Women Dreaming - Salma

Read it

Fiction

Women dreaming is quite an interesting read. It's been a long time since I have read an author who is so blunt (without romance or lament) about the condition of women - in this case Muslim Women in India. It's a novel, so fiction, but I could relate to the characters so well, I felt like this could be the case in any Muslim home in India.

Salma's characters aren't stereotypical. Her main character leaves her husband after he takes a second wife. Her sister in law was rejected and sent home from a marriage after her husband was not able to have sex thus she was rejected as being barren (he most likely was gay). Her mother is lost in an angry sad world where she needs to cry and shout about everything. Her husband is so angry that she stood up for herself, he takes it upon himself to make the rest of her life hell by separating her from her children. 

All of this takes place in a village. It could be any village - the small mindedness and judgmental nature are universal. The author also takes pains to demonstrate how self righteous, religious people (in this case a man) are much more interested in controlling and limiting women rather than in the actual religion. It's a refreshing honesty. Salma's main character isn't a heroine. She falls into a pit of despair and dissociation. Yet you can't help admiring her for making her own decision and living her own life in spite of so many obstacles. And you feel sorry for her because even after she does, she's not able to find happiness or even peace. The children can't decide who to support or put up with because both houses become toxic. The author also takes pains to point out how shackling one generation of women makes it's way down other generations as well. Women themselves encourage these limitations because they don't know or can't imagine any other way.

It's a sad novel, but a reality for many women and helped me appreciate exactly how my separation could have gone. I hope those who need inspiration to get out of intolerable situations read it and take hope from the main character and see the importance of finding happiness after life changes and things don't work out how you hoped or expected.

Read it.

~Becky~