Saleh secretly translates novels of Western literature, like Anna Karenina and Austerlitz into Arabic, and makes continual references to authors like Italo Calvino.[2] Within this context the novel, thematically, focuses on the role of the reader in engaging and examining literature.[2] As the Independent describes "Aaliyah keeps company with her writers – living and dead" instead of people.[3] The Washington Post describes "Literature is Aaliya's religion and much of the wonderful humor in “An Unnecessary Woman” comes from her pithy contempt for those who fail to live up to its sacred precepts."[2]