I mentioned way back in Americanah that I took a class on immigrant literature in college. Turns out that I seem to appreciate these novels more and more each year. What Rum has done in these pages is craft an intimate portrait of the complexities of leaving one's home for a new one.
A Woman Is No Man collects the stories of a handful of Arab women, centered around Isra. Teenage Isra lives in Palestine and is contracted to marry a man living in New York. Her relationship with her mother is complicated and distant, even when they live together. In New York, Isra follows the lead of her mother-in-law, Fareeda, following the cultural rules as she understands them. Much to Fareeda's disgust, Isra gives birth to four daughters. Isra's husband, Adam, resents her more with each subsequent girl as he also spirals down under the pressure of his familial role as eldest son. Deya, Isra's oldest daughter, is the focus of the later tales as she uncovers the truths about her family's life before her parents died. Sarah, Fareeda's only daughter, befriends Isra and later Deya and serves as a catalyst for their story arcs.
So, of course, a story about immigrants is going to discuss the balance between assimilation and honoring culture. It's going to talk about the otherness of no longer being a countryman and not belonging to the new home. There's expectation, shame, loss, possibility. And a story about women is going to delve into the roles of women in societies.
What Rum does nicely, by telling multiple stories, is illustrate that there are no easy answers for these women. All of them lose their home in some sense, by military force, by arranged marriage, by escape, by finding the truth. And, mostly, none are satisfied. It's both very real and very sad.
It's easy for an outsider to think there are easy solutions to difficult situations. Battered women should leave their partners. Child brides should run away before they are married off. "Why doesn't she just ... ?" Rum pulls at those threads and shows that, even the right choice, can lead to terrible consequences. And that, I think, is the universal truth revealed in these pages.
A Woman Is No Man is heavy, tragic, and very lightly hopeful. Its characters are sympathetic, even when you are angry with them. It's frustrating and painful. It's one you should read.
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