Book Club: A Woman Is No Man by Etaf Rum

Online via Zoom

a stack of books

Join the University's regular Book Club for an online discussion of Etaf Rum’s A Woman is no Man.

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.
 
Content note: this book contains themes of domestic violence, abuse and depression which some readers may find upsetting and/or triggering.
 
Please note that content notes are based on information available online. LU Arts staff do not read the novels in advance of them being chosen by book club.
 
About Book Club
 
The University's Book Club is run by LU Arts and is open to all current and former students and staff of Loughborough University. We typically meet every six weeks to discuss a book chosen by our members; these meetings take place virtually by video call rather than in person. The books chosen are usually, but not always, novels. You will need to become a member in order to access the online meetings; details of how to do this are under the booking information.
 
Next Book Club meeting: Tuesday 7 March, 12.30-1.30pm
 
Members will be notified by email of future books and meeting dates.
  
Accessibility
 
For accessibility information visit the event page.
 

To join the Book Club, please subscribe to our mailing list (which uses JISC-mail) using the link below.

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Following this you will receive email confirmation of your subscription with further information. From then on you will receive all emails sent to the group, including dates of future meetings, book choices and login details for the online meetings. Please join the mailing list at least 48 hours prior to the meeting date to make sure you receive the login details in time.

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