Funny in Farsi
Ratings10
Average rating3.8
15
Ratings10
Average rating3.8
In 1972, when she was seven, Firoozeh Dumas and her family moved from Iran to Southern California, arriving with no firsthand knowledge of this country beyond her father's glowing memories of his graduate school years here. More family soon followed, and the clan has been here ever since. Funny in Farsi chronicles the American journey of Dumas's wonderfully engaging family: her engineer father, a sweetly quixotic dreamer who first sought riches on Bowling for Dollars and in Las Vegas, and later lost his job during the Iranian revolution; her elegant mother, who never fully mastered English (nor cared to); her uncle, who combated the effects of American fast food with an army of miraculous American weight-loss gadgets; and Firoozeh herself, who as a girl changed her name to Julie, and who encountered a second wave of culture shock when she met and married a Frenchman, becoming part of a one-couple melting pot. In a series of deftly drawn scenes, we watch the family grapple with American English (hot dogs and hush puppies?--a complete mystery), American traditions (Thanksgiving turkey?--an even greater mystery, since it tastes like nothing), and American culture (Firoozeh's parents laugh uproariously at Bob Hope on television, although they don't get the jokes even when she translates them into Farsi).Above all, this is an unforgettable story of identity, discovery, and the power of family love. It is a book that will leave us all laughing--without an accent.From the Hardcover edition.
Series
2 primary booksFunny in Farsi is a 2-book series with 2 primary works first released in 2003 with contributions by Firoozeh Dumas.
Reviews with the most likes.
Hilarious, to sum it up in one word.
As someone who's lived in Iran, I could relate to her Iranian references and her struggles of growing up Iranian in America.
Would recommend, if you want a light and funny read!
Abandoned, p.82. It's not funny. I can forgive that. It's not kind—and that, I can't. The essays so far have all consisted of her poking mean-spirited fun at: Americans, for not knowing much about Iran; Americans, for not wanting to learn about her culture; Americans, for wanting to learn about her culture, because those are just wannabe hipsters; her husband, for not mind-reading her precise fantasy honeymoon; and mostly her mother and father, over and over, for not learning English well enough, for not adapting “the right way” to U.S. culture, for being goofy yokels. It's like a surly thirteen-year-old: everything and everyone sucks.
