pickThough I found this debut gripping and I loved the friendship and dynamics between three British Muslin women, I was surprised by the way the author chose to represent Arab men vs white men. I felt like the author, a Muslin woman, perpetuated some negative stereotypes, which felt harmful. With that aside, this book was engaging and a great examination of family obligations, expectations and cultural values. Fantastic audio
Vansa I think it's important to recognise the far worse condition of women in conservative societies in South Asia and the Middle East! It would be completely inauthentic for all the men to be very progressive,or even mildly progressive, because the overwhelming majority are not and the societies are deeply deeply patriarchal, irrespective of the social class you're in. 1y
Cinfhen @Vansa it wasn‘t about the men not being progressive- they were all vilified - each Arab man was physically and verbally abusive to their partners. They all lied, cheated and drank, even though they claimed to abstain from alcohol. Whereas the white male boyfriends were literally portrayed as knights in shining armor ( like straight out of fairytales) It just struck me as a dangerous stereotype written by a Muslim woman. I appreciate that she kept 1y
Cinfhen It real but it was SUCH a stark contrast. 1y
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Cinfhen She did write the women beautifully and multifaceted and I thought the story of their friendship was portrayed honestly. 1y
marleed I‘m reading the tagged and having similar thoughts.![[tagged book]](https://image.librarything.com/pics/litsy_webpics/icon_taggedBook@3x.png)
Evil Eye 1y
Evil EyeCinfhen I think @Vansa raises an important issue @marleed but I still can‘t help feeling that for non Muslim readers, those type of images reinforces negative stereotypes. 1y
Vansa Fair point! It's so complicated!! As you say,she could have included a few non stereotypical non-white men to not seem one sided. 1y
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