Sworn Virgin | 
"Yesterday there was sunshine. It came suddenly and stayed nine hours. Hana counted them. The sun was brutally bright, shedding an indecent light on hidden aspects of the village. There‘s hunger written on the faces of all its inhabitants. Winter meals of beans and a few potatoes have made their eyes spectral. It‘s up to no good, that sun. It crept up on them so stealthily they hadn‘t had time to hide or disguise their suffering."
"It wasn‘t life. It was the annihilating breath of fear. It was pain a whisper away from the atrocious pleasure of hearing death knock at the door, then move on. It was a daily ration of menace, a nightmare you couldn‘t escape."
"There‘s no need to explain anything, as it turns out, because the phone line goes dead. For both of our sakes, Hana thinks, as she steps out of the phone box into the glaring and restless sun that still doesn‘t know what it wants to be when it grows up."
"They look away, trapped by their awkwardness, by the fact that they‘re young and have never been free."
pickHana follows a traditional in northern #Albania to live as a man, as long as she remains a virgin. Many years later, she moves to the US and returns to life as a woman. Written with spare prose, the novel follows Hana before her decision and then later in the US. I thought it was an interesting exploration of gender constructs.
#ReadingEurope2020
pickFascinating novel based on Albanian custom of "sworn virgin" where single women could become a man by custom. Hana moves to the US and has to try and fit in as a woman again.
I don't get it. Why doesn't the girl just do the men's stuff without having to turn into a man?
Left with 3 books! 📚
pickInteresting novel about a little understood Albanian tradition in which women can become men as long as they remain virgins. Jumps back and forth between Albanian and the US, exploring a woman who "chooses" to exist as a man and then her struggle to understand her identity again as a woman. *I use ironic quotes around choose because circumstances force her hand.
pickHere are all my physical books with text only covers. Sworn Virgin was one of my favorites of 2014. #booktober
An Albanian tradition dating back hundreds of years, sworn virgins live as men in exchange for taking a vow of celibacy. Some women took the vow if their family lacked a male heir or to avoid arranged marriages, ie this was not necessarily a question of sexuality.
The novel follows Mark/Hana, who is adjusting to life in the US as a woman after many years living as a man in Albania.
Total #impulsebuy and I hope it delivers. Anyone read it?
