Camelia: Save Yourself by Telling the Truth - A Memoir of Iran [Hardcover]

Camelia Entekhabifard (Author), George Murer (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 6, 2007

Camelia Entekhabifard was six years old in 1979 when the shah of Iran was overthrown by revolutionary supporters of the Ayatollah Khomeini. By the age of sixteen, Camelia was a nationally celebrated poet, and at eighteen she was one of the youngest reformist journalists in Tehran. Just eight years later she was imprisoned, held in solitary confinement, and charged with breaching national security and challenging the authority of the Islamic regime. Camelia is both a story of growing up in post-revolutionary Tehran and a haunting reminder of the consequences of speaking the truth in a repressive society.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Entekhabifard, an Iranian-born journalist now living in the U.S., opens her intriguing memoir on January 16, 1979, the day the Shah fled Tehran. She'd just turned six, so she didn't understand the tumult; she knew her parents preferred the Shah to Khomeini's mullahs, but neither of them discussed leaving Iran. She explains, how, instead, they adjusted. Mother and daughters observed hijab when necessary and, like others, learned not to attract the attention of the revolutionary guards. A poet, Entekhabifard took advantage of the Khatami regime's reformist climate to start work as a journalist. When political winds shifted, she was jailed for three months, where she cultivated a romantic attachment with her interrogator. His passion secured her release, but soon she realized she had to leave Iran, and him, and try a career in America. Rather than narrate her story chronologically (which would emphasize a repression-to-freedom theme), Entekhabifard intercuts accounts of various incidents, so that heavier stories—like her romance with her interrogator—emerge gradually. In the end, hers is a strangely disorienting account of that period. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Iranian journalist Entekhabifard's enlightening memoir traces her childhood in Tehran, during the mid-1980s when Iran was at war and dubbed an "outlaw state" by the international community. She recounts her family's monarchist leanings and her work as a reporter for Zan, one of Iran's most prestigious newspapers, which leads to her imprisonment for being "a monarchist and an American spy." Entekhabifard enriches her story with details of her family's everyday existence and descriptions of living in constant fear of their being exposed as antirevolutionaries. Only years later do they learn what they actually escaped, the "silent murder of thousands of political prisoners." Entekhabifard exposes the conditions of prostitutes in Qom, and dares to investigate the mysterious and ongoing killing of intellectuals. Perhaps the most bizarre aspect of her riveting self-portrait is her fake romance with her prison interrogator, which eventually results in her release. Entekhabifard brings unique courage and insight to her practice of journalism, for which she and her family have paid a dear price. Deborah Donovan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Seven Stories Press (March 6, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1583227199
• ISBN-13: 978-1583227190
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 0.9 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,101,457 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A brutally honest and vivid account, March 24, 2007

By 

H. Hafezi - See all my reviews

This review is from: Camelia: Save Yourself by Telling the Truth - A Memoir of Iran (Hardcover)

"Camelia" is the vivid, moving, and candid memoir of Camelia Entekhabi-fard, a young Iranian journalist intimately familiar with the social and political turmoil of Iran under the Islamic Republic. Ms Entekhabi-fard's story takes us from her childhood and adolescence, to her career as a journalist and active participant in the Iranian reform movement, through encounters with famous and infamous personalities, to her imprisonment, release, and exile. Her keen observations and deep sympathy illuminate the complex cultural and political problems of Iran, particularly its young women, and bring to life some of the key events of the past thirty years. But what makes "Camelia" stand out among contemporary Middle East memoirs is Ms Entekhabi-fard's brutal honesty, particularly towards the moral dilemmas and personal choices she made in her struggle to succeed and survive. Her fierce candor will undoubtedly shock some readers, but it makes "Camelia" a refreshingly frank, lively, and moving memoir.

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A top pick for any general-interest or college-level collection, June 17, 2007

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Camelia: Save Yourself by Telling the Truth - A Memoir of Iran (Hardcover)

Camelia was six years old when the Shah of Iran was overthrown in her country: her family chose to stay in Tehran and saw two decades of violent change which affected their family. CAMELIA is for any who would understand the culture and politics of Iran: its autobiography recounts the author's life in the country, where she was a nationally celebrated poet as a teen, one of the youngest reformist journalists in Tehran by eighteen, and imprisoned eight years later. Her relationship with brutal interrogators, her ultimate survival and her struggle coping with freedom makes for a haunting document of repression which is a top pick for any general-interest or college-level collection strong in Middle East culture and history.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

3.0 out of 5 stars English book not for English speakers, April 16, 2011

By 

Ashi - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Camelia: Save Yourself by Telling the Truth - A Memoir of Iran (Hardcover)

I searched a lot for this book. It was interesting for me because I am from Iran.

However; although this book is in English, it is not suitable for people who do not know Farsi. All of a sudden, a strange persian phrase comes out and looking it up in the glossary sucks.

I wish I could find the original persian version which has never been published.