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booking_along 's review for:
Mother Country
by Etaf Rum
dark
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
the story is about girl/woman that grows up in the USA but who’s parents immigrated from Pakistan and raised her with that culture and married her off basically as soon as the could legally it felt like while reading to another Pakistani family that shared the same believes and way of life.
but the girl/woman is never happy, feels (rightfully) caged and as if she is becoming less and less of a person and more of something that is just suspected form from a Pakistani wife and mother - bearing children, cleaning the house, cooking and helping where she can- if she doesn’t do something to chance that and not follow that traditional path. not even just for herself -thought she feels she needs it to survive- but also for her daughter.
it’s a slightly distorted story that in its 50 odd pages jumps through a good amount of years and just gives some snippets and little looks into those specific times.
i found the cultural aspect very interesting to read about and get a view into something different from what i personally know -one of the reasons i love reading and trying new stories!- and i enjoyed reading about the journey even if that sounds strange with how hard and sometimes horrific it was to read about what this woman went through.
but i didn’t love the writing style.
maybe because this short story is also separated into individual chapters and almost all (of not all of them) jumping ahead in time and changing the story again slightly.
that took me out of what was happening.
i don’t think the story needed to be longer to tell what it did, i also felt like it kept the reader at s purposeful distance to make it harder to feel and connect with the character and her struggles and that makes me feel like the story needed to be longer to give the readers mir opportunities to connect to the character.
i don’t really know how to explain it any better than that it felt a bit cold and detached but maybe that was the entire point and the author did a fantastic job in making the reader feel similar to what the character herself felt.
overall this was very interesting and an incredible read in its strange and unique way.
but the girl/woman is never happy, feels (rightfully) caged and as if she is becoming less and less of a person and more of something that is just suspected form from a Pakistani wife and mother - bearing children, cleaning the house, cooking and helping where she can- if she doesn’t do something to chance that and not follow that traditional path. not even just for herself -thought she feels she needs it to survive- but also for her daughter.
it’s a slightly distorted story that in its 50 odd pages jumps through a good amount of years and just gives some snippets and little looks into those specific times.
i found the cultural aspect very interesting to read about and get a view into something different from what i personally know -one of the reasons i love reading and trying new stories!- and i enjoyed reading about the journey even if that sounds strange with how hard and sometimes horrific it was to read about what this woman went through.
but i didn’t love the writing style.
maybe because this short story is also separated into individual chapters and almost all (of not all of them) jumping ahead in time and changing the story again slightly.
that took me out of what was happening.
i don’t think the story needed to be longer to tell what it did, i also felt like it kept the reader at s purposeful distance to make it harder to feel and connect with the character and her struggles and that makes me feel like the story needed to be longer to give the readers mir opportunities to connect to the character.
i don’t really know how to explain it any better than that it felt a bit cold and detached but maybe that was the entire point and the author did a fantastic job in making the reader feel similar to what the character herself felt.
overall this was very interesting and an incredible read in its strange and unique way.