Another book I had planned to read during my first master's degree... I studied Nawal El Saadawi during a feminist arab literature class I took back in fall 2020. In this collection of short stories, the author explores relationships between women and men, patriarchy and gender norms among other themes. Although interesting and thought-provoking, I did not enjoy this read.

This was about those "empty" relationships where there's a lack of intimacy, lack of love. There's emotional distance/absence. Often, the author emphasised on married characters having never met each other's eyes for decades. I also did not enjoy the writing. It's direct and soulless (perhaps like these emotionally distant men). There were redundancies as well.
This collection is a clear critic on how society is raising boys, and I remember our teacher explaining how El Saadawi blamed ignorance and the lack of education/knowledge about the female body for the way men treat women.