Scan barcode
A review by jaclyn_sixminutesforme
No Country Woman by Zoya Patel
4.0
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).