Customer Reviews

Neither East Nor West: One Woman's Journey Through the Islamic Republic of Iran

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"I went to Iran to flirt with my childhood. I went to Iran to court the unknown. I went to Iran to see the effects of the Islamic Revolution for myself." Thus, begins Christiane Bird's engrossing journey through today's Iran. As Bird notes, "Pre-or post-Islamic revoution Iran has always been a cipher to the West." Indeed, much of what Americans know about Iran is from the political headlines of the 1980s and the dour picture that emerged from them. In this very readable book, Bird demystifies this fascinating country. Bird, who spent some of her early childhood in Iran in the 1960s, returned to view this politically changed land through adult eyes. She walks us through the streets filled with shrouded women, through bazaars where merchants wield financial and political power, through religious shrines teeming with pilgrims, and through cities and small villages where we glimpse the everyday lives of Iranian families. As she travels around this complex country, we learn about how Iranians have adapted to some of the more restrictive changes brought about by the revolution. For example, we learn how they cope with and often circumvent the "Big Brother" watchfulness of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance which monitors the media, tourism, education, and just about all aspects of Iranian life. As Bird points out, "Every Iranian lives in two worlds--the public and the private. The public is for wearing dark colors, obeying the laws of Islamic society and generally presenting a serious and pious face to the world. The private is for wearing bright colors, laughing and socializing with family and friends, and quiet contemplation and prayer." It's interesting to note that the private, particularly in middle and upper class families in large cities, sometimes includes watching banned TV shows, wearing miniskirts, drinking alcohol and even criticizing the government. Along the way, Bird introduces us to the variety of Iranians--shopkeepers, housewives, university students, ayatollahs, religious pilgrims, bathhouse keepers. As she explores the historical, political and cultural landscape, she paints vivid pictures--a congested downtown Mashad, the "gray, worn town" of Sanandaj, a colorful wedding in a Kurdish village, the religious center of Qom. Neither East Nor West offers insightful glimpses into Iran, well beyond the stereotypes we've all been accustomed to think in. It's a great read for the traveler, the armchair traveler, and anyone who is interested in this part of the world.

This insightful and warmly written work was a pleasure to read, to the degree that I was sorry to have it end. The style of writing invites a cup of tea and blanket as it reads like a story rather than a strictly factual travelogue. Intelligently written, it serves to educate and enthrall the reader. This wordsmith (Bird) sent me to my dictionary several times! The people and places are so richly described and certainly come to life, so much that I would love to really know and see them. For we Americans, it is a wonderful opportunity to more fully understand the Iranian culture, and clarifies some of the differences in religions and political alliances. It gives such insight into the many stratums of their society. It gives such humanity to the Iranian people without being obsequious or naive to their faults. This would be a great choice for book clubs to read!

I've read several personal-point-of-view books about Iran recently, and I have a lot of respect for this one. I rate it as an honest book because Ms. Bird is very clear about her personal standards, background and feelings and where they come from. She doesn't pretend to be objective; she's giving one person's perspective. In particular, she includes her own reactions even when she knows that readers will find them unsympathetic. How much more can you ask?

I enjoyed reading it very much, and I think many others will find it an interesting view of an interesting country

In some ways this might be described as a middle class travel guide to Iran. I say this because of the obvious differance between this book and one endorsed on the review page earlier called Honeymoon in Purdah (please see my review of that book) which to me was a more informal expedition/book. I feel in some ways Ms. Bird got a more realistic impression of Iran and Iranians, though I can't really fault either author. These are a very complex people whom I felt after 3 1/2 years of intimate association with them that I knew a LITTLE bit about, so am impressed that these two women learned so much about them in so little time. This book is very well researched and written and is a good source to learn about Iranian history, culture and it's people. I was very gratified to learn that Amrikayeh is not a univeral swear word in Iran, reading these books makes me want to go back.

I picked this up off the shelf because I am fascinated by Iran and I was looking for something beyond the traditional travel guide. What a worthy investment! Like Elaine Sciolino's Persian Mirrors, this book really illustrates the complexity of contemporary Iranian culture and makes us appreciate the beauty of its people and landscape. Ms. Bird also does an excellent job of explaining some of the history and cultural mores that many people do not understand about Iran. Even if you're not interested in Iranian society so much, pick this up as a lover of travelogues, and you won't be sorry!

Bird's writing effectively explores many of the complexities of today's Iran. It is immediately engaging because it is written on the backdrop of her living her early childhood years in Tabriz and on her parents memories. We are whisked away to her yearning to return to those years. But, this is not a naive traveler. Bird presents us with a superbly written and literate description of her travels. Bird allows us to see firsthand her encounters both with Iran, and with her some of her own preconceived "American" notions of Iran. The detailed descriptions allow one to vividly visualize her travels.

Bird provides an even handed view of the Islamic Republic that is not often available in most United States media. Her description of the status of Iranian women and her musings of the societal norms required of women in America offer an insightful comparison. Although lengthy, the book never lags. Each page leads you to want to travel further through this beautiful land. Bird has managed to intertwine the excitement of travel, with the rich history of the region and keeps it a page turner.

The lovely and bright American Christiane Bird's descriptive account of her late-1990's exploratory trip into Iran, where her father once worked as a physician, is partly a travelogue (in the good sense of the term) and partly a report on conditions in what remains into its third decade an Islamic republic. Bird's accounts are much more centered upon the people she meets in Iran than they are on the geography, architecture and the like, and the book is the better for that. Above all else Bird concentrates on women in modern Iran, and tells of the progress they've managed to make even in the face of repressive legislation that still places them very much in the category of second-class citizens. Her time spent among female university students from wealthy northern Tehran, young women who have lived the entirety of their lives knowing no other system of government than that of the late Ayatollah Khomeini's fundamentalist regime, was the best part of this book. In private many of these women dress, think and act in astonishingly western ways and in public have hopes of entering fields few westerners would feel are open to Iranian women, including medicine and even management of some of Iran's largest corporations. But as Bird also shows, Iran remains a police state in which violations of Islamic law can and routinely do merit Medieval punishments. Iran is a nation filled with underlying dissent, radicalism, hate, and a noticeable inferiority complex. It is also a place where for good or otherwise family ties carry over into multi-generational extensions beyond anything seen in our fragmented American homes.

If there is one thing I'll note as a possible criticism of Bird's incredibly interesting book it is her willingness to excuse all the "Death to America!" rhetoric she encounters among Iranians of all ages and backgrounds. As I read and re-read her descriptions of even the most progressive college students engaging in this chant, a national institution it seems, I could never quite decide if Bird was brushing this attitude off as harmless noise, or if she was truly telling it like it was when she'd write of how students and everyday Iranians would almost apologetically tell her, "Oh, it's nothing personal, we hate your evil government, not you as an American." Maybe Iranians truly feel that way, but hasn't it been attitude of bigots through time to claim to hate a race, or religion, or a people, and yet to love certain individuals within it?

There's no denying Iran is a richly textured nation with an intricately layered culture and many perfectly kind and good people within it, and Bird showed that very well, but I do wonder how far Americans or anyone in today's global society can go in excusing citizens of a country whose favorite collective chant calls for the destructive of another nation. All that aside, I have never read a book that made me feel more like I was actually experiencing today's Iran first-hand. Christiane Bird is great!

I loved this book on Iran. It was like going on a leisurely trip to a fascinating place with the best of travel companions. Christiane Bird is a thoughtful, witty, extremely well-informed writer who filled in exactly what I wanted to know of the backstory for every event of the trip: the history and politics, the philosophy, the poetry and architecture. She notices and muses about the nuances and diversity of Iranian culture in a way that made me feel smarter and more perceptive just for having read her book (as if her intelligence and human warmth could be contagious!) She gets my vote for "Author I'd most like to have dinner with".

As a native of Iran, I could feel Bird's experience and how powerful she takes the reader through every corner and steps of Perspolis in Shiraz. She presents so much memorable and powerful details in her observations. While some parts were hard for me to believe, nevertheless, overall it presents a great first hand American experience in new Iran.

While Bird was in Iran for only few months, I could not resist thinking if she was allowed to stay for more than a year, she would have been there much longer than that. I think she is in love with Iranians, but she just doesn't come out and say it.

Christiane Bird demonstrates exceptional talent and writing skills by in making her account of her journey spanning several months in Iran exceptionally interesting and informative.

Iran is interesting and fascinating to most Americans because we know very little about the country except that America has a strained relationship with the country and that its Islamic government and culture provide a sharp contrast to conditions in the United States. Ms. Bird dons the traditional dress for Islamic women and proceeds to travel extensively in both the urban and rural areas of this large country. Throughout her journey she is a guest in the homes of Iranian friends and acquaintances or travels alone.

Christiane makes outstanding use of simile, metaphor, action words and subtle humor to make her account an easy and interesting read. In the process she provides us with a rare and valuable, person-to-person insight in to the Islamic religion and the people of Iran. Her descriptions of Islam are objective and insightful. Her situation provides a unique opportunity to explore the role of women in the Muslim society. In the end she finds that the Iranian people hold incongruous feelings of both admiration and condemnation for both the Western and Iranian culture and government.

This book will make the "Best Reads of the Year" list of most non-fiction readers.