The ten stories in Veils take place in present-day Iran or in the United States where Iranian immigrants face alien ways. Teheran’s ancient Ghanat Abad Avenue, with its labyrinth of narrow streets and alleys, loosely links the stories into a single narrative: some residents leave as soon as they can, others can live nowhere else. The men and women in these spare and sensuous narratives who are caught in the confusing whirl of changing cultures sometimes meet with failure but more often transcend difficult circumstances to gain deeper self-knowledge.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
These 10 stories by Rachlin ( Foreigner ) track unhappy Iranians who reside in their native country or live as expatriates in America. In "Fanatics," Manijeh, who feels she has escaped from a dangerously sexist society to an American university where some students are restless and depressed, learns that her best friend in Teheran has died in a suicide attack on the Ministry of Education. In Iran, the protagonists of "The Poet's Visit," two schoolgirls, become rivals for the attentions of a famous writer, and a girl in "Rahbar" wonders if her aunt's estranged husband is a murderer. The eponymous protagonist of "Fatemeh" tries to get her son exempted from the Iranian army, where he is likely to die a martyr's death, and searches for her daughter, who years before vanished with her abusive ex-husband. An American law student in "Forces of Attraction" is puzzled by the behavior of her new boyfriend, an Iranian doctor practicing in Manhattan, who is alternately attentive and remote and depressed. Although flatly executed and underdeveloped, the stories will interest some readers for the authentic glimpses they offer of a foreign, often closed society.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
Nahid Rachlin highlights the details of the everyday life of Iranians and people whose paths have crossed with Iranians. The commonalities of life, wherever it's lived, shine through in these tales of family, friendship, love, and war, offering perspectives on how cultural influences create different expectations of life. The characters and narrators of these stories include young teenagers, single and remarried women, mothers who don't want to lose their sons to wars, and older women, widowed and wise, still learning from life. "The Calling" tells of Mohtaram, a widow who moved to the United States to be near her children, and Narghes, her sister who is finally visiting from Iran. With this visit Mohtaram sees her life through her sister's eyes and comes to unexpected decisions: "Memories hit her again, more strongly and vividly in the dark...She wished she could break out of the prison of this new self, and be reborn into the old one." These are rarely stories of great hope or laughter; the pain in them is palpable and universal. They are stories of strength and endurance that continually remind us how fragile our outer shell can be, how deep love can be felt, and how strong the influence of home is, wherever home may be. -- For great reviews of books for girls, check out Let's Hear It for the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14. -- From 500 Great Books by Women; review by Holly Smith
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More About the Author
BRIEF BIO http://www.nahidrachlin.com
Nahid Rachlin attended Columbia University MFA program on a Doubleday-Columbia Fellowship and then went on to Stanford University MFA program on a Stegner Fellowship. Her publications include a memoir, PERSIAN GIRLS (Penguin), four novels, JUMPING OVER FIRE (City Lights), FOREIGNER (W.W. Norton), MARRIED TO A STRANGER (E.P.Dutton), THE HEART'S DESIRE (City Lights), and a collection of short stories, VEILS (City Lights). Her individual stories have appeared in about fifty magazines. One of her stories was produced by Symphony Space, "Selected Shorts" and was aired on NPR radio stations around the country.
Her work has received favorable reviews in major magazines and newspapers and translated into Portuguese, Dutch, Arabic, and Farsi. She has written reviews and essays for New York Times, Newsday, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times. She received many awards, including the Bennet Cerf Award, PEN Syndicated Fiction Project Award, and a National Endowment for the Arts grant.
She has been interviewed in magazines such as Poets & Writers and AWP Writers Chronicle, and TV such as Channel 13, and on NPR's such as Fresh Air, Terry Gross, All Things Considered.
Read a recent review of PERSIAN GIRLS: http://www.brooklyntoday.info/features/465-persian-girls.html
Nahid Rachlin attended Columbia University MFA program on a Doubleday-Columbia Fellowship and then went on to Stanford University MFA program on a Stegner Fellowship. Her publications include a memoir, PERSIAN GIRLS (Penguin), four novels, JUMPING OVER FIRE (City Lights), FOREIGNER (W.W. Norton), MARRIED TO A STRANGER (E.P.Dutton), THE HEART'S DESIRE (City Lights), and a collection of short stories, VEILS (City Lights). Her individual stories have appeared in about fifty magazines. One of her stories was produced by Symphony Space, "Selected Shorts" and was aired on NPR radio stations around the country.
Her work has received favorable reviews in major magazines and newspapers and translated into Portuguese, Dutch, Arabic, and Farsi. She has written reviews and essays for New York Times, Newsday, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times. She received many awards, including the Bennet Cerf Award, PEN Syndicated Fiction Project Award, and a National Endowment for the Arts grant.
She has been interviewed in magazines such as Poets & Writers and AWP Writers Chronicle, and TV such as Channel 13, and on NPR's such as Fresh Air, Terry Gross, All Things Considered.
Read a recent review of PERSIAN GIRLS: http://www.brooklyntoday.info/features/465-persian-girls.html
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best collection of short stories I've ever read.,
By A Customer
This review is from: Veils: Short Stories (Paperback)
Nahid Rachlin's five star Veils is collection of masterpieces. Each short story in the collection is perfectly and precisely crafted in beautiful and moving prose. The characters and the relationships among them are fascinating as they are cleverly "unveiled" in each story. Nahid Rachlin is a brilliant writer. I plan to read everything she publishes and so should you.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Insight into cross-cultural tensions,
By
This review is from: Veils: Short Stories (Paperback)
The writing in these stories is not bad - its merely satisfactory, publishable writing like many others. The character development in these stories is not bad, nor is the plot; but there is nothing about character or plot that would make you read these stories rather than any of the other satisfactory short story collections published recently.However, Ms. Rachlin is very successful at one aspect that makes these stories well worth your time - the portrayal of the internal cultural dilemmas that motivates Iranians to go abroad, stay abroad, return home and/or stay home. "Fanatics" contrasts a scholarship student who 'escapes' abroad to a richer friend who stays in Iran and becomes politically active. "Fatemeh" explores a woman who stays in Iran but feels oppressed - her son subject to draft and her daughter lost to divorce. "Rahbar" explores an Iranian in the West recalling her aunt's marriage to a possible criminal. "The Calling" explores two sisters - one, a widow, who has joined her adult children in the US; one who has remained very tradition-bound in Iran. The Iranian's visit to her US sister reminds her of what she has given up and question what she has gained. In each story the characters' inner conflict has a ring of truth which often forces introspection on the part of the reader.
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Don't waste your time,
By Animal Lover (USA) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Veils: Short Stories (Paperback)
I have recently purchased "Veils" after reading the reviews of this book. What a disappointment! This is one of the worst books I have ever read. The stories lack creativity and sparks. Don't waste your time and money purchasing this book. Not worth it.
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