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A review by seeceeread
The Impatient by Djaïli Amadou Amal
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.75
💭 "Patience is a divine prescription. It is the first response. It is the solution to everything."
Amal scripts. The internal dialogue of women forced into polygamy. Aunts' and mother-in-laws' scolding when a new bride is vocal about debilitating rape. Fathers' apoplexy when daughters return home, seeking shelter from addicted, adulterous spouses. Women's scheming and subterfuge to subdue the shame they feel when their husband chooses another. The simmering resentment among wives who wait a turn for their husband's attention. Men's lectures on their preferred interpretation of the Koran and values women should demonstrate: submission, service, and above all, 𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘺𝘢𝘭, patience.
Amal's narrators are bitter, self-reflective, infuriated, damning. They dip the culture into a clarifying wash, drag the sopping over ragged commentary, wring out sexism. This is grounded in the author's experience and already translated into several languages. On one hand I'm fascinated by what I assume was an trying process to get this published. Powerful people must wish the author had adhered more closely to the silence imposed on her characters. On another hand, I'm wary of Western audiences' tendency to flatten when faced with Other. Some will read this and pull out Saviorism and Islamophobia, failing to accept the invitation to reflect on how these womens' specificity adds nuance to the ways that violence against women distorts every place.
Amal scripts. The internal dialogue of women forced into polygamy. Aunts' and mother-in-laws' scolding when a new bride is vocal about debilitating rape. Fathers' apoplexy when daughters return home, seeking shelter from addicted, adulterous spouses. Women's scheming and subterfuge to subdue the shame they feel when their husband chooses another. The simmering resentment among wives who wait a turn for their husband's attention. Men's lectures on their preferred interpretation of the Koran and values women should demonstrate: submission, service, and above all, 𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘺𝘢𝘭, patience.
Amal's narrators are bitter, self-reflective, infuriated, damning. They dip the culture into a clarifying wash, drag the sopping over ragged commentary, wring out sexism. This is grounded in the author's experience and already translated into several languages. On one hand I'm fascinated by what I assume was an trying process to get this published. Powerful people must wish the author had adhered more closely to the silence imposed on her characters. On another hand, I'm wary of Western audiences' tendency to flatten when faced with Other. Some will read this and pull out Saviorism and Islamophobia, failing to accept the invitation to reflect on how these womens' specificity adds nuance to the ways that violence against women distorts every place.