in regard to other intersections of representation in literature.
I really enjoyed the way Patel explored her own journey with feminism, and the whiteness of this space in the literature she consumed as a teen. I think she touched on some really interesting discussions around the privileges in white liberal feminism, the whiteness of individual freedom conceptually, and some of the limitations of looking at “women” as a binary concept, and I would have loved to have seen this explored further (for example, in much the way she engages with Reni Eddo-Lodge’s text).
I really connected with Patel’s discussions around identifying as “Australian” and what that even means—the complexities inherent in that, and particularly how that changes when you are living overseas.
For me, the standout essays were Against the Tide, Bidding the Biddai, and How to Be An Ally To People of Color—Take Two. This is a truly engaging read and Patel is a literary voice I will eagerly follow (very excited to see that she is Chair of the 2021 Stella Prize Judging Panel).