brokebookmountain’s Reviews > No Edges: Swahili Stories > Status Update
brokebookmountain
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First story, The Guest by Fatma Shafii (tr. Hassan Kassim) - 3.25 stars
I thought the writing was gorgeous, but the ending felt a bit too abrupt for me. To get married quickly, to be a wife, to become a mother, to fit the beauty standard, all the judgement and burden a girl has to endure in a patriarchal society, all of them...it's no surprise that one breaks down in a world so suffocating.
— Nov 11, 2025 08:32PM
I thought the writing was gorgeous, but the ending felt a bit too abrupt for me. To get married quickly, to be a wife, to become a mother, to fit the beauty standard, all the judgement and burden a girl has to endure in a patriarchal society, all of them...it's no surprise that one breaks down in a world so suffocating.
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