Azar Nafisi
Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books (2003)
Author: Azar Nafisi
Genre: Nonfiction (Memoir)
Book Summary:
After leaving her university teaching job in Iran, Azar Nafisi invites seven of her female students to meet at her home and secretly read and discuss works of literature that have been banned in Iran. Nafisi's story alternates between the two years of book discussions in her home (between 1995 and 1997) and the period after her return from college in America to a new dangerous and restrictive Iran ruled by Ayatollah Khomeini.
Geographical Setting: Iran
Time Period: 1979-1997
Appeal Characteristics:
Although this book is nonfiction, it will especially appeal to those who love to read fiction, particularly the literary classics discussed in the book. Those who haven't read the books Nafisi and her students discuss will be likely to enjoy the book anyway, but occasionally Nafisi's thoughts about these works reads like literary criticism (which will be interesting to some readers but might prove overwhelming for others). The pacing is gracefully punctuated by both Nafisi's personal thoughts and group discussion about literature. Nafisi's tone is often philosophically reflective, especially about the pleasure she and her students share when reading fiction--particularly about reading fiction when reality is grim. The setting for Nafisi's story combines both the coziness of her living room and the world outside her window that forces women to cover themselves with the veil and flogs them if they are accused of eating an apple too seductively in public. Those who are interested in Iran, oppression, religious fanaticism, and censorship will find this book interesting. Censorship is a key issue since a lot of books and films are either prohibited in Iran--even in the universities--or are else ruined and watered down by the "blind censor." The story will also appeal to those who are concerned about women's issues, sexism, and the old "double-standard" among men and women. Nafisi's students--both the seven women in her secret "class" and those she taught in universities--provide material for great character studies.
Read-alikes: Dai Sijie's Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, a bestseller in France, is about the Cultural Revolution in China and two boys who are taken from their homes to be "re-educated" in the country. The boys acquire a suitcase full of forbidden books that open up their eyes to the world of literature. When they meet a young beautiful seamstress, they begin to share the words of Balzac with her, thus provoking a desire within her for the prohibited world of stories and ideas. Another book about books is The Hours by Michael Cunningham, who weaves the story of Virginia Woolf and her novel Mrs. Dalloway into the lives of two contemporary women. The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler uses elements of character study and humor to tell the tale of five women and one man who meet monthly to discuss Jane Austen's novels. This may be a good read-alike since Austen is one of the authors Nafisi focuses on. The Hemingway Book Club of Kosovo is the memoir of Paula Huntley, who travels to Kosovo with her husband and ends up agreeing to teach a class for students learning English as a second language. She asks her class if they would like to form an American-style book club, and the informal gathering of Albanians are so deeply moved by Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea that the club becomes a means of discussing their hopes and terrors. In Lipstick Jihad: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America and American in Iran, Time reporter Azadeh Moaveni depicts two years of living and working in Iran. Afschineh Latifi's Even After All This Time: A Story of Love, Revolution, and Leaving Iran is another memoir about life in Iran during the Iranian Revolution. The author's father is executed because he was a military officer under the Shah, and her 34-year-old mother is left alone to raise four children. Much of the story takes place outside of Iran since both daughters are sent to Austria and then America after a villager begins to bid on marrying Latifi's 13-year-old sister. Those who enjoy graphic novels or are open-minded about reading them might enjoy Persepolis, artist Marjane Satrapi's memoir about growing uo in Iran during the Revolution.
Red Flags: None
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