Reviews

Brown Album: Essays on Exile and Identity by Porochista Khakpour

raereads's review against another edition

challenging reflective medium-paced

3.5

jocelynhallman's review against another edition

medium-paced

5.0

whatannikareads's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

3.75

aliciarosebane's review against another edition

5.0

This collection was fantastic. The way Khakpour writes of her experiences as an Iranian-American is both funny and poignant, with such honesty and depth. This is the first book of hers that I've read, and now I absolutely have to buy her novels because I couldn't put this down.

readouid's review against another edition

5.0

Porochista Khakpour's Brown Album is a stunning essay collection that feels like a travelogue of home, parsing what it means to be of a place and the unexpected ways we connect to different cities in different times, and the way places respond to women of color who don't fit the mold.

kristy_k's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

I find memoirs and essays from immigrants and other countries so important and enlightening. Here, Khakpour uses her voice to show how being a refugee and Middle Eastern in a country that has a tumultuous past with both has shaped her. She explores her identity of being Iranian and being American and how she can love and struggle with each at times.

I received an advanced copy through Netgalley in return for an honest review.

prosenotbros's review against another edition

4.0

Grapples with the ever-shifting landscapes of identity, dis/location, heritage, and more. The overarching message can be summarized by several passages, yet this one struck me as the most cumulative: You wonder if your Americanness is forever and if you will die an American. You realize it might be just as hard to shake being an American as it was to become one in the first place. You realize with joy that you will die an American; you realize with agony you will die an American; you realize with horror and confusion and fear and disbelief that you will die an American. Somehow it is harder to imagine than dying.

laurensilva's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

bhofmeier's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful medium-paced

3.75

jess_vineberg's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective fast-paced

3.5