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A review by hanzy
My Past Is a Foreign Country by Zeba Talkhani
4.0
An extremely well written memoir.
I was a bit skeptical upon picking this one up as I’d read articles written in praise of the book comparing my beloved hometown with The Handmaid’s Tale. Perhaps those were the only bits that didn’t sit so right with me. Witnessing some of my own perspectives portrayed through the lens of another became a hard pill for me to swallow. A struggle in itself perhaps, for in my own opinion, I felt parts of the story were a lot more generalised to fit the likes of a western mind than what I have known to be true. However, to each their own unique experience, the writer did a wonderful job of presenting everything that led her to become the person she is today. I loved the latter half of the book with some thought-provoking gems and perspectives that I couldn’t help annotate while stopping to ponder for a bit. By the end of the book, my empathetic side took over the judgmental side and I feel extreme gratitude for my own life and circumstances. For while I may share the same background, my life hasn’t been as affected by the patriarchal society described.
I was a bit skeptical upon picking this one up as I’d read articles written in praise of the book comparing my beloved hometown with The Handmaid’s Tale. Perhaps those were the only bits that didn’t sit so right with me. Witnessing some of my own perspectives portrayed through the lens of another became a hard pill for me to swallow. A struggle in itself perhaps, for in my own opinion, I felt parts of the story were a lot more generalised to fit the likes of a western mind than what I have known to be true. However, to each their own unique experience, the writer did a wonderful job of presenting everything that led her to become the person she is today. I loved the latter half of the book with some thought-provoking gems and perspectives that I couldn’t help annotate while stopping to ponder for a bit. By the end of the book, my empathetic side took over the judgmental side and I feel extreme gratitude for my own life and circumstances. For while I may share the same background, my life hasn’t been as affected by the patriarchal society described.