A Woman Is No Man

 Etaf Rum has written an incredible book about the life of Palestinian women living both in the Mid East and in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, NY.  Similar to other Semite religious groups, when practiced in the extreme these lifestyles are both dangerous and in today's modern world, so unnecessary.

A Woman Is No Man follows the story of three generations of Palestinian women, as children, daughters, wives and mothers.  Starting back when Israel was still called Palestine, we meet the family of Kahald and Fareeda who are displaced from their homes by the Israelis and are living in poverty in a camp.  As a young couple with small children they save their money and move to America looking for a better life.  But also wanting to keep their religious and ethnic practices.  Unfortunately men are the stronger, controlling force and women have no voice in this society.  They brings those ideals with them to America.  When it is time for their oldest son to marry they travel back to their homeland to find a bride.  As is the custom, an arranged marriage is contracted and Isra is brought back to Bay Ridge to join the family.  She is completely unprepared for the life she has been thrust into.

Amazingly, we read this story from the viewpoints of various women in the family at different time periods, the mother-in-law, Fareeda, Isra and her daughter, Deya, and for each generation things do not change dramatically. The other unbelievable thing about this story is that each chapter is dated and we are not reading about history, this story takes place in current day.  

A beautiful story that fully exposes the rawness of these women's lives.  A woman is not a man, so they are not allowed to do so many things that men can do, but also as a woman is expected to do so many things, take of the house, the children.  They are really the backbone of the family and in a way are actually stronger then the men.