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emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Although I really enjoyed this book in the end, I feel like the marketing speak in Spotify's subtitle did it a bit of a disservice initially. They call it a 'gripping' family drama - family drama, yes, gripping... Hmm. I felt more like it meanders, which had I not anticipated being gripped would have been a-okay! But as it was, perhaps not the best choice for an audiobook. I can see myself rating this one higher had I read it in print.
Yara is a young women who finds herself at a loss. She grew up in a Palestinian-American household which was eventually torn apart by a secret abotu her mother she herself revealed to her father. Seeing the strict confines her mother was restricted to, Yara determines to live her life on her own terms. When she marries Fadi, it first seems like this might be possible for her. But as their family starts and Fadi's worklife becomes ever-more demanding, Yara feels like she's doomed to repeat her mother's life.
Her frustration reaches a boiling point one day at work when a colleague makes a racist comment and Yara calls her out on it. Predictably, Yara is the one hauled in for a 'word'. It's a downward spiral from there, which Rum depicts with a lot of heart. Yara's struggle with depression is raw and real, something the audiobook narrator does a good job of conveying too.
Rum explores an interesting question of, what happens when you find your life mirroring a cultural stereotype? When speaking out about your issue would 'confirm' the prejucides white people around you hold about your culture? Do you speak out and risk validating racists, who are incapable of viewing things at an individual level? To them, the struggle of one Palestinian-American woman is the struggle of ALL Palestinian women. Or do you keep quiet and repeat the cycles of intergenerational trauma? This is something Yara has to grapple with, and hash out in therapy - something I rarely see people do in books! You really do root for Yara. Perhaps Fadi makes this easier by being the way he is. Fadi is possibly one of the greatest* gaslighters of all time (*worst).
When I reach for A Woman is No Man, I'll definitely go for the print copy. I look forward to it!
Yara is a young women who finds herself at a loss. She grew up in a Palestinian-American household which was eventually torn apart by a secret abotu her mother she herself revealed to her father. Seeing the strict confines her mother was restricted to, Yara determines to live her life on her own terms. When she marries Fadi, it first seems like this might be possible for her. But as their family starts and Fadi's worklife becomes ever-more demanding, Yara feels like she's doomed to repeat her mother's life.
Her frustration reaches a boiling point one day at work when a colleague makes a racist comment and Yara calls her out on it. Predictably, Yara is the one hauled in for a 'word'. It's a downward spiral from there, which Rum depicts with a lot of heart. Yara's struggle with depression is raw and real, something the audiobook narrator does a good job of conveying too.
Rum explores an interesting question of, what happens when you find your life mirroring a cultural stereotype? When speaking out about your issue would 'confirm' the prejucides white people around you hold about your culture? Do you speak out and risk validating racists, who are incapable of viewing things at an individual level? To them, the struggle of one Palestinian-American woman is the struggle of ALL Palestinian women. Or do you keep quiet and repeat the cycles of intergenerational trauma? This is something Yara has to grapple with, and hash out in therapy - something I rarely see people do in books! You really do root for Yara. Perhaps Fadi makes this easier by being the way he is. Fadi is possibly one of the greatest* gaslighters of all time (*worst).
When I reach for A Woman is No Man, I'll definitely go for the print copy. I look forward to it!