A review by roorooreads
The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali

dark emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

This book focuses on two girls that are experiencing a change in the Iranian political system. We know from the very start that they haven't spoken in years, in the very first chapter we receive a note from one of the girls to the other saying that they need to talk after they haven't spoken in years. So we start off the book knowing that something is going to happen but we aren't sure what but somehow they are not going to be the best friends that we are seeing at the very beginning as children. So we find out that these two friends are living through a very large shift in Iran. The girls are able to go to school, they are going thinking about college and Ellie, the main perspective that we're seeing in this book, she has unfortunately adapted a lot of her mother's ideals. And she just wants to be popular she wants to be wealthy. And our other main friend, Homa, she wants change, she wants to be a lawyer, and she wants the rights of the people to be seen and we find out she, like her father, is a member of the communist party. It is interesting the direction this story takes ,because at the very beginning they're talking about being lion women and so far Homa has definitely exhibited that behavior and so I'm very interested to see how our friend Ellie will exhibit being a lion. This is very compelling story and I didn't even realize how quickly I was reading it until all the sudden I was over halfway through in a day. So apparently, I've realized I like historical fiction again. 

I'm having trouble putting my thoughts into words as I finish this book. It was very powerful and consuming. Obviously I read it very quickly it only took me about a day and a half. I did slightly tear up at the end. I cannot say enough how courageous both women are in their own way
but especially Homa who continued to fight for what she believed in, from a very young age all the way up until she was an old women,
it's just amazing. These characters did not feel fictional they felt real. I felt like I was reading someone's memoir of a time when they went through something with their friend and somehow came out on the other side. I highly recommend this book, it is very “appropriate” for this time because I know that this is still happening, what has happened in 2022 in Iran and what I'm sure continues to happen there and throughout the world and what so many are afraid of happening here in America but in a different way. We as women stand together because these are not unprecedented times, it has happened before. We need each other, and as Homa says “…the force and fury of our screams have been gathering power for years…. Remember above all to always love. Love madly”
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