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Faten فاتن (2010)

by Fatima Sharafeddine(Favorite Author)

3.82 of 5 Votes: 3

languge

English

genre

Young Adult Fiction

publisher

Kalimat Publishing - كلمات

review 1: First published in Arabic in 2010, this is an absorbing story of a teenager coming of age during the Lebanese civil war in 1987 determined to make more of her life than working as a maid for a wealthy family in Beirut, an arrangment her father made to help the family make ends meet. Sharrafeddine explores compelling conflicts and themes in the story: economic class, city life versus village life, the clash between tradition and modern society, and modern women challenging a strict patriarchal society. The story would probably have a stronger emotional impact if Sharafeddine had told the story in first person rather than third. Nonetheless, Servant is rich, insightful historical fiction about a brave young woman's self-determination. Pair this story with Zeina Abirached's ... moregraphic memoir, A Game for Swallows (Lerner, 2012).
review 2: Fifteen-year-old Faten quits school, leaves home, and becomes a maid for a wealthy family in Beirut. She does all this at her father's behest since he has decided that she must be the family breadwinner. In fact, all of her earnings go to home, leaving her with little financial resources to find a way out of this dead end. Often, the family members treat her with disdain and can't even be bothered to call her by her name when they want her to do something. As the years pass, though, Faten continues to dream of having more, and with the help of some old and new friends, she fashions a plan to attend the university and become a nurse. The author does an excellent job of describing war-torn Lebanon in the late 1980s as well as creating a likeable character in Faten. What makes this story engaging is how determined, resilient, and resourceful she is, studying on her own, and clinging to hope for a bright future even while her love interest, Marwan, a musician and engineering student who lives across the way, seems unable to stand up for himself and his own dreams since those clash with what his parents want for him. Ultimately, this book celebrates the power education has to provide better, brighter futures for women such as Faten who deserves so much more than serving others for menial wages that she never even gets to keep. less

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