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A review by breannajanay
Evil Eye by Etaf Rum
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
EVIL EYE follows the story of 29-year-old Yara whose life is suddenly thrown into upheaval after a provocation at work lands her in mandatory counseling. This counseling begins a journey into introspection, leading to further questions and contradictions regarding the life Yara wishes to live, and the life she currently leads.
I give this book 3.25 stars out of 5 with much hesitancy, so I want to begin with the good -- this book knows exactly how to depict what it is like to be held hostage by your own emotions, your self-doubt, and your visceral fear of returning to the past. This book explores the nature of forgiveness, especially in the absence of the person you seek it from most . It explores a reluctant grit, and a strength that starts off soft. It explores the complexity of motherhood and depicts with alarming clarity that seemingly incompatible feeling: one's unshakeable love for one's children, also in the face of one's inflexible desire for freedom.
This book is a beautiful exploration of the literary "haunt". Traumas and lingering questions manifest in the forms of ghosts from the past, and lessons are learned through memories filled with people who do not walk within the physical vicinity of the story. Most of the cast of characters that hold Yara suffocatingly in place we do not meet face-to-face. And yet their affect is strong and palpable and threatening to Yara's conception of the self.
Something else that I adored about this book is the thing after which it is titled: The Evil Eye. Intergenerational trauma, as we know, is often attributed to households of color in which ancestors have had to live through and experience unspeakable manners of living. The internalized trauma adopted in those experiences is passed down upon child upon child upon child. Like a curse. What I mean to say is the use of spirituality here is supremely genius, as the evil eye necklace serves as a physical reminder to the reader that there is some unfinished business. And the way Yara subconsciously presses her fingers, and therefore herself, into it is also a representation of how we may not know it but we carry the small details of our histories as if they were permanent accessories.
Now. I give this book 3.25 stars because some things didn't sit right with me, no matter how much I tried to rationalize them. Yara's conflict begins witha coworker who suggests Yara's freedom is severely infringed upon by her role as a mother and a housewife, and that this is something that is experienced throughout her culture. Such a suggestion made by her coworker causes Yara to call her out for the blatantly obvious racist remark and sends Yara to counseling . I'm just wondering how this book sought to negate that accusation, by stipulating Yara's growth must and can only happen outside of the arms of the Arab community. Yara's entry point into self-actualization begins in a predominantly white space, with a white gay man as her confidante. This isn't to suggest that this makes Yara's growth any less real, but it does make me wonder about her convictions. If she was so sure it was not an "Arab thing", enough to bring her to publicly admonish a coworker (when, usually, she does her best to stay away from attention), why is it that she didn't try speaking to someone else within her community? Someone outside of her husband and father?
I think this manifests in the various cultural disconnects that happen between Yara and Silas, and the many times Silas apologizes for his ignorance toward Yara's experiences as she details them to him. Apologizing for the things he did not know or did not mean to imply. It felt as though the author was accounting for something there. Or... that could be me projecting.
Perhaps my gripe is personal, in that most popular forms of media depict POC growth and mentorship occurring only in proximity to whiteness/white spaces as a requirement. The real estate for diverse stories happening outside of the scrutiny of whiteness is already so small and I wish we could have seen what surely is true, that Yara is but one of many women who blaze new trails, often walking side-by-side and in solidarity.
I give this book 3.25 stars out of 5 with much hesitancy, so I want to begin with the good -- this book knows exactly how to depict what it is like to be held hostage by your own emotions, your self-doubt, and your visceral fear of returning to the past. This book explores the nature of forgiveness,
This book is a beautiful exploration of the literary "haunt". Traumas and lingering questions manifest in the forms of ghosts from the past, and lessons are learned through memories filled with people who do not walk within the physical vicinity of the story. Most of the cast of characters that hold Yara suffocatingly in place we do not meet face-to-face. And yet their affect is strong and palpable and threatening to Yara's conception of the self.
Something else that I adored about this book is the thing after which it is titled: The Evil Eye. Intergenerational trauma, as we know, is often attributed to households of color in which ancestors have had to live through and experience unspeakable manners of living. The internalized trauma adopted in those experiences is passed down upon child upon child upon child. Like a curse. What I mean to say is the use of spirituality here is supremely genius, as the evil eye necklace serves as a physical reminder to the reader that there is some unfinished business. And the way Yara subconsciously presses her fingers, and therefore herself, into it is also a representation of how we may not know it but we carry the small details of our histories as if they were permanent accessories.
Now. I give this book 3.25 stars because some things didn't sit right with me, no matter how much I tried to rationalize them. Yara's conflict begins with
I think this manifests in the various cultural disconnects that happen between Yara and Silas, and the many times Silas apologizes for his ignorance toward Yara's experiences as she details them to him. Apologizing for the things he did not know or did not mean to imply. It felt as though the author was accounting for something there. Or... that could be me projecting.
Perhaps my gripe is personal, in that most popular forms of media depict POC growth and mentorship occurring only in proximity to whiteness/white spaces as a requirement. The real estate for diverse stories happening outside of the scrutiny of whiteness is already so small and I wish we could have seen what surely is true, that Yara is but one of many women who blaze new trails, often walking side-by-side and in solidarity.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Child abuse