Customer Reviews

Two Women in One

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3 star:		(2)
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This is an amazingly strong, moving novel written by a woman who has been exiled from her country because of the glimpses she provides through her writing of women's lives in Arabic society. Two women in One is a haunting work of the choices one woman makes and her struggle to find agency under the power of people who would deny her this, and herself.

This book was first published in 1975 by a brave woman who was willing to tell a story--and to tell truths that others from her country didn't want told--she has paid for her bravery with exile and that kind of commitment should not be belittled. I am sure this book was a groundbreaking, landmark work at the time it was first published--so it shouldn't be entirely dismissed--but in reality it is pretty dated and a bit of a bore to read. I almost stopped reading it and it is only 123 pages.

The main character is a woman who is trying to figure out who she is--all she seems sure of is that she doesn't want to be who other people--her parents, her teachers, society in general--want her to be. She is drawn to a young man with whom she has a sexual encounter and is then rather mystically drawn toward a life of student activism--a life her lover is fully but rather mysteriously engaged in. He is arrested and our gal is determined that the cause he is dedicated to will define her life...so...well...we might say that she wants to dump one set of oppressors--or powers that want to define her (ie her father, uncles, even her mother--and other teachers & defenders of the current social order) for sex with a revolutionary hero and another set of male-centered outside forces that wait to offer her their definition of a good woman------now how that adds up to self determination is beyond me...but like I said--this was first published in the mid 70s--and, that sort of thinking had a bit of a romantic tinge back then.

Overall I'd say that this is a dated book that I wouldn't recommend to anyone unless they were specifically studying women in the Middle East and wanted some historic background.

Also the translation I read (translated by Osman Nusairi and Jane Gough) was a bit redundant in its language use--which may be the fault of the translators rather than the author. I really couldn't say--but it didn't make it any more interesting to read.

Buy the book to support the author--she deserves praise--but don't buy the book because you are looking for a great read with new insights into another culture or some universal human dilemma --its just not here

A member of our Book Club suggested this book and after reading the Mafouz Trilogy I was quite looking forward to reading this book.
As another reviewer commented, some parts may be revelant for the '70's- I was puzzled about the repetition of the protagonist's name and the constant referrals to her paleness and thought it must be some cultural thing I must be missing.
Other parts were universally recognisably - the arrogance of the men in her life, even the Lecturer who should have known better- all characters present in every-day life- and I was happy that the author had her heroine spunkily fighting back, though I worried for her safety at the end without the protection of the same men in her life and felt she would come to a sticky end.
I had just finished reading George Lamming's In The Castle of My Skin and was struck by both authors claiming that one needed to conceal one's true self and feelings from others as they would destroy you.