A Woman is No Man by Etaf Rum

A Woman is No Man by Etaf Rum follows the story of Isra, a young Palestinian woman betrothed to a man living in Brooklyn, New York with a marriage contract agreed to by their parents. But it is told from several different points of view. It isn't an easy read, dealing with the restrictive and abusive life of a young woman in a strange country, who is more or less kept a prisoner in the home of her in-laws and told her duty is to take care of her husband and raise children - boys.  Girls are of little consequence to the Palestinian families.When Isra is beaten by her husband, Fareeda, her mother-in-law offers no sympathy and instead provides her with foundation to cover up the bruises which she refers to as Isra's shame.

spoiler alert
I was disappointed with the ending which didn't tie up all the answers and left the reader hanging. On the advice of another book reviewer, I went back and re-read the chapter Deya - Winter 2008 which gave a little clarification from Deya's point of view and her memory of seeing their father when, at the end of the last chapter, the subway train stopped. However, it still didn't go into detail of what happened when Isra and Adam died.

As an immigrant myself, I fail to understand why people come to the U.S. and segregate themselves with those of the same culture and try to make a portion of their world in America into the same one they have left behind, rather than embracing their new life and be respectful of the way of life in their new country. Most of this Palestinian family refused to even learn English. Even when travelling in Europe as a child, my family always took a phrase book and tried to communicate with people in their language and accept their customs, rather than expecting them to cater to ours. All throughout the book the emphasis from Fareeda was that their children should not become "American."
Bay Ridge is a predominantly Muslim community in the Brooklyn area.