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Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'
The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree by Shokoofeh Azar
8 reviews
tlaynejones's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, War, Sexism, Mental illness, Grief, Misogyny, and Death
serendipitysbooks's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree is a unique look at the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution. It was a special read, but also a challenging read - at least for me. The story follows a fairly ordinary family of five and is narrated by the ghost of 13 year old Bahar who dies when revolutionaries set fire to her family home in Tehran. The remaining family members then move to the isolated small village of Rezan in an effort to avoid the worst of the revolutionary excesses, but eventually the revolution and the subsequent Iran-Iraq war make their way to the village. There is obviously plenty of dark and hard subject matter in this book but there is also a lot of beauty including a love of literature and the arts which the family nurtures and is nurtured by, the love between family members and the wider Razan community, Azar’s gorgeous prose, and the rich Persian and Arabic folklore and mythology which is intricately woven into the novel. This folklore lends a strong element of fantasy, some would say magical realism, to the novel, giving it an ethereal quality which I struggled with a little. That’s totally down to me as a reader. But I also loved this element of the book. It added real richness and depth to the story. Highlighting the cultural beauty which was lost exacerbated the impact of the oppression and brutality. Unique and impactful.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Police brutality, Torture, Violence, Child death, and Death
annemaries_shelves's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
4.5 stars
I'm emotionally destroyed.
The contrast between the beautiful writing with its heavy magical realism elements and the brutal realities of living through the Islamic Revolution of Iran was striking.
While ostensibly about one family's experiences from 1979 through to modern day (though time is a little weird and it's hard to gauge exactly where in history events are occurring), it much more about the village, the people, and Iranian society at large.
So much of this book is a metaphor and/or meditation on art and culture, grief and death, revolution and change, family, healing and harm, nature and spirituality.
At times it's meandering, as we will expand out beyond our main characters and narrator, to other residents of the village or events far in the past that inform the present. So much of the book is talking about the loss of history and culture when revolution (any upheaval really) denies a society's past and deems it worth destruction. Similar things can be send for the inevitability of progress and the modern world's need to expand and encroach into traditional ways of life and natural environments.
In manner ways modernity is the antithesis of magical realism - modernity and the drive for capitalism, religious orthodoxy, tyranny, autocracy, and control destroys centuries-old traditions, mythologies, and non-human inhabitants of our world (whether they be animals, or ghosts and jinns).
I teared up towards the end - the senseless destruction of personal property, family history, and culture in the name of a regime, religion, or other purpose is awful and heartbreaking and all too real. I also found the last assault against two of the characters to be really hard to handle. In part because I'd been reading a lot of heavy things recently and my threshold as almost breached, but also because it reflects reality.
The titular enlightenment, I found, to be both a blessing and a curse. To attain a higher understanding of the world, only to be uprooted and destroyed. And yet, after all the family's suffering, they were finally brought together through enlightenment of the greengage tree in death.
Overall, I really loved this book. I'm sad I didn't pick it up two years ago when I bought it, but it was worth the wait. The writing was so, so beautiful (I tabbed so many sections) and the musings on art and culture were wonderful. If you're interested in this time period of Iranian history, I really recommend picking it up. The author is a political refugee, and I think it's strongly reflected in her characters' and their experiences/perspectives of living through the Revolution.
CW: sexual assault, death, torture, imprisonment, religiously-justified tyranny, death by fire, child death
I'm emotionally destroyed.
The contrast between the beautiful writing with its heavy magical realism elements and the brutal realities of living through the Islamic Revolution of Iran was striking.
While ostensibly about one family's experiences from 1979 through to modern day (though time is a little weird and it's hard to gauge exactly where in history events are occurring), it much more about the village, the people, and Iranian society at large.
So much of this book is a metaphor and/or meditation on art and culture, grief and death, revolution and change, family, healing and harm, nature and spirituality.
At times it's meandering, as we will expand out beyond our main characters and narrator, to other residents of the village or events far in the past that inform the present. So much of the book is talking about the loss of history and culture when revolution (any upheaval really) denies a society's past and deems it worth destruction. Similar things can be send for the inevitability of progress and the modern world's need to expand and encroach into traditional ways of life and natural environments.
In manner ways modernity is the antithesis of magical realism - modernity and the drive for capitalism, religious orthodoxy, tyranny, autocracy, and control destroys centuries-old traditions, mythologies, and non-human inhabitants of our world (whether they be animals, or ghosts and jinns).
I teared up towards the end - the senseless destruction of personal property, family history, and culture in the name of a regime, religion, or other purpose is awful and heartbreaking and all too real. I also found the last assault against two of the characters to be really hard to handle. In part because I'd been reading a lot of heavy things recently and my threshold as almost breached, but also because it reflects reality.
Overall, I really loved this book. I'm sad I didn't pick it up two years ago when I bought it, but it was worth the wait. The writing was so, so beautiful (I tabbed so many sections) and the musings on art and culture were wonderful. If you're interested in this time period of Iranian history, I really recommend picking it up. The author is a political refugee, and I think it's strongly reflected in her characters' and their experiences/perspectives of living through the Revolution.
CW: sexual assault, death, torture, imprisonment, religiously-justified tyranny, death by fire, child death
Content Warnings
Graphic: Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Torture, Child death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, and Sexual assault
Minor: Animal death, Blood, and Pregnancy
leahkrason's review
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Excrement, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Violence
kateofmind's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Full review now at <a href="http://kateofmind.blogspot.com/2021/07/shokoofeh-azars-enlightenment-of.html">Kate of Mind</a>. TL;DR version: NOT TO BE MISSED. Best read along with The Book of Collateral Damage for maximum Persian gutpunch.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Murder, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, and Violence
The narrator of this book -- and this us on the jacket copy so don't yell at me about spoilers -- is a murdered 13 year old girl, and that is not quite the worst thing that happens in this book. It's brutal AF. It's about a family who thought they'd survived the Revolution in Iran in 1979 but really kind of thought wrong. But it's also the most beautiful thing you're likely to read this year.sherbertwells's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
An intellectual Iranian family leaves the chaos of revolutionary Tehran for a remote village that plays host to jinns, curses and otherworldly nature. Azar borrows heavily from Gabriel García Márquez One Hundred Years of Solitude, and while she does not surpass her mentor fans of one will certainly find the other enjoyable and inspiring.
“Here and there a passerby who had missed the last buses looked up at the star-filled sky and wondered where the deluge was coming from. It was only the homeless addicts and vagabond lunatics whose inner eyes saw that a river of tears up Vali-asr Street flowed ahead of five thousand despairing, crying ghosts marching like a vanquished army, occasionally leaning against old plane trees and keening in a funereal lament” (76)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Child death, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, and Police brutality
Minor: Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting
jessamynb's review
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Child death, Violence, Torture, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Rape, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Murder, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Infertility, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Excrement, Death of parent, Death, and Confinement
hardcoverhearts's review
The torture and political violence was too much. And I suspect that it will loop throughout the story. So I doubt I can skip it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Xenophobia, Violence, Torture, Police brutality, Physical abuse, and Murder
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