Mother Country - Etaf Rum - ★★★★

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AUTHOR: Etaf Rum
SERIES: Good Intentions Collection, #5
GENRE: Short Story
PUBLICATION DATE: April 27, 2023
RATING: 4 stars.

In a Nutshell: A thought-provoking short story about the insecurities and resilience of motherhood. The epistolary format adds to the experience.


Plot Preview:
Our unnamed narrator is a daughter, living miles away from the mother who has taught her everything she knows, right from basic chores such as cooking and cleaning to behavioural patterns such as staying quiet when your husband hits you and sacrificing your needs for the sake of your family’s. After marriage, the daughter begins to wonder if this is all there is to life. And if she can aim for more. As she writes to her mother about her thoughts over the years, she comes to understand intergenerational trauma, and how someone has to take a step to break the vicious cycle of quiet acceptance.
The story is written in the first-person perspective of the daughter, as a letter addressed to her mother.


This is the fifth standalone story in the 'Good Intentions’ series, described on Amazon as “a riveting collection of stories about the instincts, fears, and fierce love inherent in motherhood.”

The synopsis indicates clearly that this story is going to be introspective, depicting the struggling emotions as well as the resilience of women caught in tricky domestic situations. The approach of presenting this story as a letter addressed to the mother is a clever one, as we feel like we get an inside view of the pain of the narrator as well her conflicting feelings over her mother’s statements.

The story addresses quite a few strong themes, including toxic parenting, intergenerational trauma, the desperate need for parental approval, mental health issues, and women’s liberation from restrictive traditions. It also shows how women overthink matters far more than men, and in the process hurt themselves more. The male-dominant Palestinian culture, which was so visible in this author’s ‘A Woman is No Man’, comes out clearly in this story as well.

There are many thought-provoking quotes in the book, some being lines by famed philosophers, and some being original thoughts within the story. One of my favourites is this: “Most of all, I wanted to unlearn all the shame. I wanted to learn how to love and honor myself so I could know how to love and honor my children.”

Within just 52 pages, Rum manages to convey convincingly a women’s emotional upheavals without even letting us know her identity. This lack of a name makes her experience feel personal as well as universal.

The ending is somewhat bittersweet, though I suppose it works decently for the story, culminating at a point of hope and dreams than at further perpetuating the negativities onto the next generation. But something about the ending doesn’t sit right by me. I am not a fan of the narrator’s decision. Not wanting to sacrifice any more in a marriage doesn’t mean that one ought to be totally selfish. Surely there is a middle-ground! I didn’t find that particular decision justified in the circumstances. A small complaint for an otherwise great short fiction.

Recommended to short story fans who enjoy culturally-inclusive writing.

This standalone story is a part of the ‘Good Intentions’ collection, and is currently available free to Amazon Prime subscribers.

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