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Women without Men (Syracuse: Syracuse university Press, 1998), Shahrnush ParsipurFive women set out to escape the oppressive restrictions of family and social life in contemporary Iran. A prostitute, a wealthy, middle-aged housewife, two seemingly desperate "old maids, " and a woman whose career ended after her boss asked her out share a common quest for independence that may be fulfilled in a garden villa. Through murder, suicide, even rape, as well as love, contemplation, and spiritual tr...
Oh great, I get to be a book club naysayer for the third time out of three, on the second book in a row that I voted for out of ten total potentials. I'm averaging 2.666 on club-related ratings here, which incidentally makes me happy because 666, but primarily makes me feel like Asshole McChoosy-pants. I hope the candidates I put forward all end up middling-to-sucky, or I'm sure going to look like a real taste snob. I swear I am not blindly obstinate. I double-swear I like books. Much.The truth
I read a review that claimed that this is not a feminist novel. If it were a feminist novel, the characters would not rely on men, they would assert themselves powerfully at all times, and their lives would be better for it.Umm, newsflash. A novel can be feminist without all its characters being feminists, strong women, and perfect all the time. That would be unrealistic and boring. Let's first understand that feminism is realism, i.e. realistic portrayal of women, including women who are not fe...
Re-read - still a wonderful bookFor the past few years, I have traveled to Washington DC and stayed a few days just to visit the museums. Plus, I live in Philly, so it’s like a two hour train trip. I’ve learned that the smaller Smithsonian tends to have the more interesting exhibits. I discovered a love for Whistler’s etchings at the Freer, and at the Hirshorn, I discovered that I do like some modern art and video installations. It was at the Hirshorn last summer that I heard of this book. Last
Shahrnush Parsipur was - is - persecuted in Iran, where she’s from, for this book (among other things). Partly because she dares talk about, you know, sex, virginity, female sexuality. Topics that are not to be mentioned ever. ‘Women Without Men’ does reference the title of the Hemingway work ‘Men Without Women’. I haven’t read the latter, but in the afterword to this book, it says it’s a book where ultimately a life without women isn't particularly satisfying. The same (but in reverse) is the c...
Becoming a tree in order to avoid life problems is definitely a 2020 mood. Review to come!
I can't claim to say I really understood anything in this book. Five women, whose lives intersect, are drawn together and crazy, crazy things happen to them.Mahdokht is dissatisfied with her life and wants to do more with it. Then she catches the maid having sex with the gardener, which disgusts her. And then, she becomes a tree. The tree is fed with breast milk and finally burst into seeds and scatters.Fai'za is slightly more sensible and remains human. But that's about it. She lusts after her
I guess magical realism just isn't for me. Especially when I wasn't expecting it. I read this because I saw it in a list of feminist books written by women around the world, and since I'd never read something in this vein by an Iranian author (especially one who was improsined for writing this very work), I was looking forward to gaining some insight into Iranian culture through her eyes. The expectation for something more realist certainly didn't help, but even after I had readjusted my expecta...
In a way, of course, the title is a lie. Women without men is an impossibility as long as women are defined first and foremost by their relationships to men, which obviously is no less true given the setting of the novel, but hardly unique to it either.Women Without Men tell the story of a half-dozen women circling this issue while rarely able to confront it head-on - even if they do, even if they kill or die or return from death with the power to read minds or turn into a tree (yes, it's that k...
This is a really wild novel, unlike any you'll ever read. Parsipur was banned in her native Iran; last I knew she was living in the States (she's taught at Brown U.). Parsipur deals with the limited choices women have in Iran, the violence they face for being raped, rebellious, for breaking even in small ways with the constrictive norm. The novella cannot of course take these issues head-on and so does so in a wildly imaginative way. Parsipur's women find their own haven--one woman becomes a tre...
