Even After All This Time: A Story of Love, Revolution, and Leaving Iran [Hardcover]

Afschineh Latifi (Author), Pablo F. Fenjves (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 29, 2005

At the age of ten, a young Iranian girl witnesses the horror of her father's execution and escapes the revolution with her sister. Growing up in Tehran in the 1970s, Afschineh Latifi and her sister and two brothers enjoyed a life of luxury and privilege. Their father, a self-made man, had worked his way up from nothing to become a colonel in the Shah's army, and their mother, a woman of equally modest roots, had made a career for herself as a respected schoolteacher. But in February, 1979, Colonel Latifi was arrested by members of the newly installed Khomeini regime, and publicly pilloried as an "Enemy of God." Some months later, after having been shunted from one prison cell to another, and without benefit of a legitimate trial, Colonel Latifi was summarily executed. Fearing for the safety of her children, Mrs. Latifi made a wrenching decision: to send her daughters, ages ten and eleven, to the west, splitting up the family until they could safely reunite. Out on their own, Afschineh and her sister, Afsaneh, were forced to become strong young women before they'd even had a childhood. Even After All This Time is a story of hope and heartache, a story of a family torn apart for six harrowing years, and finally coming together to rebuild in America. In the richly evocative tradition of the bestselling Reading Lolita in Tehran, this is a story of a family that had the courage to dream impossible dreams and to make them come true against impossible odds.

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"Be like a nail!" Latifi's mother would scold when the author cried. These words are a testament to the grit Latifi displays throughout this wonderful memoir. The author was 10 and her sister 11 in May 1979, when their father, a military officer under the Shah, was executed by Khomeini's soldiers. Only 34, their mother was left to raise four young children (she also had two sons) in a newly fundamentalist society hostile to women. At first, the girls "loved putting on the chadors. It felt like Halloween." But when a villager started bidding on marrying Latifi's then 13-year-old sister, their mother knew they had to leave. Yet visas were routinely denied, passports arbitrarily confiscated. Still, Mrs. Latifi managed to take her daughters to Austria, where they attended a convent school (the boys remained in Tehran). The year in Austria was disastrous; the girls unwittingly spent the family's savings trying to overcome their loneliness. America was the next solution; there, the girls lived with relatives in Virginia and learned to take care of each other. Things turned out all right—the family was finally reunited, the children all chose good careers. Unlike many Iranian memoirs, most of this one takes place outside the country. Still, it's a remarkable, resonating tale. Photos. (Apr.)
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From Booklist

Similar in tone to Reading Lolita in Tehran (2003), this poignant memoir chronicles one family's odyssey through the Iranian Revolution and beyond. The daughter of a colonel in the shah's army and a schoolteacher, Latifi and her siblings lived a comfortable life in Tehran in the 1970s until Khomeini catapulted into power. When her father was arrested and executed like so many of his contemporaries, her family was immediately plunged into confusion and disarray. Sent with her sister to school in Austria, young Latifi did not reunite with the rest of her family until many years later. Finally together again in the U.S., the Latifi clan successfully struggled to rebuild its collective future together. Culminating in a bittersweet return trip to Iran, Latifi's tribute to her family's courage and resilience is a compelling testament to the dauntless nature of the human spirit in the face of all types of repression and adversity. Margaret Flanagan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Harper (March 29, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060745339
• ISBN-13: 978-0060745332
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 5.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,387,703 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Story with Several Lessons, May 24, 2005

By 

John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Even After All This Time: A Story of Love, Revolution, and Leaving Iran (Hardcover)

I see this book as two or perhaps three in one.

On the one hand it is the story of a family torn apart by the execution of the father (convicted of commiting murder on the day he was in a hospital far away). The author was a young girl of ten at that time. This is the story of her life after her fathers arrest and execution. Obviously well to do at the time, the two daughters were sent to school in Austria, and finally to an uncle in America.

As part of this, I am reminded that when people move to the United States, they often become the best, most capable citizens we have. In this family of four children there are two doctors and two lawyers. Often, usually, the people who leave a country are the best people that that country has. Our country is benefitted by their being here.

Finally, this is the story of how an Islamic government moving into power. At one time the author's mother is showing hospital records to the jailer, and is told that it doesn't matter what proof she has, the decision stands and he will be executed. Not too different, I guess, than the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, but a pretty rough way to life. And this is what people say they want???

33 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Million Died And Over Clothes She'd Cried, January 24, 2006

By 

Caesar M. Warrington (Lansdowne, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Even After All This Time: A Story of Love, Revolution, and Leaving Iran (Hardcover)

As others mentioned, the real heroes of this story are Afschineh Latifi's mother and father. Even though he knew his fate, her father had supreme courage standing up to the maniacs who would put him to death. Her mother suffered the loss of her husband silently and sacrificed in order to save her children from the madness that took over their country. If Latifi would have concentrated on the lives of her parents this would be a different but much better story.
Instead we read about two adolescent girls who suffered the sad loss of their father but otherwise had it pretty well off; especially when you consider the misery of the millions of Iranians who went through the nightmare of the Khomeini revolution, followed by the hell that was the Iran-Iraq War. A million young Iranian men perished in that war and Latifi has very little --if anything-- to say about it.
Outside of struggling with the latest fashions, what does Latifi feel she and her sister suffered? Shriveled oranges in the refrigerator (at a time when most Iranians wish they had any oranges, much less a refrigerator) and not having a VCR (mind you, this was when many Americans didn't have VCRs)!
While in Austria the two sisters took the money their mother had saved for them and went on nonstop shopping sprees. When the mother came to Austria and had serious need of the money she found it almost all gone! Needless to say, the poor woman was devastated and almost collapsed. These girls didn't want to realize what their family was going through. Clearly, they had little appreciation for what their mother was doing for them.
What these girls had was a loving, devoted mother who made sure they received safety overseas and an education. Afschineh Latifi should also be grateful that her uncle Mammad agreed to take her and her sister in, giving them the oppurtunity to live in America. The things Latifi says about him and his family show me that Latifi was a spoiled kid who was detached from true suffering in this world.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A MUST READ, July 17, 2005

By 

Miss Vicki "avid reader" (Queens, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Even After All This Time: A Story of Love, Revolution, and Leaving Iran (Hardcover)

I was fortunate enough to be browsing in a well known bookstore when Afshineh Latifi was holding a book signing of her memoir. I bought the book immediately after partaking in her discussion and am happy to say that it was extremely enjoyable. She has a lot to be proud of and so does her mom. I was captivated by her life story from the start and I highly recomend her book.