At the Wall of the Almighty (Emerging Voices) [Paperback]

Farnoosh Moshiri (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

A despairing novel of revolution and corruption, Moshiri's debut is the story of a young man at El-Deen, a "university" in which the political prisoners of a fanatical Muslim movement are incarcerated. This nameless prisoner has survived the cruelest tortures, yet although his body remains intact, his mind is fragmented. He cannot remember who he is or why he is where he is. Taunted by the prison guard Loony Kamal, drugged, and beaten, the prisoner tries desperately to sort through the jumble of half-suppressed memories, dreams, and hallucinations that haunt his every waking moment. As frightening as it is moving, this is a stirring testament of love and courage and a condemnation of the abuses of power that often arise in times of revolution. Moshiri's narrator speaks in a poignantly simple voice, allowing us to see, through his eyes, the horrors of a revolution re-creating the very cruelties and excesses of the political structure it overthrows. Thoughtful but not for the faint of heart. Bonnie Johnston

From Kirkus Reviews

This remarkably intricate and fascinating first novel dramatizes in luxuriant and resonant detail the ordeal of a political prisoner of the Iranian revolution of the late 1970s. He is Moshiris unnamed narrator: an accused ``Unbreakable'' who won't confess his (supposed) crimes or repent of his alleged apostasy from the ``faith'' brandished by zealots currently in power. Bullied and seduced by the mercurial prison guard ``Loony Kamal,'' and having realized that the ``only way to survive is to return,'' the narrator recalls and reinvents the history of his highborn liberal family and that of their village, surrounded (in fact, imprisoned) by an increasingly high wall that is being patiently built by the Sisyphean shape-changing figure of Ali the Bricklayera vivid embodiment of the spirit of a populace caught between its impulse toward independence and its obedience to archaic mores and laws. The artful confusions of time, place, and characters brilliantly reinforce Moshiri's commanding theme: that anyone, regardless of his actions, may be perceived as both a hero of, and a traitor to, Iran's ``Holy'' Revolution. A superb debut.-- Copyright © 2000 Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Interlink Publishing Group (September 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566563151
• ISBN-13: 978-1566563154
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,166,064 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Iranian born writer Farnoosh Moshiri has degrees from the College of Dramatic Arts of Tehran, The University of Iowa, and University of Houston. She has published plays, short stories, and translations in Iranian literary magazines before the 1979 revolution and in anthologies published outside Iran in the 1980s. In 1983, she fled her country after a massive arrest of secular intellectuals, feminists, and political activists. She lived in refugee camps of Afghanistan and India for four years before emigrating to the U.S. in 1987. Her novels and collections include At the Wall of Almighty (Interlink 1999), The Bathhouse (Black Heron Press 2001, Beacon Press, 2002); The Crazy Dervish and the Pomegranate Tree (Black Heron Press 2004), and Against Gravity (Penguin, 2006). Among other awards and fellowships, she is the recipient of Florida' Review's creative non-fiction award, Barthelme Memorial Award, Barbara Deming Award: A grant to feminist writers whose work speaks of peace and social justice; two consecutive Black Heron Awards for Social Fiction, and Valiente Award from Voices Breaking Boundaries. Her recent novel, Against Gravity, was chosen by Barnes and Noble for Discover New Writers Series and by Borders Books in January Original Voices selection. The Bathhouse, her second novel, has been translated into several European and Asian languages. She has taught literature, playwriting, and creative writing in Universities of Tehran, Kabul, Houston, and Syracuse. Currently, she lives in Houston, where she works on her new novel and teaches creative writing.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I could not put it down until I read the last page, December 7, 1999

By 

Laura Jennings - See all my reviews

This review is from: At the Wall of the Almighty (Emerging Voices) (Paperback)

Beautiful and horrible, as haunting as it is disturbing, Farnoosh Moshiri's At the Wall of the Almighty takes us through a prison in a land where religion has become law. The political prisoner narrates us through a chilling rapport with Looney Kamal, his guard and torturer. At the same time he is sifting through memories of family, passion and capture in a desperate attempt to remember and cling to who and what he is. Moshiri's poetical prose weaves memories and characters together, unravels the threads, then draws them together again with unsettling shrewdness.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "At the Wall of the Almighty", June 2, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: At the Wall of the Almighty (Emerging Voices) (Paperback)

Farnoosh Moshiri has done a superb job in imparting the inhuman ambience of an institutionally sanctioned abyss. This abyss is a political prison. The writer so masterfully imparts the latent human capacity for both heroism and sheer cruelty. This abyss is not intended merely for incarceration. The sponsors wish to destroy the human capacity for truth and justice. Their mission: the breaking of the human spirit. They fail miserably. Moshiri's "unbreakables" win at the end. Their bodies shrink from the pain of torture but their souls shine blinding us the shamed spectators. The episodes narrated in this book defy objectivity since they seem so incredible. Grim and unthinkable realities must be conveyed with skillful subtlety and simplicity as we the mortal onlookers may be faint at heart. We need great fiction. We need to be reminded in a coaxing way that cannibalism still exists all over the world albeit in disguised forms. The implied setting is coincidental. I congratulate the writer and recommend this book to anyone who cares about human rights.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Richly Rewarding Journey, January 25, 2000

By 

Taavi Mark (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: At the Wall of the Almighty (Emerging Voices) (Paperback)

At first, the book is almost difficult to read because the tale of "the unbreakable one" being in prison is so bleak and depressing but as he descends further into this physical hell the author also takes us into the mind of this nameless character who descends into his own world of memories in order to survive. It's this dichotomy of the horror of prison and the beauty that still survives in his mind that captivates the reader and draws us into the story. It's a wonderful tribute to the power of imagination and to the strength of independent thought in the face of fanacticism. The last few chapters are especially moving and rewarding. After I closed the book I found myself sitting silently for a while in quiet awe of the author's masterful ability to take me on such a satisfying journey.