A review by javorstein
In Case of Emergency by Mahsa Mohebali

2.0

a lot going on. couldn't really follow the story although i think that's sort of the point—the reader, much like the narrator, is constantly lost, displaced, confused, uprooted, unable to get a stable narrative on account of the narrator always being high on opium, the late-capitalist decline in stable meaning the author supposedly alludes to, and also just the sheer chaos going on. don't speak fârsi but the translator did a great job in my opinion, maintaining the iranian cultural/contextual core of the book while also presenting both narrative and dialogue in convincingly english ways. narrator breaks from assumptions of female iranian subjects, and gender/sexuality is also kept in flux throughout the novel. all cool concepts, and i applaud the attempt in experimental literature. but experimentation involves creative risks and creative risks are just that—risks, and can flop. a good novel in concept, but not so much in execution.