A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A READ WITH JENNA TODAY SHOW BOOK CLUB PICK
A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice • A Washington Post 10 Books to Read in March • A Marie Claire Best Women’s Fiction of 2019 • A Washington Book Review Difficult-To-Put-Down Novel • A Refinery 29 Best Books of the Month • An Electric Lit 20 Best Debuts of the First Half of 2019 • A The Millions Most Anticipated Books of 2019 • A USA Today Best Book of the Week • An Elaine Newton—Summer Reading List Critic’s Choice • A Girls Night In Book Club Pick
“I couldn't put it down. I was obsessed with figuring out the mystery of this family." —Jenna Bush Hager, Today Show Book Club Pick
“Garnering justified comparisons to Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns... Etaf Rum’s debut novel is a must-read about women mustering up the bravery to follow their inner voice.” —Refinery 29
“A stunning debut novel that hooked me from page one.... Rum accomplishes the high-wire act of telling a story that feels both contemporary and timeless, intimate and epic." —Tara Conklin, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Last Romantics
"Where I come from, we’ve learned to silence ourselves. We’ve been taught that silence will save us. Where I come from, we keep these stories to ourselves. To tell them to the outside world is unheard of—dangerous, the ultimate shame.”
Palestine, 1990. Seventeen-year-old Isra prefers reading books to entertaining the suitors her father has chosen for her. Over the course of a week, the naïve and dreamy girl finds herself quickly betrothed and married, and is soon living in Brooklyn. There Isra struggles to adapt to the expectations of her oppressive mother-in-law Fareeda and strange new husband Adam, a pressure that intensifies as she begins to have children—four daughters instead of the sons Fareeda tells Isra she must bear.
Brooklyn, 2008. Eighteen-year-old Deya, Isra’s oldest daughter, must meet with potential husbands at her grandmother Fareeda’s insistence, though her only desire is to go to college. Deya can’t help but wonder if her options would have been different had her parents survived the car crash that killed them when Deya was only eight. But her grandmother is firm on the matter: the only way to secure a worthy future for Deya is through marriage to the right man.
But fate has a will of its own, and soon Deya will find herself on an unexpected path that leads her to shocking truths about her family—knowledge that will force her to question everything she thought she knew about her parents, the past, and her own future.
Set in an America at once foreign to many and staggeringly close at hand, A Woman Is No Man is a story of culture and honor, secrets and betrayals, love and violence. It is an intimate glimpse into a controlling and closed cultural world, and a universal tale about family and the ways silence and shame can destroy those we have sworn to protect.
© 2019 HarperAudio (Audiobook): 9780062897510
Release date
Audiobook: 5 March 2019
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A READ WITH JENNA TODAY SHOW BOOK CLUB PICK
A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice • A Washington Post 10 Books to Read in March • A Marie Claire Best Women’s Fiction of 2019 • A Washington Book Review Difficult-To-Put-Down Novel • A Refinery 29 Best Books of the Month • An Electric Lit 20 Best Debuts of the First Half of 2019 • A The Millions Most Anticipated Books of 2019 • A USA Today Best Book of the Week • An Elaine Newton—Summer Reading List Critic’s Choice • A Girls Night In Book Club Pick
“I couldn't put it down. I was obsessed with figuring out the mystery of this family." —Jenna Bush Hager, Today Show Book Club Pick
“Garnering justified comparisons to Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns... Etaf Rum’s debut novel is a must-read about women mustering up the bravery to follow their inner voice.” —Refinery 29
“A stunning debut novel that hooked me from page one.... Rum accomplishes the high-wire act of telling a story that feels both contemporary and timeless, intimate and epic." —Tara Conklin, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Last Romantics
"Where I come from, we’ve learned to silence ourselves. We’ve been taught that silence will save us. Where I come from, we keep these stories to ourselves. To tell them to the outside world is unheard of—dangerous, the ultimate shame.”
Palestine, 1990. Seventeen-year-old Isra prefers reading books to entertaining the suitors her father has chosen for her. Over the course of a week, the naïve and dreamy girl finds herself quickly betrothed and married, and is soon living in Brooklyn. There Isra struggles to adapt to the expectations of her oppressive mother-in-law Fareeda and strange new husband Adam, a pressure that intensifies as she begins to have children—four daughters instead of the sons Fareeda tells Isra she must bear.
Brooklyn, 2008. Eighteen-year-old Deya, Isra’s oldest daughter, must meet with potential husbands at her grandmother Fareeda’s insistence, though her only desire is to go to college. Deya can’t help but wonder if her options would have been different had her parents survived the car crash that killed them when Deya was only eight. But her grandmother is firm on the matter: the only way to secure a worthy future for Deya is through marriage to the right man.
But fate has a will of its own, and soon Deya will find herself on an unexpected path that leads her to shocking truths about her family—knowledge that will force her to question everything she thought she knew about her parents, the past, and her own future.
Set in an America at once foreign to many and staggeringly close at hand, A Woman Is No Man is a story of culture and honor, secrets and betrayals, love and violence. It is an intimate glimpse into a controlling and closed cultural world, and a universal tale about family and the ways silence and shame can destroy those we have sworn to protect.
© 2019 HarperAudio (Audiobook): 9780062897510
Release date
Audiobook: 5 March 2019
Step into an infinite world of stories
Overall rating based on 658 ratings
Sad
Thought-provoking
Page-turner
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Shikha
25 Jun 2020
'A Woman is No Man' by @etafrum is magic. Each of the sentence has been construed part by part to tell an unabashedly honest story, relatable to million of women around. The story revolves around three generations of Palestinian women, all making it work in the big big world America, often defying odds but more often, by meekly surrendering to their circumstances. They fight their own big battles in their small houses and their perseverance to lead a normal life with all that violence is just heart breaking, showing just how common it is for them. If I hadn't been seeing the exact same thing in news, I would have read and kept the book aside. But yes, now my heart weeps for those sisters out there. Tragic yet empowering, there is something special about the story....Fareeda, Isra and Deya .... much love ❤ Rated: 5/5 stars #awomanisnoman
Priti
15 Sept 2023
This book is recounted by women of 3 generations of Palestinian american immigrant family . This is a story of the underdogs , invisible , powerless women who get the understanding of their lives by living through deprivation and violence and keeping their spirit alive . It's sad and rousing at the same time . Highly recommended to women and men .
Sheets
8 Jul 2021
I can't review it simply because no review and stars would ever give justice to this book. Its beyond all that.
Shivangini
30 Nov 2022
Well written. And reminds us all that gender can't stand in between our life and what we make of it.. It's the courage we need to make our own naseeb!
Tehmeena
2 Aug 2021
I felt so much from this book. It hit me, it triggered me, kept me up late, but it was worth it. A woman (in most places) suffer oppression, marital rape, domestic violence. And all they are said is to endure it. They are asked to live with it because that is how it is. But that has to change. Marriage and bearing children are not the only thing a woman is capable of.
Sakshi
10 Jan 2022
No review or stars could justify how real and relatable this book is....
Rucha
3 Apr 2021
This is a fairly good book written that accounts the journey of three generations of women under oppression, more or less are the reason of their own oppression as well. It showcases the place where women are taught to be silent and are silenced if not. There are some books you remember by their storyline , some by their writing but I will remember this one because of how it made me feel – Sad , helpless and disgusted . While coming from Indian sensibilities the story of oppression of women has been over represented to us but we all know that such stories still exist around us and that’s the reality. Violence continues to play the prime focus for at least half of the book. But let me not paint a depressing picture of this book, this story also talks about importance of education, about standing up for your dreams, about taking a stand. The story is very common sometimes predictable but the storytelling stands apart.
Monali
8 Dec 2020
Loved it! I am shattered
English
India