Iran: Women Without Men by Shahrnush Parsipur
Thoughts: Like all short story collections, there are some parts that resonate more strongly than others. I found Munis’ story the most compelling; something about the way she was trapped seems similar to my the situation of my own making in which I find myself. The weaknesses in the story generally come from the fact that I am not the audience the author was writing for, and as someone who grew up after second-wave Feminism, sometimes I find it hard to accept the actions of women who are in a different cultural landscape.
I also hoped that there would have been some meaningful resolution. Again, this is probably because of the different expectations I have, but with the coming together of all the plotlines, I wanted there to be some sort of critical mass, but the women all together just seemed so unhappy with each other and then parted ways. I guess the fact that there isn’t is probably a symptom of their environment – if you are trapped in an overbearing, patriarchal society, you can escape for a time, but not permanently.
Rating: 3.5/5