Review: A Woman is No Man by Etaf Rum

Genre: Literary Fiction

A Woman is No Man by Etaf Rum was one of the most buzzed about books of 2019. It was in my 2019 #stackofshame until I finally read it in December and holy WOW. It’s a beautiful book and showcases the unique experience of Islamic women in the US, while also sharing the universal and all too prevalent reality of women suffering from domestic abuse. Etaf Rum drew from her own experiences as an Arab-American woman to craft a beautiful, lyrical novel that doesn’t shy away from reality.

Synopsis: Told in dual timeline from 1990 and 2008, we are given a glimpse into the lives of an Arab American mother and her daughter living in New York City.

What I loved: 

• The story telling. Rum takes us into the lives of Isra and her daughter Deya through separate timelines. Isra’s begins in 1990 in Palestine, before her arranged marriage to Adam. They move to Brooklyn where our second timeless begins, in 2008 in a post 9/11 New York. 

• The universal and unique themes. I love books that teach me something while giving my something to connect to on a personal level. I was able to relate to the struggles of womanhood both women felt, the pressures from society to be a certain kind of woman, while learning and witnessing an intimate look at the struggles a Muslim American teenager faced as well as Isra’s immigrant story. 

• What it made me feel. Books should make us feel something, from warmth and joy with a rom com or injustice and anger with a piece of true non fiction. A Woman is No Man made tore at my heart with the frustrating reality too many woman experience as well as the hardships, loneliness, and pressure many immigrants endure in search of the myth of the American Dream.

TW/CW: domestic abuse, cycle of abuse, mention of suicide, marital rape