A review by pearloz
The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree by Shokoofeh Azar

5.0

Another novel centered around what is becoming a favorite topic of mine--the cultural revolution of Iran. This one differs from the rest due to the amount of magical realism (our narrator is a ghost girl, killed when a group of hyper-religious fanatics set fire to her house with her in it; her sister becomes a mermaid, there are curses and djinns scattered throughout). It was a tough novel, our main family suffers a significant amount of trauma and grief, as mother abandons the family but comes back, the children all die, dad is arrested and tortured for years. I think the magical realism of it all makes the severity and trauma of the cultural revolution stick more, gives it more of a gut punch. The writing is exquisite throughout.