A Woman Is No Man

\”Women are more likely to experience intimate partner violence if they have low education, exposure to mothers being abused by a partner, abuse during childhood, and attitudes accepting violence, male privilege, and women’s subordinate status\” -World Health Organization Every single one of these criteria apply to the three generations of women in this book. I know it is fiction and I know it is not representative of the entire Palestinian diaspora, but this story was terrifying. That this no doubt really happens, and happens in all of our communities both makes me furious and breaks my heart. I highly recommend the audio version of this book. The three narrators, for Isra, Deya, and Fareeda, really highlight the differences between these characters. I listened at double speed because certain scenes were so tense and I had to know what happened. This is not a light, fun read, but it is a powerful one that feels important for those fighting for the rights of all girls to get an education and live free from domestic violence.

It takes a long time to tell this simple story, yet I found it intriguing thanks to the deep dive inside this culture. It covers three generations of a Palestinian family in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. I was shocked to learn how insular the women are, enslaved by their men and customs that originated a thousand years ago. Most lives are proscribed by early marriage, multiple babies, cooking, cleaning, and an occasional beating by a husband. Hopefully through education and the loosening of strictures, more Arab women can claim agency and enter the twenty-first century. There were many descriptions of the women preparing food. I wondered if the print version had a glossary or even recipes. Many of the items sounded delicious!

This year has been the year of returns where I have given in after 20 minutes. This came and my heart was opened. This book should be read in school and in families. It is a story guaranteed to change you.

This story drew me in. It was a very interesting look in on the life of women living a domestic life. This is not to highlight the stereotypes of being mistreated in the Arab community, but to help spread the word liberate women living lifes of domesticity everywhere. Narration could have been better. Arab words were all pronounced incorrectly especially the names. It\’s not Ezra it\’s Issrah. It would have been better with a more traditional Arabic pronunciations. But overall compelling story!

A very grim story of the lives of Arab women who are married off young and are treated as chattel by their fathers and husbands. And, sadly, by their mothers as well. The redundancy and deadly boredom of the lives of these women are reflected by the redundancy and boredom of the language used to write the book. It is an eye-opening perspective of the lives of millions of women and girls in this world. And it is not happy.

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