Customer Reviews

To See and See Again: A Life in Iran and America

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I really enjoyed reading this book. I'm a "full blooded" Iranian who has spent almost her entire life in the US and I learned a lot about how difficult it is to be "do-rageh" as a child, a teen and as an adult. I have some friends who are mixed and I understand their situations a little bit better now.

I didn't always agree with how the author represented how it is to be Iranian and sometimes I was a little angry with her but on the other hand, she did an excellent job demystifying Iranians and the Persian culture. I just came back from Iran a few months ago and a lot of the sights and smells that she describes in her book brought back a lot of good memories from my trip.

I hope she explores this subject further.

I have no personal connections to Iranian culture but I was absolutely enthralled in this book. Bahrampour's vivid descriptions remind you of your own childhood. The book is written for those who don't know a whole lot about the culture, and she does an excellent job of making you feel as though the culture is your own. This book made me want to visit Iran and learn even more about the culture.

I haven't read a book for a long time that opened up so many worlds to me as this one did. It made me want to read much more about Iran. Like many Americans, before reading this account of a life lived between Iran and America, I knew little about life in Iran, and even less about the life of women there. I had no idea what a rich and fascinating culture it was. The author writes so well---and one thing I really liked was the balance between this being a book about her and her life and about the culture in general. Some books become like an excuse for self-analysis, and others like a disguised history book, but this one hit just the right balance. I hope I will read more some day by this talented writer.

This is the true story of an Iranian woman and her life in the culture chasm that results when someone grows up between America and another country. The story is a common one, it's general theme littering the pages of scores of books at your local bookstore. That doesn't make it hard to read. On the contrary, To See and See Again is an easy read that both entertains and, at times, intrigues. Overall however, this book is another step in the grand staircase of stories written about one's struggle to locate a home on the planet. At it's heart, To See and See Again is a sort of cry for help, in an attempt to work out the sense of loss she feels as she grows up in a culture that isn't everything she expects it to be.

This book could probably be used in a case study of cross-culture living, especially when the two cultures are so at odds with each other as what we see here. From America to Iran and back to America or, to see and see America Again, the author goes through the rigors which leave her with a lack of home, a lack of a base, and a lack of something to fall back on. While the title is meant to use the Iranian expression typifying the author's seeing Iran then seeing Iran again, the reality missed even by her is that this sense of loss is caused by the exact opposite phenomenon. Had she ended up in Iran, more than likely these feelings of loss would never have happened. America would have held no hold on her, other than a faster and more flashy sense of living. In her heart, it would have been easy to cast aside the lure of America since it did not hold anything for her to go "home" to. Instead, the opposite is the case, and she is left in a sort of limbo today.

The subject and overall feeling of the author is something I occasionally see in my own world, as my wife lived in Taiwan until the age of 10 and now lives in America with only her mother and father living here part-time. Her sense of family is a scant one, with her 50+ cousins and numerous aunts and uncles all in Taiwan. The book highlights the author's struggle in the same vein, her disconnect between 2 cultures sometimes seamless, sometimes problematic. I can attest to the very real nature of these emotions.

All in all the book does a decent job of telling her story, but too often it falls into a droning narrative speaking of the pity she has for her loss. The book started with flying colors for me. But it later bogged down when she returned to Iran, apparently struggling to overcome the separation of that homecoming to what she has in America. What starts as a nice narrative soon slogs down in verbose descriptions of elements not key to the narrative as a whole. Descriptions of random family members blur together so that before long it's hard to remember who is who.

The book is decent but fails to live up to expectations. What starts as a riveting narrative fizzles into the overdone story of cross-culture existence, where home is always a fleeting memory. I still think the book is worth reading. But if you want to get a real cross-section of the Iranian perspective in America, or vice versa, this isn't going to meet those needs.

when i began dating an iranian man, i began a quest for any knowledge, information, even photographs that might clue me into this passionate and complex culture. taraneh bahrampour does a beautiful job weaving her dissonance AND love with both the american AND iranian cultures. i couldn't put the book down because of the constant 'aha' moments that let me in, if only briefly, to the subtlties, the oddities, the beauty, the symbolism of these two worlds. thank you.

It gave me a great insight and appreciation of Iranian culture. I am Irish but I could empathize with the autor's bi-cultural problems. Also, the descriptions of her older relatives - their superstition, fear of strangers, love of the land, reminded me of some of my family. I would have liked a glossary of Iranian terms and also a genealogical tree to keep those relatives straight!

For those interested in Iran, Tara Bahrampour gives a wonderful view of her loved homeland which she lived as a child. She describes delightfully her older childhood years in American and then has inciteful descriptions when she returned to Iran as a young woman. Her Iranian family is warm and interesting. I feel I know Iran better after reading her book. I especially like her use of Farsi words throughout her book. John J. Casalino

I wasn't really that impressed with the book. It was pretty descriptive which some people might find annoying but as I read the book in one sitting it just made it more colorfull for me. Through the book I was expecting her to interpert some of the events in her life but all she did was describe them. When she is embarassed by her dad or when she is teased by other students in her school I was expecting her to draw something from it, give a conclusion. At the end the book echos her mother's sentiment when ask "which is better Iran or the US ?" Tara's book simply says both without bothering to look any deeper.

I immigrated from Israel with my parents when I was almost 4. I read "To See and See Again" on the recommendation of another child of immigrants, also not from Iran. I related to Tara's sense of not really fitting in, not speaking Farsi well enough to be considered completely Iranian and often not feeling totally at home among full-blooded Americans. Though I noticed that most other reviewers were Iranian, I think that this book deserves a wider audience. Ms. Bahrampour's prose is beautifully descriptive and never boring. I also learned a great deal about the Iranian revolution from a very personal and meaningful perspective. My memories of the 1979 demonstrations by Iranian students on my own college campus were finally better understood and put into context.

This beautifully written book pulled tears from my eyes, laughter from my mouth, and feelings from my heart. Many thanks to the author for encapsulating her family's personal story and sharing it with the world. I completed the book in less than two days, unable to set it down, and now I cannot wait to enjoy it again hoping I can identify with something I did not before. I'm eagerly awaiting Tara Bahrampour to captivate the world with a sequel.