Book set in Qatif, Saudi Arabia. Reviewed on 2019/08: https://www.instagram.com/p/B1lp17Ug7XA/
Women desiring women. Women loving women. Women hurting women. Women attracting women. As you can figure, #women are the central preoccupation in #theothersby #sebaalherz . In a #saudi society exclusively centered and fully dominated by men, women have been, are and will always be the #others . #alherz gives us at least three levels of how that #otherness comes to play in her story: sexual orientation ( #lesbian in a sacrosanct straight society), religion (#shiite in an oppressive Sunni monarchy) and gender ( #woman in a men’s world). Needless to say, #saudiarabia did not waste any time #banning this book right away which on itself will attract a lot of readers, myself included. Once you read the book, you realize that this sort of an #unreliablenarrator . I was not surprised to see so many negative reviews. I think Al-Herz wrote a very human story of someone struggling with so many levels and intersections of otherness and isolation and secrets. If you’ve ever been in the closet or you’ve struggled with accepting a part or parts of who you are, you know firsthand that those struggles are never-ending, painfully slow and two steps forward and five backwards. So I’m going to say it loud and clear. This is not a social or political manifesto about a particular cause or a window into a group. It’s above all the writer’s story and that’s it. Once you’ve come to terms with that, you might be allowed to enjoy this #dreamlike ride or should I say #nightmare like. #recommended#saudiliterature #bannedbooks #alqatif#qatif #القطيف
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