5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Impressive!, July 21, 2010
This review is from: The House of the Mosque (Paperback)
As an Iranian, who is raised in a modern family in Tehran, I am really impressed!
Part of book is not my story, but the story of old fashioned family in a small religious town. Very easy to follow (at least for me as an Iranian girl) and many of the things that happens in the book, has happened in Iran. I, myself think it was somhow a true story! I can imagine myself in the place.
It shows how religion is being paled since Islamic revolousion in Iran.
It shows why people like me moved from country and why I am so against any religion!
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
`There was once a house, an old house which was known as the house of the mosque.', March 25, 2010
This review is from: The House of the Mosque (Paperback)
In the house of the mosque, located in Senejan, Iran, the family of Aqa Jaan has lived for eight centuries. The house is currently occupied by the families of Aqa Jaan, a merchant who is the head of the city's bazaar; Alsaberi; the imam of the mosque and Aqa Shoja, the mosque's muezzin. The carpets woven by the family firm are renowned for their beauty, their patterns are drawn from the plumage of birds Aqa Jaan's wife traps on the roof of the house. This is the order of things in Senejan, in 1969: a rich past continuing into the future. The grandmothers sweep the floors each morning, and dream of travelling to Mecca. Sadiq is waiting for a suitor to knock on the door to seek her hand in marriage. In the first half of this novel, the worlds of Aqa Jaan and his family members are neatly ordered.
Except, things start changing. Aqa Jaan's nephew Shahbal, with permission, smuggles a television into the house so that Aqa Jaan and the imam can watch the moon landing. The nephew argues that the imam needs to keep in touch with the world, even if those landing on the moon are the Americans, and a television is part of the suspect civilization that the Shah is imposing on his people.
In the second half of the novel, the consequences of political unrest in Iran, both before and after the revolution of 1978-79 are being felt. Small changes at first, but then the fall of the Shah and the return of the Ayatollah destroy the established order of the house of the mosque. The world turns upside down: Shahbal backs the Islamic revolution, while Aqa Jaan's other nephew, Nosrat, a westernised film-maker, becomes a member of Khomeini's inner circle. Nothing seems predictable.
This is a complex novel, but not difficult to read. Kader Abdolah creates a multi-layered world: filled with interesting characters living, and sometimes losing, their lives in the turmoil of revolutionary change. And Aqa Jaan himself, and the house of the mosque, are not unchanged. What does the future hold?
`Our story is over, but the crow still hasn't reached its nest.'
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A good story, January 19, 2012
This eerily true to life story is well written. I applaud the author for the depth of his imaginative mind, which is revealing in this story. He drew the reader into the story from the opening chapter all the way to the end.The descriptions are very vivid and gives the reader a sense of the setting that is almost real.Its depiction of religion in the way some people apply it in the every day lives of man is very reveal, bringing to mind a description I read in The Union Muzhik. The author did a great job at characterization. The compelling plot added further credibility to the quality of the story and the pacing made it a page-turner. Coming from reading Triple Agent Double Cross, I have deep respect from authors who take us to unfamiliar settings and implant us to the point that we relate to the story and its characters as if we were there. This is a story that will strike a chord with a broad readership.
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