A Woman Is No Man

I decided that I'd request from the libraries all the books that my community book club has slated to read this year and I'll read them as they come in. A Woman Is No Man is the first of the books to come in. I'd heard about it, about a Palestinian community in Brooklyn, so I was intrigued.

Etaf Rum was brave when she wrote A Woman Is No Man, her semi-autobiographical fiction. It's a story of 3 generations of Palestinian women living in Brooklyn, New York. I thought I'd feel some connection considering the setting of the book. But this story could have taken place in any city. For the most part, the characters of this novel - written by a woman, about women and possibly for women - were invisible to the greater community. It's a story of a patriarchal society, of violence and injustice that I can't believe was going on more or less under my nose when I was in Brooklyn.

Women are undervalued, unappreciated and trod upon in this novel of Palestinian women. The women have hopes and dreams for their futures. But what will it take for them to break out of the holds of their families and their communities? Do books and reading hold the key?

Not an easy book to read, I found the book totally engaging.