Author: Persis Karin, Shahrnush Parsipur
Genre: Magical Realism, Fiction
Publication date 1989
Description: Shortly after the 1989 publication of Women Without Men in her native Iran, Shahrnush Parsipur was arrested and jailed for her frank and defiant portrayal of women’s sexuality. Now banned in Iran, this small masterpiece was eventually translated into several languages and introduces U.S. readers to the work of a brilliant Persian writer. With a tone that is stark, and bold, Women Without Men creates an evocative allegory of life for contemporary Iranian women. In the interwoven destinies of five women, simple situations such as walking down a road or leaving the house become, in the tumult of post-WWII Iran, horrific and defiant as women escape the narrow confines of family and society only to face daunting new challenges.
Review:
I realize I am not sure who the translator is, the e-book was bought from Kobo.com but in the details I wasn't able to located easily. It just says "the first authorized translation."
It follows five women of different ages and social backgrounds make up their minds or start to fight the oppressive restrictions of family and social life in Iran. A prostitute, who of course is looked down by the morally acceptable society. She is working and trying to have a joyful experience within the limits of her lifestyle. She is cheerful, always reading and trying to keep the spirits up in the brothel. She does not feel ashamed of what she does for a living, exactly. She is stressed out by her workload but their boss cares not about it, just like any work life, she needs to meet her quota. Her complaints to her boss is something along the lines of requesting lessen of workload, trying to get a few more breaks in between.
A middle aged housewife, she trapped in a miserable marriage. Both of them are trapped in loveless marriage. He goes out of his way to humiliate her, he recently discovers about "menopause" and by that he read the word and discovered a very vague way what it means. He starts taunting the wife by keep reminding her she will soon be menopause because she is old. He consciously tries to do things to annoy or upset her. She continues to wait for him to leave, as he is recently retired and now is home almost of the time. She looks forward to the time he takes a nice stroll outside, so she can be comfortable at home for that period of time while he is away.
Two "old spinsters" who by know ought to be desperate for marriage or fear to be left to hope for a future as caretaker in a brother's or other male family member household. And the last member is woman whose career ends after her boss asked her to accompany her in the quest for independence.
Of course, the women here might be considered not ideal in the feminist movement that we are familiar with. The women here are trapped in a society where women are totally dependent on men, they're realistic in their grim reality. This patriarchal system is all there is for the Iranian women in this novel, it is all they've ever known. They are taught to be demure, subservient, quiet and naive until they have them as wife. They are taught that staying pure is a sign of respect for the men in their lives. Yes no one teaches men to not rape women. There are several examples:
A women goes missing, she is a harlot and deserves to be killed for bringing shame onto the family. Does the brother worry in case something happened to her? That she was kept away from home by force? Irrelevant, she is a shame.
There are virginity certificates, that is a reality. But a woman is considering to ask (ASK, ASK, ASK)to prove her worthiness.
Women constantly trying to impress and be better than the other women to get the attention from males around.
Their fighting among each other to "win" the husband.
Thinking they want a man seven if he is clearly an awful human being, make up excuses to forgive his mistakes simply because as a woman the only thing they can look towards is being chosen as wife.
Being considered too old at late 20s, but a man over 40 is totally acceptable to go after a young woman barely 18 years old.
For them to become full fledged feminists as we know it in the west would be unrealistic. But to see them oppressing each other, back stabbing each other, have animosity for no particular reason,, keeping each other "in check", this was heartbreaking. You get a sense of the true ubiquity of this system. West culture is taught that the oppression of men is something we have move on form, but is so ingrained in our everyday lives that mostly you live with it without notice. We are also taught that the women over in middle eastern Asia are very limited, but in reality women almost everywhere are oppressed in different ways. Fear of being sexually assaulted, of being blamed for becoming the victim, domestic violence, submission until you have no personality or life outside the four-walls of your household.
Simply having one's own will, being able to dream, to want something for oneself however tiny, say to turn into a tree, or to move away and start a community becomes a courageously feminist act.
There are a lot of magical realism elements show up at random and are never explained, they are a bit odd so it might put some people off or add a great detail. The magical realism are employed for making a point across.
I am having mixed feelings, I keep changing my mind, is this a 4 or 5 star book. I finished this book 2 days ago, and every day I keep changing the rating.
This was used for challenges:
Around the world the author being from India.
Translated works.
Female author
Topics that need to be discussed. This is a not official challenge but it should be.
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