Two Women in One Author:Nawal El-Saadawi n contemporary Egypt, eighteen-year-old Bahiah Shaheen struggles to fill her inner need for independence. Her world consists of her family home and medical school, but she yearns for a freedom of which neither her mother nor her female classmates seem to be aware. As she looks at the women around her she is struck with despair by the falseness s... more »he feels about their lives. In her culture, where women's skirts bind their legs together by narrowing at the knees, she wears pants and causes people to wonder: "Was she a woman or a man?...But since she was a woman, it was legitimate to stare." Her involvement in a student uprising further defies her family and cultural expectations; it is a decision that changes her life. She notes: "We never know the reality of things: we see only what we are aware of. It is our consciousness that determines the shape of the world around us - its size, motion and meaning." Much of this story is told through Bahiah's thoughts, which are not always literal, imbuing the reality of her life with a dream-like quality. With her awareness, drive, and action, Bahiah Shaheen's search for a life different from the expected provides insight into the power of ancient and traditional Egyptian culture over women's lives. --
-- From 500 Great Books by Women; review by Holly Smith