A Woman Is No Man - Etaf Rum

Blurb

Three generations of Palestinian-American women living in Brooklyn are torn between individual desire and the strict mores of Arab culture in this heart-wrenching story of love, intrigue and courage.

Palestine, 1990. Seventeen-year-old Isra prefers reading books to entertaining the suitors her father has chosen for her. Over the course of a week, the naïve and dreamy girl finds herself quickly betrothed and married, and is soon living in Brooklyn. There Isra struggles to adapt to the expectations of her oppressive mother-in-law Fareeda and strange new husband Adam, a pressure that intensifies as she begins to have children – four daughters instead of the sons Fareeda tells Isra she must bear.

Brooklyn, 2008. Eighteen-year-old Deya, Isra’s oldest daughter, must meet with potential husbands at her grandmother Fareeda’s insistence, though her only desire is to go to college. But her grandmother is firm on the matter: the only way to secure a worthy future for Deya is through marriage to the right man.

But fate has a will of its own, and soon Deya will find herself on an unexpected path that leads her to shocking truths about her family…

Review

Insightful, powerful and heartbreaking.

The characters are immediately engaging and easy to empathize with. My emotions were all over the place I felt love, anger, heartbreak, respect, and hope within these pages. 

This isn't an easy read but it is a powerful one, Rum instantly transports you into the culture and mindset of the women trapped in this cycle and the tensions for women as they try to escape their traditional roles. 

I absolutely loved the way reading and books are weaved into the pages through multiple characters as an escape from harsh reality, a tool to educate and hope for a better tomorrow. 

A must-read -  deeply affecting novel, it's raw, unforgettable & brave!

Thanks to HQ Stories for sending me this in exchange for an open and honest review.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐