Missing Soluch [Paperback]

Mahmoud Dowlatabadi (Author), Kamran Rastegar (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2007

Perhaps the most important work in modern Iranian literature, this starkly beautiful novel examines the trials of an impoverished woman and her children living in a remote village in Iran, after the unexplained disappearance of her husband, Soluch.

Lyrical yet unsparing, the novel examines her life as she contends with the political corruption, authoritarianism, and poverty of the village. It follows her vacillations between love for Soluch and anger at his absence, and her struggle to raise her children without their father.

The novel critically evokes the unfulfilled aspirations of modern Iran — portraying a society caught between a past and a future that seems equally weighted down by injustice.

This landmark novel — poineering the use of the everyday language of the Iranian people —revolutionized Persian literature in its beautiful and daring portrayal of the life of a marginal woman and her struggle to survive.

Missing Souluch is published with the support of the Association of American Publishers’ Freedom-to-Publish Committee, assisting in the publication of voices censored by the U.S. State Department’s ban on books from the “Axis of Evil.”

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This stark but engrossing portrait of contemporary rural Iran by Dowlatabadi, an acclaimed Iranian writer and outspoken proponent of artistic freedom, arrives under the auspices of the Association of American Publishers' Freedom to Publish Committee. A saga set in an isolated Iranian village, it concerns a family whose patriarch, Soluch, has recently disappeared, leaving his wife, two sons and one daughter desperate. The remaining family's struggle for survival runs smack up against a sinister plan from local wealthy landowners who are conspiring to usurp the remaining unclaimed land in the village—a barren, intractable plot known as "God's Land" that has been traditionally tended by the poor. The scheme divides the family, as Mergan, the matriarch, clings ferociously to her portion, while her sons, Abbas and Abrau, sell off theirs for petty change. At age 12, Hajer, the daughter, is forced to marry an older man for sustenance; she is bound and raped on her wedding night and thereafter imprisoned in her husband's home. Mergan, who is also raped, toils to keep her house in order for the day that her beloved Soluch returns. The story is relentless, but beautifully and incisively rendered, and imbued throughout with hope. (Apr.)
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About the Author

Mahmoud Dowlatabadi is one of Iran’s most important writers. The author of numerous novels, plays and screenplays, he is a leading proponent of social and artistic freedom in contemporary Iran. Dowlatabadi pioneered the use of the everyday language of the Iranian people as suitable for high literary art, and often examines the lives of the marginal and oppressed in his work.

Born in a remote farming region of Iran, his early life and teens were spent as an agricultural day laborer until he made his way to Tehran where he started working in the theater and began writing plays, stories and novels.

Though a dissident, he has been protected by the importance of his literary contribution and revered artistic stature, and he continues to be one of Iran’s most prolific and beloved writers. He has most recently stated that he will stop publishing his work until the climate of censorship lightens. He lives in Tehran. This is his first novel translated into English.

Product Details

• Paperback: 507 pages
• Publisher: Melville House (March 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933633115
• ISBN-13: 978-1933633114
• Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 1.4 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,470,737 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Iranian "Grapes of Wrath" must read., March 8, 2011

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This review is from: Missing Soluch (Paperback)

Missing Soluch is about the strength of a "grass widow" in a rural village in Iran who never gives up working hard to support her family and her inner belief that her missing husband is alive and will return some day. The language is poetic and the description of the environment captures the beauty and the harshness of the landscape. The variety of characters is a mirror of humanity in any culture, where survival is tenuous. Brutality and poverty are given a context in which love and compassion also appear like a will of the wisp.