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A review by katrod
A Woman Is No Man by Etaf Rum
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This book started off really strong. I started it hoping to just read a few chapters at the airport and I ended up not being able to put it down and reading more than halfway through on the plane.
The pacing struggled a bit from there.
This story is about Palestinian women and the roles they are forced into in their Arabic culture and the unfortunate circumstances they must deal with no matter where they are, whether it be Palestine or the US. It's about mothers and daughters, cycles of abuse, trauma, and shame.
My only complaints are that things got repetitive after a while and and there were meetings Deya had (with someone I'll leave unnamed) that just parroted self help lines and I wanted a bit more from those conversations. It was also just so depressing and heart breaking.
Other than that though, it was still a very important story, well written, and I loved the ambiguity of the ending. Of course, we know what happens, but the final chapter leaves the readers with a small window of imagination, which I really enjoyed.
The pacing struggled a bit from there.
This story is about Palestinian women and the roles they are forced into in their Arabic culture and the unfortunate circumstances they must deal with no matter where they are, whether it be Palestine or the US. It's about mothers and daughters, cycles of abuse, trauma, and shame.
My only complaints are that things got repetitive after a while and and there were meetings Deya had (with someone I'll leave unnamed) that just parroted self help lines and I wanted a bit more from those conversations. It was also just so depressing and heart breaking.
Other than that though, it was still a very important story, well written, and I loved the ambiguity of the ending. Of course, we know what happens, but the final chapter leaves the readers with a small window of imagination, which I really enjoyed.