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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
While I agree with other reviews that the time frame and memory jumps are often very confusing, making it hard to know what versions of a character we are reading about, I adored this book. Nafisi does an amazing job tying in her lessons to her lived experience and how these stories she taught both helped her and others navigate hard times. I’m annoyed by low ratings aggravated that the book isn’t wholly about her teaching or Lolita and fear many missed the point of this book. Add the layer of stress of how the Islamic fascist takeover mirrors the current Christian fascist takeover of North America (and how that takeover is centered on attacking education and literacy) and it was a tough but inspiring read. Her writing style is mesmerizing and I often found myself wishing I was reading a physical copy so I could highlight and mark notes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexual assault, Violence
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Amazing book. Eye opening and heartbreaking at times.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
The central theme is Dr. Nafisi’s journey as a professor in the universities of Tehran, her resignation from her post for refusing to wear the veil, the denial of her resignation by the Islamic officials, and her struggles with the loss of her career and her freedom. Some years later, she hand picks her entrusted group of students, smart intelligent women who share the passion of reading and the Western literature, to conduct her secret weekly classes at her home. As you come to know these women and something about their lives, their dreams, their daily battles just to live normal lives, Nafisi weaves the threads of a journey that touches you, even as you try to keep the book at arm’s length.
The main focus of this book is the experience of reading Western literature in Iran. While Lolita is the chosen title of the book, Nabokov’s novel plays no more a significant role than works of Jane Austen, Henry James, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Emily Brontë and several others. When reading such books becomes banned in Iran and books vanish from shelves of every foreign book store, as human nature would have it, the curiosity and desire to read them only becomes more intense – perhaps a slap in the face of revolution’s lopsided logic.
How ironic it is that the average American high school student abhors the task of reading The Great Gatsby or Wuthering Heights, and these girls inhaled the novels, hung on every word, discussed the traits of every character, could recite passages from memory and would write long articulate essays around the novels’ themes, ethics, writing styles, and influence. The ironies in this book along with the self-deprecating mental outlook of the girls and Nafisi herself give us even humor.
Nafisi quotes from many of her favorite authors. Her choices are inspiring and compliment her beautiful writing well. She has a gift in her ability to brilliantly depict situations. Even as I tried not to imagine the fullness of her circumstances and the depth of her characters to avoid the sharp pain of sorrow, I failed time and again. You cannot half-read Azar Nafisi, and that is credit to an accomplished writer.
The main focus of this book is the experience of reading Western literature in Iran. While Lolita is the chosen title of the book, Nabokov’s novel plays no more a significant role than works of Jane Austen, Henry James, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Emily Brontë and several others. When reading such books becomes banned in Iran and books vanish from shelves of every foreign book store, as human nature would have it, the curiosity and desire to read them only becomes more intense – perhaps a slap in the face of revolution’s lopsided logic.
How ironic it is that the average American high school student abhors the task of reading The Great Gatsby or Wuthering Heights, and these girls inhaled the novels, hung on every word, discussed the traits of every character, could recite passages from memory and would write long articulate essays around the novels’ themes, ethics, writing styles, and influence. The ironies in this book along with the self-deprecating mental outlook of the girls and Nafisi herself give us even humor.
Nafisi quotes from many of her favorite authors. Her choices are inspiring and compliment her beautiful writing well. She has a gift in her ability to brilliantly depict situations. Even as I tried not to imagine the fullness of her circumstances and the depth of her characters to avoid the sharp pain of sorrow, I failed time and again. You cannot half-read Azar Nafisi, and that is credit to an accomplished writer.
The book starts off strong for me because Lolita is a book I love and hold to high regard. I'm happy the author fought a lot of the "criticism" the book faces (like that it's pro pedophilia or that Lolita "deserved it" which is NOT the case and it's honestly concerning people think that.)
From there on, I was less engaged when it comes to the books discussed specifically. I don't like Gatsby so it was less exciting for me. The other two books the parts were dedicated to I haven't read and have no interest in, so I kind of didn't care much.
Outside of that, I find the timeline of events a little messy. There are interesting things happening but they weren't presented in chronological way which made it harder to follow when is what, especially in audiobook. I find it disappointing that very few Iranian classics are acknowledged. The title of One Thousand and One Nights was thrown in once or twice (which is like... not even exclusively Persian), Rumi and Omar Khayyam were mentioned in passing as well. But otherwise, it's all western classics. And yes, I get that her expertise is English lit but... c'mon. She obviously have read books of her own country, she just didn't talk about them because no one in the West knows about them. Which leads me to my next point...
Of course these events are happening in specific political climate and the author tries to present it to us - but I can't help but feel like this book is serving certain narratives. It's honestly all the same old tale about the Middle East. The book lacks introspection on Muslim women and on Iranian culture. And I find it a bit insulting she spends pages upon pages discussing a some dead white author but don't spend even a chapter to reflect on the way the US has significantly affected Iran's political circumstances she's describing. Later I googled her and saw she eventually became a US citizen... and yeah, I can tell.
(Which is not to deny the facts of what the government has done to the Iranian people - but the US are far from innocent lmao)
I'd say it's interesting to read the book just as this one person's life, but not as sources of knowledge for Iran or its culture. Maybe I want too much of a book that is published 20 years ago and maybe this is all genuinely the way the author feels about it all. But it just wasn't introspective in the way I hoped it'd be.
From there on, I was less engaged when it comes to the books discussed specifically. I don't like Gatsby so it was less exciting for me. The other two books the parts were dedicated to I haven't read and have no interest in, so I kind of didn't care much.
Outside of that, I find the timeline of events a little messy. There are interesting things happening but they weren't presented in chronological way which made it harder to follow when is what, especially in audiobook. I find it disappointing that very few Iranian classics are acknowledged. The title of One Thousand and One Nights was thrown in once or twice (which is like... not even exclusively Persian), Rumi and Omar Khayyam were mentioned in passing as well. But otherwise, it's all western classics. And yes, I get that her expertise is English lit but... c'mon. She obviously have read books of her own country, she just didn't talk about them because no one in the West knows about them. Which leads me to my next point...
Of course these events are happening in specific political climate and the author tries to present it to us - but I can't help but feel like this book is serving certain narratives. It's honestly all the same old tale about the Middle East. The book lacks introspection on Muslim women and on Iranian culture. And I find it a bit insulting she spends pages upon pages discussing a some dead white author but don't spend even a chapter to reflect on the way the US has significantly affected Iran's political circumstances she's describing. Later I googled her and saw she eventually became a US citizen... and yeah, I can tell.
(Which is not to deny the facts of what the government has done to the Iranian people - but the US are far from innocent lmao)
I'd say it's interesting to read the book just as this one person's life, but not as sources of knowledge for Iran or its culture. Maybe I want too much of a book that is published 20 years ago and maybe this is all genuinely the way the author feels about it all. But it just wasn't introspective in the way I hoped it'd be.
informative
sad
slow-paced
Ascoltato su Storytell.
Per quanto mi riguarda questo libro si candida come delusione dell'anno.
Il presupposto mi incuriosiva tantissimo e mi aspettavo tanto.
Forse il problema è stato proprio che mi aspettavo qualcosa di diverso.
Le dissertazione letterarie mi sembrano spesso fini a se stesse, banali, oltre che noiose.
All'inizio il parallelismo con Lolita non era male.
Tuttavia l'autrice ha avuto la grandissima capacità di prendere delle tematiche che mi interessavano e renderle noiose all'inverosimile.
Un libro che ho percepito come eterno, noioso, prolisso, pieno di boria e di ego. Mi è sembrato che l'autrice volesse fare sfoggio delle sue "conoscenze" letterarie e abbia utilizzato una tematica di facile interesse per il pubblico (l'Islam, la condizione della donna nelle dittature religiose) per parlare di questo.
Impossibile per me affezionarmi a qualsivoglia personaggio. Una serie di nomi di cui alla fine non mi importa assolutamente nulla.
Un'occasione sprecata.
Aggiungo che avendolo ascoltato forse sono stata ulteriormente influenzata in negativo da una lettrice la cui voce e tono mi innervosivano quanto le frasi boriose che leggeva.
Per quanto mi riguarda questo libro si candida come delusione dell'anno.
Il presupposto mi incuriosiva tantissimo e mi aspettavo tanto.
Forse il problema è stato proprio che mi aspettavo qualcosa di diverso.
Le dissertazione letterarie mi sembrano spesso fini a se stesse, banali, oltre che noiose.
All'inizio il parallelismo con Lolita non era male.
Tuttavia l'autrice ha avuto la grandissima capacità di prendere delle tematiche che mi interessavano e renderle noiose all'inverosimile.
Un libro che ho percepito come eterno, noioso, prolisso, pieno di boria e di ego. Mi è sembrato che l'autrice volesse fare sfoggio delle sue "conoscenze" letterarie e abbia utilizzato una tematica di facile interesse per il pubblico (l'Islam, la condizione della donna nelle dittature religiose) per parlare di questo.
Impossibile per me affezionarmi a qualsivoglia personaggio. Una serie di nomi di cui alla fine non mi importa assolutamente nulla.
Un'occasione sprecata.
Aggiungo che avendolo ascoltato forse sono stata ulteriormente influenzata in negativo da una lettrice la cui voce e tono mi innervosivano quanto le frasi boriose che leggeva.
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
It took me a while to wrap this book up. In a hindsight, I liked this book pretty well. It had me for the first time when the literary appreciation of reading fiction was discussed. What do you achieve by reading fiction?, it answered a bit.
"And so began the trial of Islamic republic of Iran versus the great Gatsby".
There are numerous beautiful and thought provoking incidents in the book - ranging from the Gatsby's trial to minutely detailed daily life of Iran. Though I expected the narrative to be exposing more insightful pictures of Iran, it lacked that part at times.
One more favourite quote of mine from the book: "Our dear prosecutor had committed a fallacy of getting too close to the amusement park, she said, he can no longer distinguished fiction from reality."
"And so began the trial of Islamic republic of Iran versus the great Gatsby".
There are numerous beautiful and thought provoking incidents in the book - ranging from the Gatsby's trial to minutely detailed daily life of Iran. Though I expected the narrative to be exposing more insightful pictures of Iran, it lacked that part at times.
One more favourite quote of mine from the book: "Our dear prosecutor had committed a fallacy of getting too close to the amusement park, she said, he can no longer distinguished fiction from reality."