Author: Jasmin Darznik
Genre: Memoir
Rating: 3.5/5
Verdict: A wonderful memoir filled with strength and endurance and rich details about Iran. Read it!
I received this book from my Secret Santa during the holiday book exchange. I read it through the holiday season last year and the holiday mood definitely did cheer me up when some incidents detailed in the book were unbearable. When I read the title, the first thoughts that came to my mind was it was going to be a book detailing the relationship between Jasmin and her mother, their connection and their life experiences and such. I read the first few pages and realized I was totally wrong :)
The book opens with Jasmin discovering a photograph of her mother, Lili as a child-bride only that she doesn't recognize the man standing next to her in the photograph. When she confronts Lili about this, Lili doesn't want to speak about it. Later, Lili sends Jasmin a series of tapes in which she herself narrates her family and life in Iran. The first tape talks about Lili's grandmother and then moves on to her mother, Kobra and gradually goes on to detailing Lili's life in Iran. Married at 13 to an abusive husband and bearing a child at 14, the details from Lili's past are very painful and disturbing.
But Lili is a pretty srong and amazing who divorces her monster of a husband (but had to give up her child in this process) and goes to Germany for education and becomes a midwife, where she meets her husband-to-be. The book spans across three generations, and we can see the traditions gradually shifting from one generation to the next. Throughout the book, we get to see the endurance and strength of the women and their attempts to keep the family intact and its very moving. Towards the end of the book is when we learn about Sara, the good daughter who Lili had to give up who still lives in Iran. The good daughter reads so much like a intriguing fictional story, while its not. I had to remind myself many times that this was a true story. When I finished the book, I really wanted to meet Lili - the strong and ambitious woman with a lot of resilience.
This book is a must read - there is so much I didnt know about Iran until I read this. When I think about Iran, the first thing that comes to my mind is war and revolution, but Jasmin takes us through so many rich details about Iran - the women, food, culture, marriage customs and clothing that you finally get to see Iran in a totally different angle through her narration. One thing I would have loved to see and hear were pictures and the audio cassette tapes that Lili had sent to Jasmin. I would have also liked to read more about why exactly Sara is considered the good daughter while, Jasmin was not.
In short, A very moving memoir!
Genre: Memoir
Rating: 3.5/5
Verdict: A wonderful memoir filled with strength and endurance and rich details about Iran. Read it!
I received this book from my Secret Santa during the holiday book exchange. I read it through the holiday season last year and the holiday mood definitely did cheer me up when some incidents detailed in the book were unbearable. When I read the title, the first thoughts that came to my mind was it was going to be a book detailing the relationship between Jasmin and her mother, their connection and their life experiences and such. I read the first few pages and realized I was totally wrong :)
The book opens with Jasmin discovering a photograph of her mother, Lili as a child-bride only that she doesn't recognize the man standing next to her in the photograph. When she confronts Lili about this, Lili doesn't want to speak about it. Later, Lili sends Jasmin a series of tapes in which she herself narrates her family and life in Iran. The first tape talks about Lili's grandmother and then moves on to her mother, Kobra and gradually goes on to detailing Lili's life in Iran. Married at 13 to an abusive husband and bearing a child at 14, the details from Lili's past are very painful and disturbing.
But Lili is a pretty srong and amazing who divorces her monster of a husband (but had to give up her child in this process) and goes to Germany for education and becomes a midwife, where she meets her husband-to-be. The book spans across three generations, and we can see the traditions gradually shifting from one generation to the next. Throughout the book, we get to see the endurance and strength of the women and their attempts to keep the family intact and its very moving. Towards the end of the book is when we learn about Sara, the good daughter who Lili had to give up who still lives in Iran. The good daughter reads so much like a intriguing fictional story, while its not. I had to remind myself many times that this was a true story. When I finished the book, I really wanted to meet Lili - the strong and ambitious woman with a lot of resilience.
This book is a must read - there is so much I didnt know about Iran until I read this. When I think about Iran, the first thing that comes to my mind is war and revolution, but Jasmin takes us through so many rich details about Iran - the women, food, culture, marriage customs and clothing that you finally get to see Iran in a totally different angle through her narration. One thing I would have loved to see and hear were pictures and the audio cassette tapes that Lili had sent to Jasmin. I would have also liked to read more about why exactly Sara is considered the good daughter while, Jasmin was not.
In short, A very moving memoir!
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