{"id":7815,"date":"2026-11-10T12:17:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-10T12:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=7815"},"modified":"2026-11-10T12:17:00","modified_gmt":"2026-11-10T12:17:00","slug":"ill-look-myself-in-the-eyes-by-rim-battal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=7815","title":{"rendered":"I\u2019ll Look Myself in the Eyes by Rim Battal"},"content":{"rendered":"

A powerful coming of age story that invites a wider understanding of women, sexuality, and cultural traditions<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Rim Battal\u2019s autobiographical novel, I\u2019ll Look Myself in the Eyes<\/em>, is a stark commentary and sharp exploration of the causes and effects of the private violence among women, often disguised as rituals. Interspersed with moments of striking tenderness and understanding, the women Battal counts on let her down again and again. Still, hers is a story of defiance and self-determination until adulthood when she finally sees her mother through a new lens.<\/p>\n

Battal, an average Moroccan teenager growing up in a traditional household, gets caught smoking a cigarette\u2014an incendiary event that burns away all she thought she knew about who was in her corner. Beaten by her mother for this transgression, Battal escapes to her favorite Aunt Aida\u2019s house. But she is shocked to find Aunt Aida ready to seize the opportunity to leverage the situation in a simmering feud with Battal\u2019s mother.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

When the book opens, Battal is about to have a harrowing experience where her virginity is to be formally, medically certified by a gynecologist before she can return home from her aunt\u2019s house, per her mother\u2019s orders. Protecting the family\u2019s honor with concrete proof of Battal\u2019s purity is prioritized. It\u2019s not enough for her to say she\u2019s a virgin, though. The truth is only valid if it\u2019s affirmed by someone else.<\/p>\n

Battal hopes that her boyfriend, trusted aunt, or friends\u2019 mothers will come to her aid, but she is alone. There is no way around her mother\u2019s demand for a certificate of virginity. That dawning realization is difficult to witness. Alternate fantasies of escape, rescue, and even revenge quickly fizzle, leaving Battal with little choice in what happens next, other than leaving home as soon as possible after her education is complete.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll Look Myself in the Eyes<\/em> is a deeply layered examination of truth, gender, and sexuality set against family dynamics across generations. Lying and evasion are juxtaposed with truth and honesty, with funhouse consequences that bend and shift unpredictably. The demands on Battal are rigid, while Aunt Aida\u2019s children have more freedom to experiment, as long as they don\u2019t get caught. Battal\u2019s father (Aida\u2019s brother) bends logic into a pretzel, extolling the benefits of lying to build trust. Meanwhile, Battal\u2019s mother sacrifices Battal\u2019s autonomy and dignity to maintain the family\u2019s social standing. The truth becomes whatever you say it is as long as you\u2019re not a teenage girl. When Battal can finally use her voice, she\u2019s loud and clear in the most satisfying way.<\/p>\n

Battal\u2019s writing skillfully explores how telling the truth challenges others to confront their own actions. The women who suffered under gendered expectations turn around and inflict those same standards on their own children in the name of tradition. In Battal\u2019s family, the approval of others means everything, particularly when it comes to in-law dynamics. She shows us how the damage of the patriarchy spreads beyond the women to envelop men, too. With age and time comes some understanding of her mother\u2019s role as victim, perpetrator, and even protector. Still, these are explanations, not excuses. We see it all through Battal\u2019s clarity, and while it\u2019s easy to cast judgment, there\u2019s overlap with how young women are raised and expected to behave in American culture too. The ideas that Battal probes in her book are worthy of wide consideration.<\/p>\n

This book will make you angry and break your heart before leaving you inspired by Battal\u2019s now-successful life. Her writing is exciting, with impeccable timing and an authentic voice that rings true. A strong choice for reading with friends or book clubs, I\u2019ll Look Myself in the Eyes<\/em> challenges as much as it engages, and comes highly recommended from this impassioned reviewer.<\/p>\n

The post I\u2019ll Look Myself in the Eyes by Rim Battal<\/a> appeared first on Independent Book Review<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A powerful coming of age story that invites a wider understanding of women, sexuality, and cultural traditions Rim Battal\u2019s autobiographical novel, I\u2019ll Look Myself in the Eyes, is a stark commentary and sharp exploration of the causes and effects of the private violence among women, often disguised as rituals. Interspersed with moments of striking tenderness […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bookreviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7815"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7815\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}