In this novel, Evelyne Accad examines the debate about feminism, asks how women can live day-to-day by its values, and addresses the question of feminism in the Arab world.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
At heart, this is a work of intelligent nonfiction, which Accad, a Lebanese feminist scholar and novelist has unfortunately tried to cast in a fictional guise. At the center of this earnest, occasionally intriguing fictionalized autobiography is Hayate, a feminist scholar from Beirut who visits Tunisia to acquaint herself with the women's movement in "the most democratic" country in the Arab world?where civil rights were updated in 1956 to include women as almost equal participants. However, as Hayate quickly learns, traditional Islamic culture and custom overrides many civic laws; Tunisia is still "a country where women are considered permanently under age." The narrative consists largely of Hayate's attendance at various women's meetings, where the topics include their deeply conflicted sexuality; devastating accounts of abusive husbands; activists' tales of arrest, imprisonment, and even torture for protesting sexist legislation; and energetic if somewhat simplistic arguments about Marxism and pacifism. Along the way, Hayate must give up her peaceful rented house on the Mediterranean when the landlord accosts her; forges several close friendships; and finds herself the victim of misdirected anti-American sentiment from some feminists. Though readers comes away with quite a vivid portrait of life for women in contemporary, urban Tunisia, they are subject to a poorly crafted, rambling narrative that is littered with well-meaning but uninspired poetry.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Lebanese feminist scholar Accad (Sexuality, War, and Literature in the Middle East, New York Univ., 1989) appears to have weighty credentials. This makes her book's lack of direction and insight all the more disappointing. The personal musings and flights into poetry of the main character, Hayate (presumably Accad), feel more like an exercise in self-indulgence than an in-depth study of Tunisia's feminist movement. Only when Hayate/Accad presents a paper at a conference, giving an overview of American feminism, does her writing break free of a labored and pretentious style. (Could this be the translation?) It is difficult to feel empathy for Hayate/Accad as she attempts to insinuate herself into a group of Tunisian feminist-activists. Even her frightening encounter with a lecherous landlord fails to arouse our sympathy. Recommended only for large women's studies collections.?Janet N. Ross, Sparks Branch Lib., Nev.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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