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A review by mehvie
Lifting the Veil by Ismat Chughtai
3.0
"Flowers can be made to bloom in rocks. The only condition is that one has to water the plant with one's heart's blood."
Recommended by one of my sister's favorite literature teachers- we were eager to read it. Honestly, I did not know what I was getting myself into before beginning the book. The introduction was written by Kamila Shamsie which caught my attention- felt that I was in good hands.
The main focus of the various short stories was about how females just like men have needs/desires which need to be full-filled but these needs are underestimated due to patriarchal rules and views. Her stories wanted/want to explain/explore the difficulties of women- how sometimes they even feel lonely and misunderstood.
The writing was a bit tough to understand but it was funny and sarcastic- that was the highlight of the book for me.
A few of my favorites were:
- Hell Bound
- My friend, My enemy
- In the Name of those Married Woman
- Wedding Suit
- All Alone
- Vocation
- The Survivor
I enjoyed her personal stories/essays more than the fictional ones she wrote. One interesting part which caught my eye was how she talked about how there are benefits of being a male writer, how their work was not undermined no matter what topics they wrote about.
Lifting the Veil, was a book I thought I would never pick up but glad I did, as I got to know about harsh realities of being a woman in a patriarchal society, again these realities haven't been dismissed it still goes on.
On the whole, I laughed, felt anger and sadness for the women in the stories.
Recommended by one of my sister's favorite literature teachers- we were eager to read it. Honestly, I did not know what I was getting myself into before beginning the book. The introduction was written by Kamila Shamsie which caught my attention- felt that I was in good hands.
The main focus of the various short stories was about how females just like men have needs/desires which need to be full-filled but these needs are underestimated due to patriarchal rules and views. Her stories wanted/want to explain/explore the difficulties of women- how sometimes they even feel lonely and misunderstood.
The writing was a bit tough to understand but it was funny and sarcastic- that was the highlight of the book for me.
A few of my favorites were:
- Hell Bound
- My friend, My enemy
- In the Name of those Married Woman
- Wedding Suit
- All Alone
- Vocation
- The Survivor
I enjoyed her personal stories/essays more than the fictional ones she wrote. One interesting part which caught my eye was how she talked about how there are benefits of being a male writer, how their work was not undermined no matter what topics they wrote about.
Lifting the Veil, was a book I thought I would never pick up but glad I did, as I got to know about harsh realities of being a woman in a patriarchal society, again these realities haven't been dismissed it still goes on.
On the whole, I laughed, felt anger and sadness for the women in the stories.