Arash, an idealistic young man driven by nostalgia and romantic notions of a country he left as a child, returns to Iran to start a new life and do his share to help rebuild the country. As he explores the streets of Tehran, he finds a society plagued by contradictions and confronts a disgruntled and cynical populace for whom the promises of the Revolution never materialized. With dwindling resources, he finds himself paralyzed in the face of a system he cannot change. A seemingly benign gesture of defiance draws the attention of the authorities and leads to his imprisonment in the notorious Evin prison. In this moving and often disturbing novel, Noori paints a dark and foreboding picture of the harsh realities of life in the Islamic Republic.
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From Publishers Weekly
An Iranian man whose family fled to America during the Iranian Revolution returns to his childhood home in this restrained but passionate novel by a first-time author writing under a pen name. Though Arash was just a boy when he came to the United States, he never felt comfortable there. His mother and sister beg him not to return to Iran, but when his mother dies, he buys a one-way ticket to Tehran. His dreamlike wanderings in the city and his musings on the problems of his fellow Iranians are recorded in a journal he keeps and also in a third-person narrative. This double-layered storytelling gives his otherwise bleak tale a gauzy, mythical aura. Upon his arrival in Tehran, he moves aimlessly about, losing himself in memories. He meets a woman and is with her for a while, but breaks things off when he decides that he is too unsettled to give her what she needs. He dreams of solving the country's problems, "having tasted freedom and knowing there was a better way," but is mocked when he speaks of his hopes for Iran. A modest, spontaneous gesture of revolt-he writes anti-regime messages on a succession of banknotes-lands him in prison, where he is tortured and suffers from tuberculosis. The investigator who tracks him down is a former revolutionary and feels a twisted sympathy for Arash. The muted ironies of Noori's tale are conveyed with delicacy and provide a sophisticated perspective on the plight of the Iranian people.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
a moving lament for what could have been -- Kirkus Reviews
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
a must read for the revolution's children,
By A Customer
This review is from: Dakhmeh (Paperback)
I must admit that I initially picked up this book because of the author's name. What lured me into buying it was that fact that this is his/her nom de plume. I knew it had to be ripe with opinions to which one was not safe enough label with a name. I was right. I read the book during a bout of insomnia, and one night's lack of sleep led me so far in terms of identity that I am forever grateful to Mr. Noori. Whether you agree with his views or not, the author takes you on a journey of self that really hits "home" with Iranians living in the U.S. Being true to persian culture, the story is vivid and depressing but very real.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
dakhmeh - a dark and sad story,
By
This review is from: Dakhmeh (Paperback)
I am drawn to books of the middle east, especially Iran. Naveed Noori, possibly wanting to avoid the Komiteh hurting him, uses a psuedonym in telling his story. Does this give you any inkling to how it is NOT okay to say negative things about the powers that be in Iran? Anyway, Noori weaves in and out from now - living and dying in a famous Iranian prison, the recent past - living in America and Tehran, and the far past as a child. He speaks of politics, the smell of foods, the sights of his home country, and how the revolution changed it all - except his love for his 'home'. i skipped over the page or two of the torture that Arash experienced in prison - i don't want that in my head. Excellent discription of the spiralling down from drug abuse and sickness....read it and learn more about the iranian mindset.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Lost generation . . .,
By
This review is from: Dakhmeh (Paperback)
This is a grim book by an unidentified author about life in modern Tehran, twenty-some years after the Revolution that overthrew the Shah and put Khomeni in power. The protagonist is an idealistic young man growing up in the US but yearning for a home in Iran and a cause to devote his life to.
Unwise and unprepared for what he finds when he goes there, he is thrust into the shadow life that exists among both the wealthy and poor beyond the all-seeing eye of the Islamic authorities. Eventually, after a futile gesture of rebellion, he becomes a fugitive from the law and meets a sad, brutal end in a prison for political prisoners. Well written and sharply disturbing, the book reflects both dspair and a continuing hope that Iran will some day be free from a long history of tyranny.
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