DEHIYA Book Club | August 2025 | Gulf

DEHIYA Book Club | August 2025 | Gulf

Pages: 432

Genre: Literary Fiction

Author: Mo Ogrodnik

Dounia, a young Saudi mother, finds herself alienated in a desolate, post-weather, air-conditioned modernist box and decides to rebel against all forms of domesticity. Flora, a Filipina domestic worker haunted by the flood that claimed her infant’s life, navigates the perils of her boss’s insurrection. Zeinah, a Syrian woman, seeks love within the confines of her arranged marriage to a jihadist and finds herself joining the female morality police. Justine, a white American curator, reckons with her own violence and ethical limitations when her life intersects with Eskedare, a spirited and defiant Ethiopian teenager whose dreams have dead-ended in the Gulf. Bold moves unlock vital consequences, each woman’s journey con­fronting us with our own capacity for cruelty, rebellion, resilience—and hope.

Written with unsettling intimacy and determined empathy, Gulf exposes the stark realities of what happens when a woman’s agency is stripped away and asks how far we will go in order to survive.



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Comments (1)

  • This was a great, challenging read but also very depressing. It was so complex, and there were definitely characters that I did not like. There was a lot going on in each chapter, and I found it a little hard to follow at times (especially in the beginning when I wasn’t familiar with the characters). I loved this book, but also didn’t know how I felt about it after I finished. I felt a bit deflated and heavy. After finishing it and thinking about it, I think it could have been split out into 2 books to provide more depth into the characters and also balance out the heaviness. 4.25/5 for me!

    Jacalyn

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