In her searing inaugural novel, A Woman Is No Man, Etaf Rum reveals an invisible layer, woven of silence and submission, cloaking Palestinian women. The narrative alternates between the lives of Fareeda, the matriarch, who, along with her husband and family, escaped the squalor of a refugee camp by immigrating to America, Isra, her Palestinian-born daughter-in-law and Deya, her Arab-American granddaughter. That a Palestinian woman is not a man’s equal, as the book’s title declares, becomes abundantly clear as Rum draws the reader into the quotidian monotony of their circumscribed lives. Chained to home and hearth, these women live in fear of their husbands’ whims and wiles. Rum has boldly broken the silence. Let’s listen. (Harper Collins)
Published: NYCitywoman.com
Published: NYCitywoman.com