A Woman is No Man: Storyline and Book Review

Author Etaf Rum’s A Woman is No Man is the story of three Palestinian women from three different generations and their journey of suffering, suppression, and desperation in a society where they are undervalued compared to men, considered inferior and have hardly any choices.

The story begins with Isra, a young woman from Palestine who is married to Adam, a Palestinian man, settled in Brooklyn, New York. Immediately after the wedding ceremony, Isra receives a Visa and moves to Brooklyn with her new family. Isra believes in love and romance and imagines that moving to America will expose her to a different world away from the oppressive environment she has lived in until now, in which her father abuses her mother and the mother tolerates his obnoxious behaviour out of fear of society.

After moving to Brooklyn, Isra soon realises that she was mistaken. It becomes clear to her that the status of women in the household is no different from what she experienced back home. Isra has hardly any say in family matters, must only engage in household work, is not allowed to read and can’t even step out of her house without her husband. However, she tries her best to keep her in-laws and husband happy by becoming a compliant daughter-in-law and wife. However, when Isra is unable to give the family a boy child, the way the family members treat her changes. She is ridiculed and even physically abused by her husband. With no one to support her and even give her an ear, over the years, Isra loses all hope and goes into depression, regretting her inability to show courage, speak for herself and protect her dignity.

There are a few chapters about Deya, Isra’s eldest daughter who grows up without her parents. It is revealed in early chapters that Isra and Adam are dead, and Deya and your younger sisters are raised by their grandparents in the same oppressive environment, restricting them from reading books, talking to boys, and even dreaming of pursuing a career. The grandmother makes it clear to Deya that, like all women in their community, Deya’s sole purpose in life is to get married, raise children and manage household chores and stay quiet even if she feels oppressed or unfairly treated. Deya isn’t happy and wishes to free herself from the shackles of these societal expectations of women. She also always wonders about how her parents died and what they were like.

The story is also narrated from the perspective of Fareeda, Isra’s mother-in-law, Adams’s mother, and Deyas’s grandmother. It highlights the circumstances under which Fareeda grows up into a rigid woman stuck in her beliefs. The past and present are narrated to highlight her experiences of oppression and how she sees her restrictive behaviour towards her daughter, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter as her way of protecting them.

The book possibly covers all kinds of oppressions that women face, including physical abuse, restrictions on education and almost no freedom to decide on their future.

Although the book brings to light the plight of Arab women in some oppressive societies, it is essential to note that it is not a reflection of all Arab/Muslim women. The book’s portrayal is specific to the characters’ experiences and should not be generalised. Despite its effort to address a sensitive topic that needs attention, the book fails to evoke strong emotions. The story is not well-stitched, the plot is loose, and the characters are not well-developed. There is a great deal of repetition, and it feels like the story is stretched on purpose to make a long read.

I liked the concept, but the book felt like an amateur author wrote it, and the editors didn’t put much effort into bringing it up to the standards of a well-developed adult novel.