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Censoring an Iranian Love Story

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When I picked up this book, written by a popular Iranian author, my only expectation was that it would be an unusual view of the writing life in Iran today. What I never expected was that the book would be so funny! Witty, cleverly constructed, and full of the absurdities that always underlie great satire, this unique metafiction draws in the reader, sits him down in the company of an immensely talented and very charming author, and completely enthralls.

Having reached the "threshold of fifty," Mandanipour says he intends to write a love story, and, most importantly, that "I want to publish my love story in my homeland." He then becomes the narrator of two stories---the fictional love story of Sara and Dara, which appears here in boldface, and a metafictional commentary by the author, in regular type. Experimenting with what to include in his love story and what direction to take, the narrator, named "Shariar Mandanipour," writes for the censor, ironically named Porfiry Petrovich, the police investigator in Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. "Because I am an experienced writer," he says, "I may be able to write my story in such a way that it survives the blade of censorship."

The author is true to his reader, however. Whenever he believes that Petrovich will question something, he either crosses it out himself (leaving it visible so that the reader can read, literally, between the lines), or he changes direction and rewrites the action of the story. He never rants or gets angry, preferring instead to show the excisions as silly. He understands that an Iranian audience has far different cultural expectations from a global audience.

In the love story, Dara has worshiped Sara from afar for a year, having seen her briefly at a student demonstration, and he leaves her coded messages hidden in library books. She never sees him, however. Gradually, the two young people begin to have "whispering computer chats," and eventually meet secretly in person, avoiding situations in which anyone from the Ministry of Islamic Culture and Guidance will see them. Though they fall deeply in love, Sara is also being courted by Sinbad, a very wealthy older man, and her family knows that if she marries him, they will all be much better off.

As the story progresses, the author comments about censorship in his own life, from the naming of his children, to his defense of scenes in his novels and stories. After one hilarious meeting with the censor, he tells his publisher that "Mr. Petrovich forgave us three breasts and two thighs." Though the Iranian Constitution allows free speech, it does not say that books and publications can "freely leave the print shop." Hence, many books get printed and then never released, unable to get a permit.

Throughout the novel, the author maintains an easy-going, conversational style and a wry, self-deprecating sense of humor. A dead midget hunchback becomes an ominous, repeating symbol, and when Dara is followed and is in danger of being assaulted by dark forces, the reader cares. Mandanipour has created a "novel" so rich with ideas, social history, and literary references--to writers such as Dostoevsky, Gogol, and Kafka--that anyone interested in the creative process will be fascinated by this love story set within the parameters of present-day Iran, which is, of course, the "real" story here. n Mary Whipple

I was sold when I saw that the jacket bore recommendations from Rabih Alameddine, author of The Hakawati (a great recent novel with a quite different story-within-a-story concept), and Diane Abu Jaber, also a great novelist who tackles cross-cultural issues. Another comparison I might make is to The Black Book, by Orhan Pamuk--though this is less gloomy and more personal of a story.

The narrator-author and his nemesis Porfiry are the real entertainment here, although the characters within the author's self-censored novel get more spunky as the story progresses. The relationship of the author and censor reminded me of another great minder-citizen relationship, the one in Gunther Grass' "Too Far Afield" (Grass' novel is much more work to read, though).

I was surprised by the creative twists in the second half of this novel--I generally avoid magic realism stuff--but these wackier elements of this story are well under the control of the author and do serve to bring forth the author/narrator's struggles as a writer--it does not devolve into silliness. If you like it, try tackling Alameddine, Pamuk and Grass afterwards....

Lest you read no further than this line, let me say with feeling: read "Censoring an Iranian Love Story." Read it right away! Obviously, this country has been ambivalent toward all things Iranian for more than thirty years. Lately, the streets of Iran were embroiled in Twitter-driven uprisings while we in the West looked on in amazement. Aren't these the people that called for the death of the "Great Satan?"

Apparently not.

"Censoring an Iranian Love Story." is a painfully beautiful book, alive with the author's viable, breathing description of contemporary Iranian life. Author Shahriar Mandanipour has chosen not to write a love story for the ages but has instead, written a heartrending story for the moment (eventually, this book will stand as an important history lesson). The "moment" in Iran is at once harsh and beautiful, much like the lives of Sara and Dara, central characters of the book. As Mandanipour describes his struggle as an author to rise above the exhaustive, exhausting limitations of state theocracy, readers glimpse intimately, what precisely has gone wrong with the Revolution and how it jeapordizes the artistic impulse of its citizens. Mr. Mandanipour also manages a difficult feat by illuminating conditions within Iranian society without exercising overt criticism.

Which is to say that Iranian reality is infinitely more subtle than we have imagined. The central characters of Sara and Dara are highly sympathetic as young adults facing the fierce social restrictions imposed by Iranian law. Dara is an ex-film student and ex-political prisoner whose academic records have been expunged along with his future. Sara is a student of literature with more mettle than those around her suppose. As Mr. Mandanipour explains, the two characters are named after the Iranian counterparts to America's" Dick and Jane" of early reading fame . . . hence they are archetypal. He details the lives of his central characters to show what it means to face unrelenting a frightenig and strangley officious state censorship aimed at regulating public and moral behavior. The author as narrator demonstrates how he must filters word and phrases deliberately for in offensive, indirect meanings in order to get his work past his censor, a wringing task.

Just as Sara and Dara disguise the appearance of their romance, the author constantly self-censors to avoid the harsher consequences of forthright description such as imprisonment, professional banishment or worse. The logistics of pleasing an assigned-for-life-censor or for Sara and Dara, avoiding the Morality Police are unabashedly Orwellian.

Forget what you may already "know" about Iranian society and read "Censoring an Iranian Love Story." Whatever cultural references Western readers lack the author graciously explains, often with great charm and humor. "Censoring . . ." has an fairly idiosyncratic style but is more lively for the author's literary device. Mandanipour clearly loves his country, his people and their truly vast cultural heritage. The book draws a chilling picture of the regime's ability to impose its will through self-censorship and intimidation as a hopelessly twisted moral arbiter.

Most importantly, Sara and Dara are innocent. They are forced to scheme, lie, and break laws so they can simply drink coffee together, view Western movies or look into each other's eyes. Sara and Dara employ subterfuge to pursue their attraction, but they also maintain a decorum that is tame compared to Western mores, further highlighting the absurdity of all that "censoring."

Read "Censoring an Iranian Love Story." I doubt that any scholarly analysis is as able to convey the reality of living in present day Iran. In my opinion, "Censoring an Iranian Love Story" is as important as Orhan Pamuk's "Snow". That is why I read it, why I could not put down and why you should read it. This is also why Mr. Mandanipour should continue to write and aspire for us here in the "uncensored" West. So pleads this admiring reader.

An informative introduction to a 1984 world where the restrictions on personal freedom are represented in two ways: a) the heavy-handed censorship of literary expression, and b) the inability of two people to fall in love in a world where it is illegal for an unrelated man and woman to be alone together. The "world" of the story happens to be modern-day Iran, though it could be almost anywhere - the Islamic Republic does not have a monopoly on censorship and oppression.

Any reader who has been reading the many books that have been published about the Islamic Republic since 1979 will not find much that's new in this book about the enforcement of puritanical codes of behavior affecting dress, grooming, entertainment, gender roles, and so on. No need for magical realism, the author tells us, even as pieces of dusty carpets fly overhead and ghosts from the past walk the streets of Tehran, the actual world is implausible enough. However, as a postmodern exploration of life in Iran for a Western audience, the book is often cleverly entertaining. The tireless efforts of the author to write his love story and the ongoing critique by his censor, Mr. Petrovich, is a journey into an Alice-in-Wonderland world, where everything - no matter how innocent - is cause for debate about the author's intentions or the potential affect on his audience.

The author accounts for how a centuries-old tradition of suggestive amorous imagery in Iranian poetry makes reviewing literature and film for "offensive" material a virtual minefield of potential problems. The over-active imagination of the censor can find political and moral offenses where they were never intended. An ellipsis in a story . . . can invite the lubricious imagination to run riot. College literature instructors would be gratified to find such close reading among their own students. On the other hand, we are witness to a university lecturer who insists that the homoerotic verse of an ancient Iranian poet is *really* about the poet's rapturous union with God.

Film-lovers will be amused by a scene in which a blind film censor decides what to cut from the Al Pacino film, "Scent of a Woman." In another film, the stroking of an injured sparrow becomes a stand-in for intimate touch between a male and female character. We learn how Hollywood films are "cleansed" for public viewing when actresses in them are over-exposed. The expurgation of instruments from TV broadcasts of musical performances is also explained.

Often fascinating in its details. Recommended for readers with an interest in 21st-century thought control.

Censoring an Iranian Love Story is a fascinating book for its layered meaning and plot. Long after you finish the novel, you will find yourself thinking over the details that shaped the novel into a virtual masterpiece. The book should not be confused with a Faulknerian monstrosity that is impossible to read for all its heavy-handed meaning. This novel is fun to read. The plot is an engrossing page-turner that brings the Western reader into the modern Iranian world in a way that I have not encountered before. It is also one of the most relevant novels I have read in a long time.

Order the book and you will be reading a unique story, told in a unique way.

Having lived in the Middle-East and worked in a library, blacking out the arms and legs of women in some of the most beautiful art history books.....I can sooooo relate to this book!! So cleverly written and dark humor that stabs you in the heart. I have been to Iran two times and have encountered some amazing generous and hospitable people. I am saddened that they are so suppressed by the regime and therefore depressed but still trying hard to make their life as livable as possible!!! I can't wait for more books to be translated into English by the same author.

This was hands down the best piece of metafiction I've ever read. Not only do you get into the head of the author, but the characters he creates are also complex and interesting. On top of that he tackles the problems of writing in Iran currently, in an interesting and witty manner. There's a censorship character, Porfiry Petrovich[yeap, Dostoyevsky's], and we see the narrator anticipating what Petrovich would cross out, as he himself crosses sections and words out. The basic plot is the author trying to publish a love story in Iran, and it includes an interior love story. Throughout the second half of the novel though things begin to get twisted with some magical realism, and the characters developing their own wills. This book was also a lovely reminder of how important intellectual freedom is.

I greatly enjoyed this piece for its aesthetics, plot, and eye-opening commentary on life and writing in Iran.

I recommend this book to everyone.

As Shahriar turns fifty, he is tired of his futile attempts at writing a strong novel only to have the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance censor the guts of each one. It is so bad he knows exactly what Pofiry Petrovich, as he calls his official hound, will find objectionable, which usually guts the story line.

Shahriar decides to try an upbeat optimistic tale, a love story set in modern day Iran. He begins writing how Sara and Dara meet at the library and fell in love. However, Iranian Campaign Against Social Corruption forbids this couple being alone [...].

This translation will be considered one of the top satires of the year as Shahriar Mandipout uses censorship to tell a story of romance in modern day Iran, but could be in almost any place as for instance the political corporate media complex assaults those with an opposing view. The story line is super as Shahriar the fictional author edits his work by crossing out what he expects deleted, which guts his writing. Fans will relish this excellent use of romance to lampoon censorship.

Harriet Klausner

I love reading stories related to Iran. However, this book was a disappointment. I could not even finish reading it. Don't waste your money. There are many other books about the life of Iranians that are much more interesting.