Did you face any challenges or surprises in the publishing process? The Los Angeles Review of Books is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Women’s dreams are not really considered and I wanted to show that perspective in the novel—how do these women feel about the American dream? Print Quarterly Journal + a limited-edition tote + all the perks of the digital membership. Four books from our series and imprints + limited-edition tote + all the perks of the digital membership. Or did the different voices emerge later? Absolutely, and this belief is what I hope to convey to readers, especially those who grew up in similar circumstances and who were taught that women’s lives are more limited than the lives of men and that women are prescribed a certain way of living that men are exempt from. She teaches college English literature in North Carolina, where she lives with her two children. For a few years now, she’s been sharing great literature on her Instagram feed, @booksandbeans, and tirelessly advocating for up-and-coming authors. You'll then be redirected back to LARB.

I knew I wanted to write a story about mothers and daughters, and the intergenerational conflicts of that, esp from an immigrant perspective. It’s a toxic belief system that I hope women can recognize and break free from. For the next step, you'll be taken to a website to complete the donation and enter your billing information. Cultural Complications: A Q-and-A with Etaf Rum on “A Woman Is No Man”. Etaf Rum (born May 8, 1989) is a Palestinian American novelist. Thank you! In one of the early chapters, Deya remarks that most of the rules her grandmother “held highest weren’t based on religion at all, only Arab propriety.” It’s an important distinction that you draw in the novel; it is usually patriarchal culture, not religion, that leads to abusive power structures within a marriage or family. Etaf Rum is one of the most thoughtful, dedicated #bookstagrammers in the game. I wanted to show how the idea of the American dream is often sought out by immigrant families, but more specifically the breadwinners of these immigrant families, which are mostly men. At first I kept censoring myself out of fear of violating my community’s code of silence, making us “look bad,” and further confirming stereotypes, but that resulted in a story that was stilted and inauthentic. Fans of fiction that explores multicultural identity, and universal themes of loss, displacement, and transformation such as The Kite Runner, Americanah, and Everything I Never Told You will be drawn to this powerful novel. To tell them to the outside world is unheard of, dangerous, the ultimate shame.”.

She probes the dark and the daunting as she tells the story of a Brooklyn teenager navigating the wishes of a family who want her to marry.” In a way, the novel itself is sentimental to me. Coming to America, or even being born there, doesn’t hand female characters the kind of liberation or freedom that is so central to the American narrative. We’ve been taught that silence will save us.

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I wanted to understand her perspective and study her role in the cycle of trauma and how it trickles down from one generation to the next. Did you always plan to write a multigenerational family saga? Book club questions for A Woman is No Man by Etaf Rum discusses in-depth this story about three generations of Palestinian-American women. Fans of fiction that explores multicultural identity, and universal themes of loss, displacement, and transformation such as The Kite Runner , Americanah, and Everything I Never Told You will be drawn to this powerful novel. 7,910 Followers, 412 Following, 418 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Etaf Rum (@etafrum) Etaf Rum's A Woman Is No Man is a shattering, revelatory tale of immigration, womanhood, and the cyclical impact of violence and oppression. 1521, Los Angeles, California, 90028, United States, http://lareviewofbooks.org permission to email you. I wanted to be clear about the fact that the dark aspects of the novel are rooted in the patriarchal culture and have nothing to do with the doctrines of Islam. Rum’s novel is also the story of one young woman’s journey of defying the limited path chosen for her by working towards claiming agency for herself. She also runs the Instagram account @booksandbeans. Do you believe there is some way for women to reclaim such a misogynistic phrase and subvert the ideology? Help us create the kind of literary community you’ve always dreamed of. Beyond the literal, what does it mean for a person to have a … By Etaf Rum. Yes, absolutely.

ETAF RUM Discussion Guide 1. 7,910 Followers, 412 Following, 418 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Etaf Rum (@etafrum) Etaf Rum’s debut novel, A Woman Is No Man, was originally published in 2019. I think people of color in general, and especially women of color, have the responsibility of representation when deciding to tell their stories. She also runs the Instagram account @booksandbeans. I’m the eldest daughter of Palestinian immigrants, born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, and like my characters, books and storytelling are important to me—so, in some sense, this novel is also a love letter to books, to Palestinian women, and to Brooklyn. You’ll receive the Digital Edition of the Quarterly Journal, and a Reckless Reader card that offers discounts to participating bookstores, as a gift of our thanks.

Overview. Sadness Is a White Bird by Moriel Rothman-Zecher, The Map of Salt and Stars by Zeyn JouKhadar. One of the characters owns a bookshop named Books and Beans, a name clearly inspired by your successful Instagram project.

Harper. And do you feel female writers shoulder that sense of responsibility differently compared to male authors? How does emigrating to America affect them? Some links are affiliate links. Etaf Rum was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, by Palestinian immigrants. Donate $2500 to support LARB’s public events series, increasing community access to our ongoing literary conversation, and, along with all the perks listed above, we’ll gift you two VIP tickets to an event. By the summer of that year, I found an agent who helped me edit it before we sold it to HarperCollins. She has a Masters of Arts in American and British Literature as well as undergraduate degrees in Philosophy and English Composition and teaches undergraduate courses in North Carolina, where she lives with her two children. What books can you recommend to readers who want to read about the Palestinian diaspora? Isra recognizes Scheherazade as a woman whose voice was her weapon and that her story should remind readers of “the strength of a single woman.” Was writing this novel empowering to you as storytelling was to Scheherazade? Subscribe to LARB's FREE Weekly Newsletter: By submitting this form, you are granting: Los Angeles Review of Books, 6671 Sunset Blvd., Ste. Save $10 when you subscribe for a whole year! Your novel examines three generations of women, mainly from the distinctive perspectives of Isra and Deya. Etaf Rum’s debut novel A Woman is No Man, takes us where few have gone before: into the lives of conservative Arab women living in America.Told through the perspective of three generations of Palestinian-American women, this is a story of immigration, desire, betrayal, the impact of violence and womanhood within this strict Arab culture. Where I come from, we keep these stories to ourselves. “Where I come from, we’ve learned to silence ourselves.

The book club questions for A Woman Is No Man will have spoilers so check out my spoiler-free review first. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to … Etaf Rum's new novel, A Woman is No Man, may violate a code of silence in the tight-knit and often closed Palestinian American community of Brooklyn in … Etaf Rum Biography The daughter of Palestinian immigrants, Etaf Rum was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Save $40 when you subscribe for a whole year! Donate to support new essays, interviews, reviews, literary curation, our groundbreaking publishing workshop, free events series, newly anointed publishing wing, and the dedicated team that makes it possible. Subscribe to our annual digital level for $100 and help us keep our eclectic array of online pieces free to the public. Are you working on anything that you might want to share with us? The title is inspired by a phrase you were told by your elders whenever you wished to make your own choices, rather than follow the societal guidelines for women—a woman is no man. Every day for one year, I wrote the novel for two hours before the start of my work day.

Deya, who wants to be a storyteller, tries to understand her past through books and stories in an attempt to rewrite the limited narrative of her own life—in a way, that is how I felt when writing this book. Donate $1000 to help foster our ongoing commitment to visual art, and you’ll receive, along with all of the perks listed above, credit for supporting LARB’s relationship with the visual arts. In what ways is such silence harmful to Isra and other women and girls? Etaf Rum was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, by Palestinian immigrants. 352 pp. What are the potential risks of such secrecy? When I found out she was writing a book of her own, I …

Etaf Rum’s debut novel is a must-read about women mustering up the bravery to follow their inner voice.” (Refinery 29) “Rum writes of the complexities inside the lives of Arab American women. In this remarkable novel, Rum draws from her own experiences and writes an unflinching multi-generational story that confronts the reality of the female experience within a patriarchal culture that is also suffering from the unaddressed and neglected trauma of Al Nakba. She teaches college English literature in North Carolina, where she lives with her two children. It was a very disciplined process and intense time, but I learned so much about myself as a writer in the process—which was needed since this book was the first thing I’ve ever written.

Later, another voice emerged, that of the grandmother figure, Fareeda.

Yes, the distinction between culture and religion was very important to me, especially in a time of Islamophobia. A Woman Is No Man is her first novel. 64 | The Moor's Account and A Very Large Expanse of Sea →. Find more details here. I’m working on a new novel, but it’s in the very early stages and I’m not really sure where it’s heading yet. According to Rum, the novel, while fiction, relies heavily on autobiographical details.In fact, Rum’s life so closely parallels her characters’ lives that the narrative effectively blurs the line between fiction and memoir.. She teaches college English literature in North Carolina, where she lives with her two children. Digital Quarterly Journal + archive + member card for participating bookstores + our weekly newsletter and events invitations. Are there any other sentimental elements in the novel that readers may not be aware of?