Zana’s Reviews > Women Without Men: A Novel of Modern Iran > Status Update

‘“She is too busy,” he said. “Besides, she is not into socializing. She is a homemaker, born to keep house.”

“I can’t say I approve of full-time homemakers,” Fa’iza returned. “A woman must have a social dimension, to help her man advance socially. One can’t get stuck in the kitchen corner....”’

I mean she's not wrong

“As her pregnancy advanced and the contour of her body changed, Zarrinkolah became increasingly translucent, like crystal, with light shining through her. Munis would sometimes look at the river through her as she sat by the window watching the currents.”

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“...He had also suggested that the human-tree is not like other trees; it needs human breast milk to achieve maturity and growth. Farrokhlaqa was stumped by the suggestion, not being able to think of a source for human breast milk.”

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“...But how could you tell people that a family member has become a tree? Her brother told me that they wouldn’t have minded if she had become a milk maid, a dairy girl. After all, making yogurt is a trade. But becoming a tree? I don’t know about that.”

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‘“Actually this poor tree . . . is the sister of the former owner of the property,” he added, as if mortified by the irrationality of his own statement.

“How strange!” Farrokhlaqa uttered sharply.

“It certainly is. This poor soul went mad and planted herself in the ground.”’

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‘“Where are you ladies heading?” asked the driver when he reached the women.

The twenty-eight-year-old, Fa’iza, promptly came up with the answer, “We are going to Karadj to live by the fruits of our own labor and not to have any men to order us around.”

“Is that so?” said the driver. “Are you serious?” He suddenly reached for her chador and pulled it off her head.’

Wtffff

“The customer came into the room. It was a man with no head. She was so frightened she couldn’t scream. She submitted to him frozen with fear. He finished his business and left. That day all her customers were headless.”

Girl what

“Finally, around three in the morning he climbed into bed demanding that she fulfill what he referred to as her marital obligations. She submitted mechanically to his unwanted attention.”

Talk about the ick

“His wife looked forward to his absence so she could move around freely. With him in the house, she felt restricted and claustrophobic—a need to confine herself to a corner to avoid contact. In the thirty-two years of their marriage she had learned to be inactive when her husband was home. Instinctively she felt vitality and joy in his absence.”

Me if I had a husband

‘“And you,” Munis turned to the girl. “Didn’t you get knocked up last year by your cousin? And didn’t you have an abortion by Mrs. Fatemi?”’

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