Persian Girls: A Memoir (Hardcover)

by Nahid Rachlin (Author)
Key Phrases: black chador, New York, Pahlavi Avenue, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
This lyrical and disturbing memoir by the author of four novels (Foreigner, etc.) tells the story of an Iranian girl growing up in a culture where, despite the Westernizing reforms of the Shah, women had little power or autonomy. As an infant in 1946, Rachlin was given to her mother's favorite sister, a widow who had been unable to conceive, and was lovingly raised among supportive widows who took refuge in religion from their frustrations as women in an oppressive society. But at the age of nine, Rachlin's father, whom she barely knew, met her at school without warning and brought her to Ahvaz to live with her birth family. Miserable in the new household, young Nahid was befriended by her American movie–obsessed sister Pari. Both sisters developed artistic ambitions, but only Nahid managed to escape the typical female fate, convincing her father to send her to college in the U.S. Less lucky is Pari, whose life of arranged marriage, divorce from an abusive husband and estrangement from her son ends in depression and early death. Exuding the melancholy of an outsider, this memoir gives American readers rare insight into Iranians' ambivalence toward the United States, the desire for American freedom clashing with resentment of American hegemony. (Oct. 5)
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Review
Nahid's life plays out against a backdrop of tragedy. She has escaped to America, but she's lost so much of what she loved...the author doesn't comment directly on the meaning of these events. She just tells the tales of individuals crushed. This is just a story of how it was, during a certain period of time, for one upper-middle-class family in Iran, destroyed from within and without by forces it couldn't begin to reckon with. -- Carolyn See, The Washington Post

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Tarcher (October 5, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585425206
• ISBN-13: 978-1585425204
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #74,883 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Triumphant and a Must Read for Women, October 4, 2007

By	J. A Carty "jkcarty" (Charlotte, NC United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I read "Persian Girls" very quickly. I think this was in large part due to the simplicity, yet power, of the writing. The only complaint I have with the memoir is that at times it felt that there was something under the surface that the author still could not say about her relationships with the women in her life. There is a feeling of non-resolution, but--strangely enough--I also felt the author was comfortable with that ambiguity.

I think all women should read this book, especially women in America. I already knew a good bit about the repression of women in other countries but the simple, straightforward matter in which Rachlin recounts her life is one that will be easy for anyone to read. Easy in the reading, but sad in the subject matter.

There is probably a lot that could be said about this memoir but for me--on a personal note--I came away wanting to know more about the Iranian women I have known throughout my life (my uncle married an Iranian woman) and what brought them to this country. Did they ever see their families after they left? How much of their culture do they still feel drawn to etc?

Nothing works like good non-fiction to get me thinking about myself and what I bring to the world.

Good read. (I read over the span of two flights, so I would suggest it for a plane read for sure!)

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just finished Nahid Rachlin's fascinating memoir..., April 3, 2007

By	C. Betker "Steeny of WaterColor Enchantment" (delavan, wisconsin USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Well, Mrs. Rachlin has gained another fan.
I was just mesmerized with the weave of her writings, in "Persian Girls". A fascinating depiction of the life, culture and traditions in Iran as she experienced them, and how they related to and affected her family and friends.
I reccomend this book as a good read.

Thank you Nahid Rachlin...

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars BOLD, UPLIFTING MEMOIR, January 9, 2007

By	I. Appleton "i appleton" (Northern California, USA) - See all my reviews

After chancing upon a diminuative author reading a startlingly gutsy memoir to a bookstore audience, I ordered and read for myself the courageous adventures of Ms. Rachlin. The author's uncompromising rebelliousness coupled with her intense love for a sister and an aunt fuels the book. Bejeweled with many Iranian cultural details, (foods, fabrics, flowers, fountains, families, etc.), lovingly and simply described and set at the menacing center of turbulent historical and individual events, Nahid Rachlin has forged a spare, luminous memoir of human sorrows and victories. I think other readers will wish, as I did, that the book was longer.