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

4.0

Historical fiction with a touch of magical realism? Sold.

This book is... a lot. The writing style is very, very fast-paced. It's probably a work in translation though. It's pretty confusing to tell who is talking with whom, who is related to whom in what way, etc. And the story was supposed to be told from a 13 years old girl point of view (her name is Bahar), and at times it felt really odd because it didn't felt like I was in a 13 years old girl state of mind, even though she was a ghost. Maybe it implies that ghosts have more wisdom than humans? I don't know. It's a good book, of course, but I still want to feel like it's 'real' and I can experience the narrator's experience.

I love the magical elements thrown everywhere in this book. Every single chapter felt so different, it felt like I was looking at very different world every single time. It's fantastic, really. But again, I'm not quite sure how I will put it. Everything was told by Bahar, and she seemed to be moving from one place to another quickly. I know I'm no ghost, but again, I can't seem to put myself in the experience. If the narrator was not a character in a book, I don't mind him/her telling the story from one place to another seamlessly, she is a character in this book. I can't imagine how she would quickly move from Razan to Tehran and somehow got herself into the woods, etc. If the narrator was, for example, a person, we could go into his/her journey through train rides, flights, or walking. But since she's a ghost... I don't know how ghosts move from one place to another!

Overall, a very interesting read. Truly happy for Shokoofeh who could finally write without censorship as she's not living in Iran anymore. Also to the brave anonymous translator for translating the work into English. It's a bit depressing to see this kind of oppressive regimes has been happening throughout the world and people whose only fault was having different political and religious views was caught, tortured, and made disappear/killed in the end. Such a heart breaking book, but could be written in a better way. But I still love it. 3.5/5 stars.