Customer Reviews

Moonlit Garden (Bagh-e-Mahtabi)

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When I started to read Moonlit Garden by Kamshad Kooshan, I was expecting a morbid and convoluted series of stories, that is so predominant in the Iranian writers living outside of Iran. To my surprise, these stories provoked a part of my mind which thinks in Persian and was hungry for imaginative and exhilirating story telling. To his credit, Mr. Kooshan has captured a rythum in his stories that is quite in line with us living in the west.

I have been thinking about myself and other Americans of Iranian descent who live in the States and how as we stay here longer, we become more and more distance from the lyrical Persian Language. I yearn for something that is new, both in style and in form, and the issues and ideas it revolves around. The first story, a picture in the corner of the mirror is a marvel about the hectic lives we all live and how we deal with identity, as men and women, but more importantly as human beings.

The most important story of the collection, in my opinion is Shadows which is parallel stories of two families, one man is confronted with his wife in Coma and a younger man is heading on an unreturnable journey. Through love, though the chips fall where they should.

I strongly recommend this book for both its subjects and for its great writing.

I fully enjoyed the flowing writing style of the writer. The stories, specially, Saayeha, is one of the best short stories I have read in the past few years. I look forward to other stories by Kooshan.