Review of Silken Gazelles by Jokha Alharthi

*Silken Gazelles* by Jokha Alharthi, translated by Marilyn Booth (2024). Published by Catapult.

If you’re new here and found this blog through the mysterious powers of the Internet, welcome! My name is Ashley, and I’m a dedicated reader and movie watcher who thought to turn this website into a little digital archive of sorts.

I was watching and reading so much that I wanted to keep track of it all, so I began blogging as a way to keep these books as memories somewhat forever.

That said, I recently fell into a period of unemployment, and this blog was a solace for me. Not only was it a way to make a little bit of money when there was nothing else coming my way really, but I found, after getting my finances in order, that I enjoyed sitting down to write blog posts when I had nothing else to do in my day.

I’ve been dubbing this period as funemployment while I look for a job, but the job market isn’t looking too great right now. Regardless, I spend a lot of time in my local library, and because I am such a big fan of simple living, I enjoy the little moments where I can find a book for free here or there, while also supporting such a critical aspect of my community.

I had read about Silken Gazelles online, but didn’t know I would be reading it so soon after finding out about it. It’s the first novel in translation, published in a mainstream context, by an Omani woman. That’s what caught my interest in the end, but I had no idea my library would pick it up.

I was wandering the new fiction section when I saw a copy just sitting there, and I grabbed it immediately. Diversifying my reading lists has been a core goal of mine as of late, and I’ve been wanting to read more SWANA literature, especially if it’s from a woman writer.

I read the book over the course of a few days. This review is going to come out a lot later than that because of the sheer amount of backlog I have to publish—turns out being unemployed means I’ve been able to catch up on a lot on this end.

Let’s get into the review. I don’t want to ramble too much!

An Omani woman reflects on her friendship with another, and the ghost of the past hanging over them.

So this is a nonlinear story, and there’s quite a bit packed into this storyline, despite the novel coming in at less than three hundred pages total. No problem, let’s sort through the main summary and details of the story here!

The focus of the story is a woman named Ghazaala. She grew up with another girl named Asiya in their village, who was raised with her, and they were considered to be as close as blood sisters at time. They were truly inseparable, but one day something extremely terrible happens. Asiya is forced to leave their village when this occurs, and Ghazaala is left to navigate a life without her beloved friend.

Their separation is something traumatic for her, and as she grows older, and we see more of the novel, it hangs over her like a shadow, or a ghost. She is unable to really move on from the loss of Asiya, especially as she is always seeking out someone just like her, to have a relationship like they once had.

But when Asiya leaves the village, Ghazaala finds love. There’s a violinist she is smitten with, and she wants to have him no matter what, even though she is still quite young and could have quite a few opportunities for herself without a marriage. Her parents also disapprove of this, but she doesn’t care.

They continue their romantic relationship and even get married. Her husband is offered a new job in Muscat, with the Royal Oman Symphony, and he accepts the job. They have to move to the capital city of Muscat and start over, all while she is learning to be a wife.

It’s in Muscat that Ghazaala decides to pursue an education at the university, balancing everything expected of her. She has twins, and while she tries to juggle all of these rolls in her life, brought on quite suddenly, she befriends further Harir, who attends the same college as her.

It’s with Harir that she tries to seek out the same bond she once had with Asiya, but neither of them are really conscious of the fact that Ghazaala is using her as an emotional replacement. There’s also a lot going on in her personal life, so combined with all of the characters and flowery descriptions of Muscat and Oman, which almost feels like a love letter to the region at times as well.

The writing in this novel can feel a bit dense at time because of how much is going on. I had to reread a chapter or two a couple of times to fully get the characters and remember their roles—there’s a lot of them in here, and I don’t think everyone is entirely necessary to the plot, especially as we focus on the main women.

I did enjoy the vivid descriptions of Oman a lot. This is a country I’ve been wanting to visit, and to see all of these candid descriptions of the country and its people made me want to go even more. Too bad it’s not in the budget right now.

Overall Thoughts

This wasn’t one of my favorite novels, but I am glad to have read it. To have an Omani woman writer’s perspective is such a luxury in today’s world, especially considering the lack of Omani literature on our shelves in general. I genuinely want to read more books from the region because of books like these—that’s an epic form of representation.

Anyways, I think this can be a bit more of a difficult book at times though because of the characters. It’s plot is pretty simple in my eyes; it’s about the three women that were named above and how they move through friendship, trauma, and trying to overcome the boundaries set for them as women.

The writing itself is fantastic though. I say give the book a chance if you’re interested in what it has to say, the fact it is from an underrepresented region in literature, or if you’re just generally interested. You might find it worth it, so pick it up at your local indie bookstore or library to show your support!

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