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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
This turned out different from what I initially expected it to be. It has many positives. It inspired me to pick up some of the classics that I've been putting off. Nabokov, Joyce, James and so forth. It changed my image of Iran in some way. But her writing is erratic, her message unclear, and her tone not easy to sympathize with.
That being said, certain passages made quite an impression. Describing how the women felt, constantly harassed and forced to cover themselves up with their chadors and veils, deprived of the sun and the wind on their skin, feeling alienated to the point that even their own bodies feel strange to themselves.. And then there's her constant struggle to come to terms with the 2 worlds she knows. The 'freedom' of the West, the feeling of being an alien in a place that by all definition, should feel like home..
Bottom line, being a memoir this is a book that one likes or dislikes depending on whether one can relate to it or not.
That being said, certain passages made quite an impression. Describing how the women felt, constantly harassed and forced to cover themselves up with their chadors and veils, deprived of the sun and the wind on their skin, feeling alienated to the point that even their own bodies feel strange to themselves.. And then there's her constant struggle to come to terms with the 2 worlds she knows. The 'freedom' of the West, the feeling of being an alien in a place that by all definition, should feel like home..
Bottom line, being a memoir this is a book that one likes or dislikes depending on whether one can relate to it or not.
reflective
sad
slow-paced
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
كتاب من الكتب التي لم أتخيل يوماً أني سأقرأها .. وهذا حال كثير من الكتب معي .. ما أن يظهر إهتمامي بموضوع جديد إلا وأجدها في طريقي وتوضع في أول قائمة القراءة .. وهذا الكتاب وضع أمامي تزامناً مع إهتمامي بموضوع الثورة الإيرانية الإسلامية وآثارها الممتدة حتى الآن .. والحقيقة أن إيران فرضت نفسها بقوة على الساحة السياسية مؤخراً بشكل يدعو للتوقف.
الكتاب يغطي عدة جوانب تجعل منه مفيد لكثير من المهتمين ببعضها وممل في بعض الجوانب الأخرى .. وهذا بالطبع يختلف من شخص لآخر.
هو مثلاً يعتبر كتاب نقد أدبي رفيع .. تطرق لعدة روايات كلاسيكية بشكل مفصل أحياناً قد يسبب حرق لبعض أحداث هذه الروايات .. فبالإضافة للوليتا هناك جاتسبي العظيم وبنين ودعوة إلى جلسة قطع الرأس والكبرياء والهوى.
هناك الجانب التاريخي لإيران وهذا هو الجانب الخاص بي الذي جعلني أقرأها .. وهو ما يجعلني أطلق حكمي الدائم عن الثورة الإيرانية أنها أبعد ما تكون عن نظام الحكم الإسلامي السليم وأنه لا يجوز القياس عليها أو وضعها كمثال عند الحديث عن الحكم الإسلامي.
هناك الجانب النسوي بالطبع والحديث المعتاد عن سلطة الرجل والمجتمع الذكوري وعن وضع المرأة في ظل الحكم الإسلامي وما يصحبه من هجوم على الدين.
الكتاب يغطي عدة جوانب تجعل منه مفيد لكثير من المهتمين ببعضها وممل في بعض الجوانب الأخرى .. وهذا بالطبع يختلف من شخص لآخر.
هو مثلاً يعتبر كتاب نقد أدبي رفيع .. تطرق لعدة روايات كلاسيكية بشكل مفصل أحياناً قد يسبب حرق لبعض أحداث هذه الروايات .. فبالإضافة للوليتا هناك جاتسبي العظيم وبنين ودعوة إلى جلسة قطع الرأس والكبرياء والهوى.
هناك الجانب التاريخي لإيران وهذا هو الجانب الخاص بي الذي جعلني أقرأها .. وهو ما يجعلني أطلق حكمي الدائم عن الثورة الإيرانية أنها أبعد ما تكون عن نظام الحكم الإسلامي السليم وأنه لا يجوز القياس عليها أو وضعها كمثال عند الحديث عن الحكم الإسلامي.
هناك الجانب النسوي بالطبع والحديث المعتاد عن سلطة الرجل والمجتمع الذكوري وعن وضع المرأة في ظل الحكم الإسلامي وما يصحبه من هجوم على الدين.
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
slow-paced
Like Sartrapi's [b:The Complete Persepolis|991197|The Complete Persepolis (Persepolis, #1-4)|Marjane Satrapi|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327876995l/991197._SX50_.jpg|13344769], this memoir does an extraordinary job describing life during the turbulent times of Iran's revolution and subsequent war with Iraq. It's well-written and compelling, delivering a deep, emotionally intelligent analysis of fundamentalist suppression. The usurpers and book banners of the day are portrayed with humanity, as deeply religious yet rational people honestly trying to argue their case and improve their world. I have to put my literature geek hat on in order to properly praise my favorite aspect of this book: Nafisi's mastery of telling a true story through the lens of fictional classics. Her book is divided into four parts: Lolita, Gatsby, James, and Austen, each focused ostensibly on her secret class's discussion of the books and authors in question. Yet she deftly expands each circle to tell the story of the revolution using the very themes of the book she's teaching.
I. [b:Lolita|7604|Lolita|Vladimir Nabokov|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1377756377l/7604._SY75_.jpg|1268631]: Nafisi describes the rights women and secularists were deprived under the regime, as Dolores was deprived of a happy, normal childhood by the book's villain. She also relates the regime's crushing body of rules to Nabokov's [b:Invitation to a Beheading|376561|Invitation to a Beheading|Vladimir Nabokov|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1405182507l/376561._SY75_.jpg|4479600], a surreal dystopia about a man imprisoned by self-deluding jailers forcing him to follow nonsensical rituals in order to participate in his own execution.
II. [b:The Great Gatsby|4671|The Great Gatsby|F. Scott Fitzgerald|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1490528560l/4671._SY75_.jpg|245494]: A peculiar word that crops up constantly in the regime's rhetoric is the decadence that led to the West's "demise." Obviously Jay Gatsby is a perfect embodiment of this noun, yet Nafisi peels back this layer to tell the book's tragic story of love and sacrifice and challenge the reader's reactive judgement of the antihero.
III. [a:Henry James|159|Henry James|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1468309415p2/159.jpg]: I knew nothing about this man. Injured in the Civil War, this American spent most of his life in England as an apolitical expat. The onset of World War I and his home country's reticence to intervene galvanized his sense of purpose. He became a British citizen, ruthlessly criticized the US's isolationism, and wrote essays about the war that, in his mind, was tearing down the very fabric of civilization. During this section of the memoir Nafisi describes more of the history, facts & figures about the revolution and the Iran-Iraq war, treating it with a James or Whitman style despair.
IV. [a:Jane Austen|1265|Jane Austen|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1588941810p2/1265.jpg]: I'll admit, as a male, this was the one section I faltered on. As in Austen's novels, Nafisi talks about her female students' struggles with suitors and love affairs. The right to pursue happiness and choose one's own partner is touted as the great moral goal of a democracy. The regime's many sex and marriage related regulations remind us that their ultimate aim, via oblique means, was the suppression of free thought, expression, and identity.
This is a great book to learn more about modern Iran's foundation, but it will also challenge your concepts of religion, power, sex, and expression.
I. [b:Lolita|7604|Lolita|Vladimir Nabokov|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1377756377l/7604._SY75_.jpg|1268631]: Nafisi describes the rights women and secularists were deprived under the regime, as Dolores was deprived of a happy, normal childhood by the book's villain. She also relates the regime's crushing body of rules to Nabokov's [b:Invitation to a Beheading|376561|Invitation to a Beheading|Vladimir Nabokov|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1405182507l/376561._SY75_.jpg|4479600], a surreal dystopia about a man imprisoned by self-deluding jailers forcing him to follow nonsensical rituals in order to participate in his own execution.
II. [b:The Great Gatsby|4671|The Great Gatsby|F. Scott Fitzgerald|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1490528560l/4671._SY75_.jpg|245494]: A peculiar word that crops up constantly in the regime's rhetoric is the decadence that led to the West's "demise." Obviously Jay Gatsby is a perfect embodiment of this noun, yet Nafisi peels back this layer to tell the book's tragic story of love and sacrifice and challenge the reader's reactive judgement of the antihero.
III. [a:Henry James|159|Henry James|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1468309415p2/159.jpg]: I knew nothing about this man. Injured in the Civil War, this American spent most of his life in England as an apolitical expat. The onset of World War I and his home country's reticence to intervene galvanized his sense of purpose. He became a British citizen, ruthlessly criticized the US's isolationism, and wrote essays about the war that, in his mind, was tearing down the very fabric of civilization. During this section of the memoir Nafisi describes more of the history, facts & figures about the revolution and the Iran-Iraq war, treating it with a James or Whitman style despair.
IV. [a:Jane Austen|1265|Jane Austen|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1588941810p2/1265.jpg]: I'll admit, as a male, this was the one section I faltered on. As in Austen's novels, Nafisi talks about her female students' struggles with suitors and love affairs. The right to pursue happiness and choose one's own partner is touted as the great moral goal of a democracy. The regime's many sex and marriage related regulations remind us that their ultimate aim, via oblique means, was the suppression of free thought, expression, and identity.
This is a great book to learn more about modern Iran's foundation, but it will also challenge your concepts of religion, power, sex, and expression.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced