Book 76 - Sadness and Sadness and then Sadness

Title: A Woman is No Man Author: Etaf Rum Genre: domestic fiction

What a sad, sad book.

The author is clearly very, very critical of the culture. All her characters are trapped in a cycle perpetuated by, among other things, tradition, especially the tradition of silence and oppression. Rum conveys the helplessness of her characters in heartaching clarity - I want to reach through the words and pull the women out of there! If Park Avenue Summer is one end of the spectrum, then this is on the other side of the goddamn universe.

I do wish there was just one more chapter, one less degree of separation between the two main timelines. We learn what happens to the main character throughout the story, and the last scene doesn't quite get us there. It almost leaves too much to the imagination. I would have liked the author to give us in a bit more - and then we, the readers, can fill in the rest of the ugliness. 

Rating:📚📚📚📚  /5