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Pablo F. Fenjves

Afschineh Latifi

Even After All This Time: A Story of Love, Revolution, and Leaving Iran Hardcover – March 29, 2005

by Afschineh Latifi (Author), Pablo F. Fenjves (Author)

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At the age of ten, a young Iranian girl witnesses the horror of her father's execution and escapes the revolution with her sister.

Growing up in Tehran in the 1970s, Afschineh Latifi and her sister and two brothers enjoyed a life of luxury and privilege. Their father, a self–made man, had worked his way up from nothing to become a colonel in the Shah's army, and their mother, a woman of equally modest roots, had made a career for herself as a respected schoolteacher. But in February, 1979, Colonel Latifi was arrested by members of the newly installed Khomeini regime, and publicly pilloried as an "Enemy of God." Some months later, after having been shunted from one prison cell to another, and without benefit of a legitimate trial, Colonel Latifi was summarily executed. Fearing for the safety of her children, Mrs. Latifi made a wrenching decision: to send her daughters, ages ten and eleven, to the west, splitting up the family until they could safely reunite. Out on their own, Afschineh and her sister, Afsaneh, were forced to become strong young women before they'd even had a childhood.

Even After All This Time is a story of hope and heartache, a story of a family torn apart for six harrowing years, and finally coming together to rebuild in America. In the richly evocative tradition of the bestselling Reading Lolita in Tehran, this is a story of a family that had the courage to dream impossible dreams and to make them come true against impossible odds.

Print length

336 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Harper
Publication date

March 29, 2005
Dimensions

6 x 1.17 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

0060745339
ISBN-13

978-0060745332
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"Be like a nail!" Latifi's mother would scold when the author cried. These words are a testament to the grit Latifi displays throughout this wonderful memoir. The author was 10 and her sister 11 in May 1979, when their father, a military officer under the Shah, was executed by Khomeini's soldiers. Only 34, their mother was left to raise four young children (she also had two sons) in a newly fundamentalist society hostile to women. At first, the girls "loved putting on the chadors. It felt like Halloween." But when a villager started bidding on marrying Latifi's then 13-year-old sister, their mother knew they had to leave. Yet visas were routinely denied, passports arbitrarily confiscated. Still, Mrs. Latifi managed to take her daughters to Austria, where they attended a convent school (the boys remained in Tehran). The year in Austria was disastrous; the girls unwittingly spent the family's savings trying to overcome their loneliness. America was the next solution; there, the girls lived with relatives in Virginia and learned to take care of each other. Things turned out all right—the family was finally reunited, the children all chose good careers. Unlike many Iranian memoirs, most of this one takes place outside the country. Still, it's a remarkable, resonating tale. Photos. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Similar in tone to Reading Lolita in Tehran (2003), this poignant memoir chronicles one family's odyssey through the Iranian Revolution and beyond. The daughter of a colonel in the shah's army and a schoolteacher, Latifi and her siblings lived a comfortable life in Tehran in the 1970s until Khomeini catapulted into power. When her father was arrested and executed like so many of his contemporaries, her family was immediately plunged into confusion and disarray. Sent with her sister to school in Austria, young Latifi did not reunite with the rest of her family until many years later. Finally together again in the U.S., the Latifi clan successfully struggled to rebuild its collective future together. Culminating in a bittersweet return trip to Iran, Latifi's tribute to her family's courage and resilience is a compelling testament to the dauntless nature of the human spirit in the face of all types of repression and adversity. Margaret Flanagan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harper (March 29, 2005)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0060745339
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0060745332
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.4 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.17 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,517,984 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #574 in Iran History
- #811 in Historical Middle East Biographies
- #5,378 in Women in History

Customer Reviews:
36 ratings

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Pablo F. Fenjves
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Top reviews from the United States

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beril

Inspiring

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 22, 2021

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The book is about a family whose life was ripped by 1979 Revolution in Iran. It is so moving to witness 2 little sisters’ and their family’s journey from survival to an inspiring heroic tale.

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Sharon M.

Modern Iran is Featured in this Memoir

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 1, 2013

Verified Purchase

This is book is touching, shocking, tender and tragic all rolled into one. The injustices of the political system in 20th Century Iran are the backdrop for Latifi's memoir. These situations are still occurring in 21st Century Iran, where religious minorities are imprisoned, tortured, & executed. A good complement to "Even After" would be Roxana Saberi's account of her recent imprisonment.

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Olga Lishanskiy

great tribute for family love and trimph of human spirit.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 21, 2008

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This book is a great story of the refuge family from Iranian revolution who ultimately find happines in the USA. The story of family love,tragedy and victory of people who manage to preserve their human dignity despite of overwhelming odds is rewarding experiance for every reader regardless of his or her background or interest in history. Even though the book could also serve as a guide to personal feelings and expireences of the westrenized Iranian elite destroyed by the Islamic revolution of 1979.

One person found this helpful

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Peyman ADL DOUSTI HAGH

In The name of Iran

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 17, 2006

Verified Purchase

This is a story of young girl who exprience the 1979 Revolution which brought many pain for her. Still, she mourns for her father's death because she could not say good bye to her. The Revolutionary people that they believed in Marxist-Islamist justice curtailed his life without a chance to defend himself. The author went through many difficult times, as she was struggling with some form of depression. Read it, feel it and be compassion.

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Amazon Customer

one of my favorite books!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 18, 2015

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I love LOVE this book! so much that i have repurchased it and gifted it to friends. I am so impressed and moved by the story in this book, and everything this family went through.

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Jeannette E. Hanna

Story of an Iranian girl and her sister made to ...

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 16, 2015

Verified Purchase

Story of an Iranian girl and her sister made to leave Iran in 1979 by her mother to get them to safety. Their lives were anything but safe and the book is the telling of their trials and triumphs.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 12, 2013

Verified Purchase

Great book to read. Describes how a family can be torn apart just because they do not side with the rulers of a country.

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Loves the View

Good Read - but attitude dampens enthusiasm

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 13, 2005

The story moves at a good pace and the photos gave it a warm feel. Not great literature, but it documents the immigrant experience. I'd have totally enjoyed this book, but it was marred by an attitude which the author may mature to regret.

The mother of these 4 children was clearly courageous. The inadvertance of her plight by the author and her sister significantly diminished with my enjoyment of the book.

The mother bravely maneuvers the girls into a boarding school in Europe which the author denigrates. The writer details the slights of other students and the bad food with no appreciation for the mother's sacrifices or the incredible opportunity she's been given. Insensitivity/disrespect to the mother is further demonstrated by the sisters frittering away $15,000 in emergency funds. In the resulting application for a US tourist visa the author took a swipe at the school rather than translate accurately as her mother very clearly told her to do.

The uncle, with whom the girls are sent to live, drives from Norfolk (yes, Virginia) to JFK to pick them up. There is the temper tantrum when the school bus arrives... Afchineh will not get on it! ... stubbornness in the princpal's office... Afchineh will take the classes SHE WANTS not what the principal says. Living in a rough section of town, the uncle struggles to make ends meet. The author feels justified in turning up the heat (contrary to instructions) when the aunt and uncle leave. The girls feel entitled to an unstated amount of money that the mother sends from Iran. When the girls get jobs they buy candy and clothes they don't consider helping the uncle, nor sending money to their mother in Iran. This "House of Horrors" can't be too bad, an invitation to move elsewhere, where TV viewing would be limited, is rejected.

But, this family is resourceful. Perhaps it is this sort of willfulness that makes for success. If I hadn't stuck on the attitude descibed above, which runs throughout the book, and no adult intro- or retrospection to balance it, I'd have throughly enjoyed it because the story is interesting and told in a conversational manner. I particularly liked the decription of the return to Iran at the end.

3 people found this helpful

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