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A review by jaylajohnson
The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali
3.0
Usually I’m not drawn to historical fic but I ended up seriously enjoying the book! This was truly an ode to friendship that spans across generations. The love these women had for each other despite everything made me sappy!! I really enjoyed learning about Iranian history and saw many parallels to the U.S on political unrest and fight for women’s rights. It was such a stark contrast to see Elaheh’s life trajectory vs Homa’s. The privilege Elaheh (and others like her) has in being able to turn a back on issues affecting the country felt quite prevalent to today.
The food descriptions were easily one of my favorite parts—I learned of so many dishes and could so clearly visualize how they looked and tasted. I legit got hungry a couple of times.
I do think that I struggled a bit with feeling some lack of depth from Ellie and Homa. It felt like a lot happened to, and around, them but because the story jumped through years, the actual character development felt missing to me. I know this book only scratched the surface of Iranian history, so I’d definitely like to learn more.
The food descriptions were easily one of my favorite parts—I learned of so many dishes and could so clearly visualize how they looked and tasted. I legit got hungry a couple of times.
I do think that I struggled a bit with feeling some lack of depth from Ellie and Homa. It felt like a lot happened to, and around, them but because the story jumped through years, the actual character development felt missing to me. I know this book only scratched the surface of Iranian history, so I’d definitely like to learn more.