A review by cruelspirit
Women of Sand and Myrrh by حنان الشيخ, Hanan Al-Shaykh

adventurous challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Women of Sand and Myrrh is the story of four women in an unnamed desert nation. Their stories are all separate but overlap in theme as we explore this society and how it contrasts to the rest of the world. These stories cover domestic scenarios and play on many taboos of more conservative cultures. First published in 1982, the subjects of adultery, divorce, abortion, and homosexuality were taboo not only in the Arab world but much of the Western world too.

My greatest interest in this book was the exploration of these subjects through these characters. It gives real depth to a people too often stereotyped as not valuing or acknowledging these subjects. Especially getting to see this played out from a 40 year old book it really offers such a great value of seeing people as who they are. 

Split into four separate sections to cover a different character I found this to be an interesting story structure but one that I didn’t always find worked. Of the four stories, I found the first and last to me the most engaging. These were also some of the shortest. While I found value in the second and third stories, I felt their pacing didn’t always match the narrative. Likewise, I felt those shorter stories, particularly the last one, could have had more substance to them in comparison.

The writing in this work is great. Deeply vivid scenes and emotional insight into the characters. There is so much longing and desire wrapped up in each of these stories that haunts this beautiful tale. Often surreal and dreamlike, my only issue here was that much of these stories didn’t stick with me once I moved on to the next story and I was often left wondering if we’d return to some of these characters and scenarios. I’d like to reread this at some point as I feel reflection in retrospect might offer more to this story.