Daren
While this book is short in length, its content is slowly paced, which made it quite a slow read for me. It covers Spanish authors return trip to Iran in 1994, having lived in Tehran as a student in 1973 and 1974. The trip in 1994 she spends a month and while based in Tehran travels to Chalus on the Caspian Sea and to Kashan south of Tehran.
The author is travelling with another Spanish woman Irene, who is married to a Persian man Bahram, and it is Bahram's extended family with whom the author spends most of this visit. The reader gets to learn the in's and out's of the family while recounting stories and experiences from her previous visit, thereby providing comparison between the days of the Shah and the Islamic revolutionary government of 1994.
The telling is thoughtful and slowly paced, often meandering then diverting into a short explanation of an aspect of Persian history. Interestingly being clad in a chador and therefore largely anonymous the author was able to visit mosques and other sensitive places that foreigners are not usually permitted - a inside view that the reader doesn't normally appreciate. The author shares an understanding of Persian society, religion and often cuisine, making it a well rounded read. It is followed by a postscript from her immediate return to Barcelona, and then two years on another postscript of a visit to New York, and a final in Barcelona, where the author says "Life goes on, and if I don't finish this book here, I never will."
3 stars
While this book is short in length, its content is slowly paced, which made it quite a slow read for me. It covers Spanish authors return trip to Iran in 1994, having lived in Tehran as a student in 1973 and 1974. The trip in 1994 she spends a month and while based in Tehran travels to Chalus on the Caspian Sea and to Kashan south of Tehran.
The author is travelling with another Spanish woman Irene, who is married to a Persian man Bahram, and it is Bahram's extended family with whom the author spends most of this visit. The reader gets to learn the in's and out's of the family while recounting stories and experiences from her previous visit, thereby providing comparison between the days of the Shah and the Islamic revolutionary government of 1994.
The telling is thoughtful and slowly paced, often meandering then diverting into a short explanation of an aspect of Persian history. Interestingly being clad in a chador and therefore largely anonymous the author was able to visit mosques and other sensitive places that foreigners are not usually permitted - a inside view that the reader doesn't normally appreciate. The author shares an understanding of Persian society, religion and often cuisine, making it a well rounded read. It is followed by a postscript from her immediate return to Barcelona, and then two years on another postscript of a visit to New York, and a final in Barcelona, where the author says "Life goes on, and if I don't finish this book here, I never will."
3 stars