Bone Worship: A Novel [Paperback]

Elizabeth Eslami (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 15, 2010

A rich and soul-searching novel about an Iranian-American girl whose enigmatic father has decided to arrange her marriage. Jasmine Fahroodhi has always been fascinated by her enigmatic Iranian father. With his strange habits and shrouded past, she can't fathom how he ended up marrying her prim American mother.

But lately love in general feels just as incomprehensible. After a disastrous romance sends her into a tailspin, causing her to fail out of college just shy of graduation, a conflicted Jasmine returns home without any idea where her life is headed.

Her father has at least one idea--he has big plans for a hastegar, an arranged marriage. Confused, furious, but intrigued, Jasmine searches for her match, meeting suitor after suitor with increasingly disastrous (and humorous) results. As she begins to open herself up to the mysteries of familial and romantic love, Jasmine discovers the truth about her father, and an even more evasive figure--herself--in this highly original and striking debut novel.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Eslami's clumsy debut attempts to unsnarl the relationships that paralyze a dysfunctional Iranian-American family living in Arrowhead, Ga. When Jasmine Fahroodhi flunks out of the University of Chicago just shy of graduation, her parents bring her home to marry her off. Even though her aloof doctor father, Yusef, married an American instead of the bride his parents chose for him, he wants Jasmine's marriage to be arranged. Jasmine's endlessly cheerful former cheerleader mother, Margaret, embraces Plan B with a startling zeal, though Jasmine's youthful angst leads her to vacillate between passivity and sudden outbursts of sarcasm as she submits to a series of interminable dinners with a parade of unsuitable suitors. Unfortunately, Eslami loses her footing in the last third of the book when Yusef encounters vague but troubling medical problems, Jasmine finally finds something to care about in a new job and the perfect man with a mysterious past enters the scene. Things end peachily, but the facile resolution and tepid finale feel as forced as put-upon Jasmine's feel-good turnaround. (Jan.)
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From Booklist

After ignominiously flunking out of the University of Chicago just shy of graduation, Jasmine Fahroodhi returns home to her family in Atlanta, demoralized and aimless. Her aloof Iranian father has decided to arrange a marriage for her, and Jasmine is surprised that her American mother is going along with the plan. Jasmine herself mounts a passive protest—cutting off all of her hair and getting kicked out of the library for writing in the books. The suitors who show up range from dull to already taken to downright rude, and Jasmine rejects each one, buying herself time. Though she’s ambivalent about the prospect of an arranged marriage, Jasmine is eager to get to know and understand her remote father better. A realistic and heartfelt depiction of a young woman at a crossroads wondering “What’s next?” Eslami’s debut deftly limns a young woman’s exploration of her roots, her attempts to understand her father, and how, to her own surprise, she finds a way to navigate both the expectations of her parents and her own burgeoning desires. --Kristine Huntley

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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Pegasus (January 15, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1605980749
• ISBN-13: 978-1605980744
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #763,449 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Iranian-American author Elizabeth Eslami was born in South Carolina in 1978. Her work has appeared in or is forthcoming from over a dozen literary journals, including G.W. Review, Bat City Review, Minnesota Review, and Crab Orchard Review, among others.

Her first novel, Bone Worship, about the complex relationship between an Iranian father and his Iranian-American daughter, has been called "a treasure" by author David Haynes and "unpredictable at every turn" by Joan Silber. Author Janet Peery called Eslami a writer of "uncommon wit and depth." Elizabeth Eslami lives in Oregon and is at work on her second novel.

For more information, visit her website at www.elizabetheslami.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cultural clashes while searching for autonomy, March 24, 2010

By 

Beth Hoffman (Kentucky) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bone Worship: A Novel (Paperback)

Elizabeth Eslami took me by the hand and led me into a fascinating, well written story that was a fresh and surprising combination of two themes -- familial dysfunction and cultural clashes. There is much to admire about the way in which Eslami created both desperation and wit within the personality of Jasmine, a young Iranian-American woman who, in so many ways, was rudderless.

Jasmine's longing to know her emotionally distant father, her confusion and pain over his expectations -vs- her own desires, and her very real emotions kept me turning pages. I applaud Eslami for her wise and insightful portrayal of Jasmine as she searched for her own identity and autonomy. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it highly!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A witty and beautifully written culture clash, January 19, 2010

By 

Anonymous1848 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bone Worship: A Novel (Paperback)

What I liked most about this book is the nice twist on the classic theme of cultural and generational conflict. Stories of children torn between two cultures are (for me) always intrinsically captivating, but this book poses the question somewhat differently. Jasmine, the daughter of an Iranian immigrant and his American wife, sees little reason to commit to school or life in general when her parents have resolved to chart her life for her. But just as she begins to wonder why her father has kept his heritage secret from her, it is forced decisively upon her -- in the form of a traditional Iranian arranged marriage. So how can the child of an immigrant come to know and understand an alien heritage, if she simultaneously rejects its presence in her own life? Jasmine is not torn between cultures; she is torn between attitudes, between attraction and repulsion, acquiescence and defiance.
Eslami's prose ranges effortlessly from lyrical to explosive, from chiseled to tender. Skillful plotting also makes the book so satisying: several surprises emerge as the novel tracks Jasmine's development, not the least of which is her ultimate resolution of her father's get-married-or-else ultimatum.
The protagonist Jasmine is wry and sharp, and winningly misanthropic, like a bi-racial Juno but with profounder things on her mind. I think that her pleading, almost desperate drive to connect with a father she barely knows, actually resonates just as loudly as the more tangible issues of cultural conflict that provide the framework for their confrontation. Five stars, and I look forward to reading more by the author of this lovely debut novel.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Getting a life, February 6, 2010

By 

Linda Macdonald - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bone Worship: A Novel (Paperback)

This debut novel tells a nuanced, witty story of a young woman's "getting a life", almost accidentally. The protagonist, Jasmine, starts out adrift after failing at college. Her controlling Iranian immigrant father and cheerful American mother move her back home to supervise her adulthood choices, most notably, in trying to find a suitor for an arranged marriage. Jasmine has a difficult relationship with her aloof, mysterious father. She gradually begins finding her true self, and in the process understands both of her parents better, and finding love to boot. This story is told with a wealth of warmth, humor and insight. It was a fabulous read.