Reviews

DID NOT FINISH — I will not rate a book that I shelf as “did not finish.” I don’t believe it’s fair to put a rating on books I didn’t read from beginning to end.

book_concierge's review against another edition

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3.0

This memoir asks "why should anyone read fiction?" We had a great discussion, but we wanted to know more about the lives of the students. At times it read more like an academic paper, using Western authors to express THIS author's views on the Iranian Revolution. I felt she was lecturing, and found it boring.

I had just read "The Hemingway Book Club of Kosovo" for my other book club (discussion the night before this one), and I missed the personal connection with the students / book club members evident in that book.

vpardew's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

THE POWER OF BOOKS???!!!!!! secret girls book club and fighting back against the regime!!! such beautiful writing and you connect with each of the girls and the author in such a beautiful way, like you’re there with them in their secret literature class

knod78's review against another edition

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3.0

This completes Read Around the World Book Challenge - August: Middle East. As soon as I saw the Middle East month, I knew I wanted to read this book. I'm on a quest for more knowledge of that time period for a personal project. And this book definitely didn't disappoint on that part. It showed me a daily life for women, people, academics, students, etc. right before, during, and after the Islamic Revolution in Iran in the 70s/80s. I learned so much and things I never heard of before. And seeing some of the things said by students and leaders is chillingly similar to things said by certain politicians in my own country, and especially my state of Texas. It made me a bit scared to see almost exact words written.

But by the Gods woman, stay on topic. There was tangent after tangent after tangent. She should have been more organized and kept information that related to each section within that section. Sometimes, she just read passages from the books, but didn't really say, OK, this relates to this or whatever. There were three main sections: Lolita (which should have been titled Nobrokov), Gatsby, James, and Austin (I just finished last night and I can't honestly remember if there were more), but she talked about all books in these sections and then more tangents. It wasn't until the end of James where I finally felt like this section actually related to James. I had no idea of timeline or what university she was at or if it was the private class with just the girls. I was so confused and I was just ready for her to get to the point. Although, I did love putting a book on trial concept. I wished more teachers did that in classes.

I loved the concept of the book and wished it was better organized to flush that out more. And I do recommend this book to really learn about life and how it can affect you personally, physically, and mentally with after effects for years to come. But you will also struggle through the book to see the actual themes corresponding to what's happening and it will confuse you. I barely give this book 3 stars.

rawmarti's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

strange4real's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

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