The Septembers of Shiraz
2 journalers for this copy...
Blurb:
In the aftermath of the Iranian revolution, rare-gem dealer Isaac Amin is arrested, wrongly accused of being a spy. In the wake of his terrifying disappearance, his family must reconcile a new world of cruelty and chaos with the collapse of everything they had known. As Isaac navigates the tedium and terrors of prison, forging tenuous trusts, his wife feverishly searches for him, suspecting, all the while, that their once-trusted housekeeper has turned on them and is now acting as an informer. And as his daughter, in a childlike attempt to stop the wave of baseless arrests, engages in illicit activities, his son, sent to New York before the rise of the Ayatollahs, struggles to find happiness even as he realises that his family may soon be forced to embark on a journey of incalculable danger.
******
Read it in 2011 - and here are my thoughts:
A powerful first novel about a Jewish family, used to a privileged life under the shah, in post-revolution Iran. It follows the four family members for one year, from September ’81, when the father is imprisoned, to September ’82.
It’s a sad book, beautifully written, about loss and identity, partly autobiographical.
In the aftermath of the Iranian revolution, rare-gem dealer Isaac Amin is arrested, wrongly accused of being a spy. In the wake of his terrifying disappearance, his family must reconcile a new world of cruelty and chaos with the collapse of everything they had known. As Isaac navigates the tedium and terrors of prison, forging tenuous trusts, his wife feverishly searches for him, suspecting, all the while, that their once-trusted housekeeper has turned on them and is now acting as an informer. And as his daughter, in a childlike attempt to stop the wave of baseless arrests, engages in illicit activities, his son, sent to New York before the rise of the Ayatollahs, struggles to find happiness even as he realises that his family may soon be forced to embark on a journey of incalculable danger.
******
Read it in 2011 - and here are my thoughts:
A powerful first novel about a Jewish family, used to a privileged life under the shah, in post-revolution Iran. It follows the four family members for one year, from September ’81, when the father is imprisoned, to September ’82.
It’s a sad book, beautifully written, about loss and identity, partly autobiographical.
Wishlist surprise for you!
Yay, a wishlist book! Thank you so much! Also for the lovely mini-meetup today. :)
