The orchard, vibrantly green and with adobe walls, backed up against the village at one end and bordered the river at the other. It was an orchard mostly of sweet and sour cherries...
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It has recently come to my attention that I must make it clear at the beginning of my reviews that I received this book for free from the publisher. I have not been paid for doing this and all opinions are my own. I am Bookshop.org affiliated, which means I earn a very small amount of money if you buy from there using my direct link. Although I include purchase links to Amazon, I am not affiliated with them. I include them to make it easy for you to navigate to them if you so wish.
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The Blurb
Women Without Men traces the interwoven destinies of five women – including a wealthy middle-aged housewife, a sex worker and a schoolteacher – as they arrive by different paths to live together in an abundant garden on the outskirts of Tehran.
Drawing on elements of Islamic mysticism and recent Iranian history, this unforgettable novel depicts women escaping the narrow confines of family and society, and imagines their future living in a world without men.
Translated from Persian by Faridoun Farrokh
My Review
Before I even begin my review of this short book, I want to acknowledge the author's courage and strength of character in the writing and publishing of this book. She had already been imprisoned for almost five years without charge. Following her release, she soon published this book and was imprisoned again.
This book contains a series of stories of Iranian women who have chosen to live their lives without men. In our western culture, this would not be considered outrageous, but in a patriarchal society such as Iran, this is unheard of and not without consequence.
The chapters about the five individual women are all interconnected and the author does a marvellous job of interweaving them. Indeed, the book has much to say about the friendship of women and the courage which these women portray.
Much of the narrative is based on mythological stories and the magical realism elements add to the story. There are many elements within the stories that many woman will identify with. It is a short but powerful novel that explores the expected role of Iranian women within society, and then turns it on it's head through folklore, family and society.
Publishing in the UK for the first time, it is no surprise that the book is an International Booker Prize longlist nominee and deservedly so. Ms Parsipur is a talented writer and it's thrilling to read her insights into feminism. I highly recommend this novel to anyone who is interested in Iranian history or feminism.
Book Details
ISBN: 978 0241792513
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Formats: e-book, audio and paperback
No. of Pages: 128 (paperback)
Purchase Links
About the Author
Shahrnush Parsipur was born in Iran in 1946. She began her career as a writer of fiction and producer at Iranian National Television and Radio. She was imprisoned for nearly five years by the Islamist government without being formally charged. Shortly after her release, she published Women Without Men and was arrested and jailed again, this time for her frank and defiant portrayal of women’s sexuality.
While still banned in Iran, the novel became an underground best-seller there, and has been translated into many languages around the world. She is also the author of Touba and the Meaning of Night, among many other books, and now lives in exile in Northern California.
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(ARC and media courtesy of the publisher)
(all opinions are my own)
(Bookshop.org affiliated)
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