"A Woman is No Man" by Etaf Rum

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My favorite part about this story was how central reading was to their inner lives and the ways in which each of the characters used reading. One read for dreaming and imagining how her life would be. One read as an act of defiance and a way to learn as much as she could about lives other than hers. And, one read to escape from her life in the only way available to her. I love books about readers because I immediately feel a kinship to the characters. Sort of like an instant recognition - I see you, Isra, Sarah & Deya because I have read for all of those reasons, too.

I did feel like the author did a lot of verbal reinforcement of the insular nature of the Palestinian community that the characters lived in. Rather than consistently having her characters say that they are Arab,not American, I would have liked to see the tiny actions that reinforced that idea. Describing the food did some of this, but were there gestures or furniture that could have furthered the point?

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