Women without Men
Shahrnush Parsipur
This was a short book, and I find sometimes with short books that I’ve made it to the end without really getting the hang of what they’re up to. Actually, I find that, if I’m squeezing in my reading at a time when I’m busy, this sometimes also happens with long books. It’s been pretty hectic the past couple of weeks, so I certainly don’t feel I fully appreciated this novel.
It tells the story of a group of initially unrelated women living in Iran. It’s fable-like in the way that it is told and so, in a way, deceptively simple. Its narrative and its language seemed quite straightforward but left me feeling that the novel had a deeper message to convey (even if I wasn’t entirely sure what it was). It also contained elements of the fantastical which I felt were possibly highly symbolic (even if I wasn’t entirely sure what they symbolised). Symbolic or not, I enjoyed the whimsical note that they added.
Another thing I enjoyed was the way this book subverted my expectations. From the title, I was certain that this was going to be a story of female solidarity. However, this was far from the case. One of the delightfully surprising things about the novel is how unpleasant its women are to and about each other. They’re scathing and brutal and utterly unsympathetic in a way that is funny and (sadly) quite true to life.
Judged by Books 
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