Dakhmeh (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

An Iranian man whose family fled to America during the Iranian Revolution returns to his childhood home in this restrained but passionate novel by a first-time author writing under a pen name. Though Arash was just a boy when he came to the United States, he never felt comfortable there. His mother and sister beg him not to return to Iran, but when his mother dies, he buys a one-way ticket to Tehran. His dreamlike wanderings in the city and his musings on the problems of his fellow Iranians are recorded in a journal he keeps and also in a third-person narrative. This double-layered storytelling gives his otherwise bleak tale a gauzy, mythical aura. Upon his arrival in Tehran, he moves aimlessly about, losing himself in memories. He meets a woman and is with her for a while, but breaks things off when he decides that he is too unsettled to give her what she needs. He dreams of solving the country's problems, "having tasted freedom and knowing there was a better way," but is mocked when he speaks of his hopes for Iran. A modest, spontaneous gesture of revolt-he writes anti-regime messages on a succession of banknotes-lands him in prison, where he is tortured and suffers from tuberculosis. The investigator who tracks him down is a former revolutionary and feels a twisted sympathy for Arash. The muted ironies of Noori's tale are conveyed with delicacy and provide a sophisticated perspective on the plight of the Iranian people.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

a moving lament for what could have been -- Kirkus Reviews

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Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Toby Press; 1st English Language Ed edition (May 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 190288177X
• ISBN-13: 978-1902881775
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 7.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #407,536 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a must read for the revolution's children, December 9, 2003

By A Customer

I must admit that I initially picked up this book because of the author's name. What lured me into buying it was that fact that this is his/her nom de plume. I knew it had to be ripe with opinions to which one was not safe enough label with a name. I was right. I read the book during a bout of insomnia, and one night's lack of sleep led me so far in terms of identity that I am forever grateful to Mr. Noori. Whether you agree with his views or not, the author takes you on a journey of self that really hits "home" with Iranians living in the U.S. Being true to persian culture, the story is vivid and depressing but very real.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars dakhmeh - a dark and sad story, October 26, 2003

By	cynthia callaghan (Fresno, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I am drawn to books of the middle east, especially Iran. Naveed Noori, possibly wanting to avoid the Komiteh hurting him, uses a psuedonym in telling his story. Does this give you any inkling to how it is NOT okay to say negative things about the powers that be in Iran? Anyway, Noori weaves in and out from now - living and dying in a famous Iranian prison, the recent past - living in America and Tehran, and the far past as a child. He speaks of politics, the smell of foods, the sights of his home country, and how the revolution changed it all - except his love for his 'home'. i skipped over the page or two of the torture that Arash experienced in prison - i don't want that in my head. Excellent discription of the spiralling down from drug abuse and sickness....read it and learn more about the iranian mindset.

1.0 out of 5 stars A Literary Dud, April 28, 2006

By	Ernest Dempsey "http://ErnestDempsey.com" (Pakistan) - See all my reviews

Naveed Nori is an author's pseudonym now getting to be known for his novel Dakhmeh (Toby Press, USA, 2003). Noori's work is disturbing, antirevolutionary, and almost deliriously scornful toward Islamic totalitarianism in post revolutionary Iran.

Dakhmeh is the story of a young, irreligious man, Arash whose nostalgic compulsion drives him back to Iran, his home country that his family fled during the war of Islamic Revolution. The misery of post revolutionary Iranian life shatters his idealistic picture of life in his country and he ends up as a political prisoner somewhere between sanity and madness.

From the first page, the text of the book hits the reader as poorly written, egotistical, and sloppy. The story lacks a clear point and character development is null. Narration is mostly incoherent with alternating first person and omniscient modes, both abruptly truncating. Too much of personal pique shows on every page till the end. Even conversation between the vaguely portrayed characters feel like formal interviews, all leading to a prefigured viewpoint.

Certainly the author has plucked a significant string in the history of politics and societal transformation. His (?) criticism of media and cruel treatment of all creatures outside the fundamentalist's circle are of appeal to the humanistic mind. Still, Noori fails badly as a novelist. The motives of his (?) protagonist are diffused and Arash's obsession with socio political change is utterly boring. Lack of meaning in the protagonist's experiences is disappointingly manifest. His vindictive bitterness pours out on leaders and historical figures alike, childishly with little thought or coherence of ideas. The intended audience of the author is also hard to imagine.

In general, Dakhmeh is a frumpy text of sloppily worked political history and social dilapidation. After Arash contracts a prostitute, we read him asking himself `Where was I heading?' A reader's wish might well be `If only the author had asked himself (?) the same question before setting out to write this book.'