There are several books on immigrants struggling with newly-found freedom and cultural identity in a new country, but author Etaf Rum takes the readers straight into the main characters Yara Murad (30) and her husband Fadi’s home. There are old wives’ tales – empty coffee cup readings, lucky charms, black cat stories sprinkled all over the book. There are also aromas of traditional food cooked with love and tales of loved ones that will instantly bring a tear. There is a certain lyrical grace and poise in Palestinian-born US-based author Etaf’s storytelling technique. The book makes the reader understand what Palestinian-American women go through in their new home America and their homeland.
The story revolves around Yara and her personal journal. She grew up in Brooklyn after her parents moved to the US to escape the instability in their homeland. But in the US too, there is no respite for her mother from her abusive husband. Yara grows up to be a studious and obedient child in a conservative and close-knit Palestinian expatriate community in Brooklyn. Life has been kind to her. She has a loving husband (Fadi) and two adorable daughters. But often Fadi tends to give into the patriarchal beliefs of his mother Nadia, which Yara finds irritating. Yara has a history of run-ins with Nadia, who on the very first night after her wedding had asked a 19-year-old Yara to wear a hijab. Her sudden salvos at Yara continue unabashed each time she visits them.
She works in a local college and is very fond of art, culture, and history. However, after a recent outburst with a racist colleague, she is undergoing therapy. Yara often feels there is some pent-up anger within her. In her personal journal, Yara writes: “My therapist says that writing can transform the unspeakable into a story. Only I don’t want to tell a story, I want to break free.”
The author very subtly manages to weave in questions related to identity, discrimination, patriarchy, and cultural practices in the realms of an educated middle-class household. Yara questions her own identity and the state of her marriage. She wants to go on an education trip with her college students to Norway and see the museums and paintings, but her husband laughs it off saying, “Who will take care of the kids?” These real- life situations and compromises connect as these things happen in every household, be it the US, Palestine, or India.
