10 Must-Read Arab American Feminist Books
Feminist booksBy: Dani Meyer/Arab America Contributing Writer
With their works, Arab American authors have been able to shine a light on a feminist perspective of the stories of Arabs and Arab Americans. From fiction to memoirs, these fantastic Arab American feminist books will shed light on the stories of women throughout the Arab world.
1. The Blue Between Sky and Water
Written by Susan Abulhawa, The Blue Between Sky and Water tells the story of the women of the Baraka family who live in a small Palestinian farming village. When they are forced to leave their ancestral home, only Nazmiyeh and her brother survive the long road to Gaza. Nazmiyeh tries to build a new life for herself and her brother in Gaza, but her brother continues his journey to the United States. Years later, his granddaughter longs for Gaza. “The story Susan Abulhawa tells in this marvelous novel is hard to bear but impossible to ignore. Her vision is precise, courageous, and dazzling.”(Teju Cole)
2. A Map of Home
A coming-of-age novel by Randa Jarrar, A Map of Home, tells the story of a girl named Nidali, whose name means “struggle.” Born to an Egyptian mother and a Palestinian father, Nidali tells the story of her family’s life in Egypt and their flight to the United States. Set during the 1990 invasion of Kuwait with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as a larger backdrop, the novel depicts the struggles of Nidali and her family, exploring the question of what “home” means, and the character’s identity.
3. Once In A Promised Land
Once in a Promised Land is the story of a couple, Jassim and Salwa, who left the deserts of their native Jordan for those of Arizona. Although the two live far from Ground Zero, they cannot escape the nationwide fallout from 9/11. With the combination of a fragile marriage and straddling their new culture with their heritage, Once in a Promised Land tells a captivating story of a couple’s journey through a post-9/11 America.
4. Remember Me to Lebanon: Stories of Lebanese Women in America
Evelyn C. Shakir paints tales of Lebanese women in the United States, from the 1960s to today. Many of the women grapple with reclaiming or abandoning ancestral demands and finessing age-old male-female relationships. Shakir offers multiple perspectives on Lebanese women trying to change their roles in a new landscape without abandoning their culture.
5. I, The Divine
I, The Divine, focuses on Sarah Nour el-Din, a Lebanese girl who has been living in self-imposed exile in the United States. Her story focuses on her vibrant spirit and the difficulties of her life as she boldly tells her story. “Like her narrative, [Sarah’s] life is broken and fragmented. [But] the bright, strange, often startling pieces…are moving and memorable” (Boston Globe). A story written in the first chapters, this unique feminist book provides a humorous and revealing narrative.
6. The Bullet Collection
As the city of Beirut is caught in the crossfire of conflict in the Middle East, Marianna watches her older sister collect evidence of violence from the war. Marianna becomes her sister Alaine’s keeper. However, when the family moves to America, Alaine becomes content. As Marianna longs for her home of Beirut, she struggles to understand her new identity in America. “Passionate, lyrical, and deeply humane, this tale of two sisters caught in a war without end moves effortlessly through space and time, illuminating the private terrors of a dispossessed family and the public terror-more relevant than ever, now-arising from clashing cultures. This is an astonishing novel.” (Andrea Barrett)
7. The Map of Love
A Booker Prize finalist, The Map of Love! This book tells a cross-cultural love story that unfurls across Egypt. Isabel Parkman, a divorced American journalist, has fallen in love with an Egyptian-American conductor. Underlying her romance is the story of her great-great-grandmother, an English woman who fell in love with an Egyptian nationalist. “Epic. . . . Soueif is at her most eloquent on the subject of her homeland; her prose rich with historical detail and debate. Ultimately, Egypt emerges as the true heroine of this novel.” (The Independent)
8. The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf
The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf tells the story of a Syrian girl transplanted to the American Midwest in the 1970s. Though not an autobiography, the author, Mohja Kahf, also moved from Syria to the United States as a child. Kahf delves into the cultural clashes of Muslim life in America, through the eyes of a young girl.
9. I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced
Honored alongside Hillary Clinton and Condoleezza Rice as one of Glamour magazine’s women of the year, Nujood tells her full story for the first time. When her family betrothed and married her to a man nearly four times her age, Nujood took matters into her own hands and became the youngest woman in Yemen to obtain a divorce. In I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced, Nujood tells the story of her escape, tragedy, and incredible courage. While not written by an Arab American, this incredible story translated into English is a great starting point for anyone wanting to dive deeper into Arab feminist books.
10. The Cairo House
The Cairo House, written as a memoir, tells the story of Gigi, a girl born to a multilingual Egyptian family in Cairo in the 1950s. With the takeover of Nasser, many of the family go into exile in the United States. However, they are unsure about how to connect their traditions and culture with their new home. “[Gigi’s personal story] serves only to underscore the wider point of Ms. Serageldin’s story: that while regimes may change and houses are bought and sold, exile is something you carry with you in your heart.” (The Economist)
Sources
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326752614_WOMAN_VOICE_IN_THE_ARAB-AMERICAN_LITERATURE
https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/the-blue-between-sky-and-water-9781632862211/
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3195325-a-map-of-home
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/289115.Once_in_a_Promised_Land
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/remember-me-to-lebanon-evelyn-shakir/1112502148
http://rabihalameddine.com/i-the-divine
https://www.graywolfpress.org/books/bullet-collection
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/170453/the-map-of-love-by-ahdaf-soueif/
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6588450
https://www.publicaffairsbooks.com/titles/mojha-kahf/the-girl-in-the-tangerine-scarf/9780786715190/
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6818019-i-am-nujood-age-10-and-divorced
https://www.samiaserageldin.com/thecairohouse
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