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

4.5

‘Beeta says that Mum attained enlightenment at exactly 2:35 p.m. on August 18, 1988, atop the grove’s tallest greengage plum tree on a hill overlooking all fifty-three village houses, to the sound of the scrubbing of pots and pans which pulled the grove out of its lethargy every afternoon.’ 

This book has been patiently waiting for me to read it for some years. That’s not uncommon: unless I live to be 120 or thereabouts, I suspect I’ll shuffle off this mortal coil with a reading list that would require a further century to complete. Yes, unlikely magical thinking. But once I picked up this novel, I was transported into a world where magical realism and harsh reality are brought together and conveyed to the reader in a form of classical Persian storytelling. 

This novel is set in Iran in the period after the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Roza, the mother of Sohrab, Beeta and Bahar, receives enlightenment in the greengage tree at the exact time that her son Sohrab is hanged under the instructions of Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini. The family fled Tehran in 1979, but they are not safe from the unrest even in the small village of Razan. Our narrator, Bahar, is a ghost. She was killed in Tehran in 1979. 

How does it work, this blend of reality and magic? In my reading, the magic leavens the reality without discounting the brutality of it. In addition to the impacts on Iran, the disappearances of people and the hangings, the rules about head coverings and the ubiquitous uteloads of men with firearms, each member of Bahar’s family has their own reaction to the events that have overwhelmed their country. Roza leaves her family after climbing down from the greengage tree. Her husband, Hushang withdraws, immersing himself in books before returning to Tehran. Beeta becomes a mermaid, while Bahar moves restlessly, and observes. 

Of course, there is more to the story. There are other characters, there are djinns, there are elements of the natural world as well. And somehow, Ms Azar draws these (seemingly) disparate elements together to deliver a rich story which reflects an ancient storytelling tradition which I chose to see as hope for a different future.  

Highly recommended. 

Jennifer Cameron-Smith