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evh1998's review against another edition
4.0
If you live in a country that allows you to buy and read literature when, where, and how you want without interfering with the integrity of the work, then please, exercise this right and read this book. This work will make you realize just how lucky you are to have this right.
The author does an excellent job of explaining the way in which censorship occurs, as well as its effects on society and individuals. The author artfully blends the story of a novelist who struggles to maintain his artistic integrity while writing and attempting to publish his work in his native Iran, and the tale that the novelist is writing and editing. The two plots are simultaneously told and often parallel each other. The reader is shown how and why the novelist makes the choices he does as he edits his story. This allows the reader into the fictional novelist head, and consequently into the creative oppression forced onto the novelist by the government as well.
I have never felt more patriotic or thankful to know that I have the right to read literature that isn't required by law to be censored. So please, read this book. Read it because you can. Read it in celebration of the fact that there are places on this earth that allow us to read books like this. You won't be sorry that you did.
The author does an excellent job of explaining the way in which censorship occurs, as well as its effects on society and individuals. The author artfully blends the story of a novelist who struggles to maintain his artistic integrity while writing and attempting to publish his work in his native Iran, and the tale that the novelist is writing and editing. The two plots are simultaneously told and often parallel each other. The reader is shown how and why the novelist makes the choices he does as he edits his story. This allows the reader into the fictional novelist head, and consequently into the creative oppression forced onto the novelist by the government as well.
I have never felt more patriotic or thankful to know that I have the right to read literature that isn't required by law to be censored. So please, read this book. Read it because you can. Read it in celebration of the fact that there are places on this earth that allow us to read books like this. You won't be sorry that you did.
lisagray68's review against another edition
3.0
I gave this three stars because of the excellent writing and so much information about Iran and the way things work there. Very excellent. However, the quirkyness of the book didn't appeal to me. Basically, the author is talking to the reader about wanting to write a love story that won't be censored in Iran. So some of the book is the author writing about his process of writing, some is the actual love story (in bold) and then some of the story is lined through - the parts the author suspects will be censored. I found it cumbersome, and eventually didn't even care how the love story turned out!
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