Customer Reviews

My Name Is Iran: A Memoir

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I fell in love with "Reading Lolita in Tehran" and nearly ran to Powell's to buy this book when I heard an NPR interview with the author. I thought to myself, "fantastic! someone torn between both cultures that can provide insights into the US and Iran as an insider and an outsider!" Right?

I read over the first few pages, standing in the bookstore aisle, and thought to myself, "perhaps this matter-of-fact style will transform to a narrative style in subsequent chapters" and bought the book for $24.99. It didn't. Every major event in this book is framed in the most simplistic terms, often without explanation. It's almost as though the author has a grocery list that she's checking off next to her computer as she's typing. "I returned Iran. I married a strange man. It was different. Life was good. I cooked chicken. He didn't believe I could cook chicken. I had a baby. Then, life wasn't so good. Then, we moved to America. I had another baby. Things were okay in America. Then, my husband left." Obviously, this is a gross exaggeration, but I couldn't agree more with the New York Times opinion:

"By turns fascinating and frustrating, Ms. Ardalan's memoir is a case study of a book in desperate need of an editor. While compelling portraits of relatives are left curiously truncated and incomplete, the volume is padded with clumsily written, New Agey asides that should have been left on the cutting-room floor."

Where are the editors? Who published this book? There is a lovely story lurking somewhere beneath the awkward writing. The lack of editing is criminal.

The story, however, was quite engaging. Initially, I picked up this book with great anticipation. By the third or fourth sitting, I began to dread the simplistic prose and mockingly read aloud particularly poor passages to my husband. The story barely kept me engaged through the end. Because I empathize with the author, I'm hesitant to blame her here. I think she has a fascinating life and could have written a terribly interesting book.

Sooo, caveat lector, it's a good story, but poorly, poorly written. I'd be interested to see if the publisher couldn't completely republish the book. Does this ever happen?

This book is poorly edited, and not very effective. The author's story is not that fantastic that it can stand on it's own, and as a producer for NPR, she's just not that interesting. She spends so much time tip toeing around anything that might cast her family in a bad light, that the book feels half baked.
Yes, she went back and forth from Iran a couple of times and had a couple of bad marriages, but so what? She should have written the book about any single one of her ancestors, each of which had a more interesting life than she did.

Iran has a story to tell, story of a young woman coming to understand who she is and within that context I appreciated the book. I did not care for her need to name drop on so much of the book to establish her identity. At some point in the book Iran feels the need to mention that the grand father of the neighbor of her niece was someone important in US Navy and somehow unsuccessfully she tries to establish a link from there to her present partner. Some of these kinds of name dropping and her need to mention them seem completely out of place and takes away from her story. Over all it is an average book.

I can not agree more with the reviewer -errrrrrrrrrrrrin Portland-.I still love to read books written by Iranian authors. What is interesting to me that you see more and more Iranian American women writing about their lifes, but I have not found one written by an Iranian American man.

The writer, an NPR reporter turned author and I'm afraid her effort is less than interesting or rich. Her story is really no more interesting or important than that of any other Iranian who fled Iran and now lives in exile. She can, by no means whatsoever be compared to a literary talent like Azar Nafisi and I recommend lots of other Iranian writers over Ms. Ardalan any day of the week.

The life story of Davar Ardalan is simply amazing. I only wish her editor had done more to make the text flow smoothly.

At a time when tensions between the Muslim world and the United States are strained at best, it is good to see a book that talks of Iran in terms of life at an ordinary level. In this book, a woman returns to Iran where she was born in an attempt to live life as a traditional Muslim, wearing a chador and agreeing to an arranged marriage.

Even more interesting is the fact that in so doing, she was following in the footsteps of her ancesters who had made a similar journey. In part this is the report on a personal journey, a coming of age book where her vision of an ancestral home was destroyed by the reality of life in a country rules not by law but by religious zealots who have literally the power of life and death. After this somewhat strange start on her life, Ms. Ardalan was able to return to this country, complete college and move on to a career in journalism.

The book is written rather matter-of-factly but reading between the lines there is a lot about life in Iran, in the Muslim world and brings a better understanding of what the world is all about.

From an American perspective, Iran is a far-off desert land filled with oil fields and industry. Iran's rich history dates back thousands of years nearly to the beginning of civilization. Yet, we know so little about Iranian lifestyles, cultures and religions. To many, their people and their lives are a mystery to us. Interested in learning more about the country once known as Persia? Let me suggest an excellent place to start.

Born in the United States to Iranian parents, Davar Ardalan is the perfect tour guide to this part of the world. Her fascinating biography, `My Name is Iran' has both literal and figurative meaning. Her proper first name actually is `Iran.' What a fine ambassador she would make for either country.

Davar's book chronicles her quest seeking a true and self-satisfying identity. Her complicated and tumultuous life has seen her morph between a modern American woman and a subservient Iranian willingly locked into an arranged marriage. Her book follows her long search for a place to comfortably rest her soul. Although the perspective is from a personal point of view, Davan's biography also serves as an authoritarian primer about life in Iran.

She has adopted many, many places as her home. A very complicated and diverse life she has led. Davan comes from an enormous family that was very influential in the establishment of modern society in Iran. Several family members of her generation migrated to The United States in search of a richer life. All have experimented with lifestyles both traditional and modern. Some chose one; others chose both. Davan could not decide.

As you read, you will understand how her deep heritage in the Middle East has altered the direction of her life. She seems nearly taunted by both sides of her fence. During most of her young adult years, Davan could not resolve where to go or how to ultimately live. You feel her struggle. Her understanding of both her cultures is so full. If she could only embrace one to call her own!

'My Name Is Iran' is filled with many studious footnotes further explaining the history and the stories behind the many people mentioned in her tales. The book is a masterwork. Not only is Davan a great student of her family's legacy and homeland, she shows sensitivity to her readers with in-depth explanations providing all the background you may need to understand her life in whole. Her tireless work has created a gem which may open her ancestral world to an audience otherwise blind to all of Iran's cultural wealth. It is an unusual and interesting read.

This is not a dry and dusty history book. The tone is personal and passionate. Much is to be read about Davan's personal life: her two marriages (one to a second cousin,) her children, the beloved members of her family and all the things that bubble and cook in her pot of life. What a cast of characters are to be found in all her relatives! Follow her life as she matures from a young girl to a woman immersed in American culture. Later, she returns with conviction to a harshly structured lifestyle. In the end, she becomes a producer and correspondent for National Public Radio working with renowned journalists like Jacki Lyden and Daniel Zwerdling. Quite an amazing life!

Invest some time and read this book. You will begin to understand the spirit within the souls of Davan's people. She'll take you to the site of Solomon's Mosque, the Alborz Mountains and the lands once ruled by Cyrus the Great. Learn about her father's renowned architectural blending of styles both old and new. Feel the excitement in a place half way around the world. Will she ever find balance between the two distinct cultures of America and Iran? Davan offers much to discover. Her pages combine into a journey you won't forget. Salam!

I know that a journalist is suppose to write only about facts when describing an event; However, I do expect more from a memoir, especially if it is written by a journalist. I cannot believe that one can go through life without coming with an insight of who she is, and what she stands for. From the book she appears as if she has no control over her destiny, she just follow the flow with no question of who she is. For her last page she justify herself through her boy-friend who tells her that he loves her, not through a realization of who she is, or what her name Iran means to her.
Bette Davis, with only high school level education, came much more genuine in her book, than Ms Ardalan. She was shallow, and she did not try to pretend to be anything more than than. While Ms. Ardalan is shallow but pretend to have depth.

After writing a whole book on searching for identity, it surprises me to see that the author has not managed a true self acceptance and published her book not under her first name Iran (as she has done thru most of her life).

This reminds me of the author of the "Funny in Farsi", Firoozeh Dumas, that seized the opportunity to cash in her "persian" memories but in reality distances herself from all that is Iranian.