El Saadawi packs a punch in this relatively short novel with great intensity and frankness to unveil life for many women in Arab societies. She was more than prepared to point out the hypocrisies of men in particular who claim to uphold traditions (cultural and religious, which have their overlaps) while simultaneously twisting them for their own benefit to take advantage of women. El Saadawi doesn’t shy away from describing the terrible things that her protagonist, Firdaus, went through for most of her life. Yet, in spite of everything, Firdaus remained resilient and determined to pursue justice for not only her but also with other women in mind. The novel is not meant for the reader to draw the conclusion that all men are terrible (though there certainly are a lot of terrible men in the world) but, rather, El Saadawi pointing out that anyone (but men, especially) can abuse their power in a society that favors those who uphold patriarchal values to oppress others (notably, women).

On a more technical and structural level, I did find that the novel got a little repetitive. I’m not entirely sure if this was intentional or a result of the English translation, but it was something that stuck out to me a fair bit, especially considering how short the book is. Despite this, I did find that El Saadawi’s message is a powerful and important one, and I’m so glad to see more feminist writers from the global majority sharing these stories.