I fell in love with Lahiri after reading "The Interpreter of Maladies" and credit her with drawing me in to a love of well written short stories. This book did not disappoint. In fact, a few weeks after finishing it, the characters are still very much with me--a true sign of a great book.

I have recommended this book to many, many people and everyone who read it was happy they did.

Azar Nafisi was an English Literature Professor at Tehran University during the Iranian Revolution. She documents the chaotic times and the effect the revolution had on the Iranian people.

This book is a gallant defense of fiction, particularly the American novel. The author held a classroom trial on the Great Gatsby which pitted student against student. It was fascinating to see the effect that that book had on the Iranian students of the time. This scene made me vow to read more fiction -- because it is important for the soul.

Another storyline in the book centers on the plight of her female students during the revolution. Some joined her for a secret book group to continue reading novels and talking about them. She documents their discussions and her analysis of Pride & Prejudice, The Great Gatsby, Daisy Miller and Lolita.

I can't recommend this book highly enough, Nafisi is a wonderful writer and her subject matter is compelling on many levels.

Summary~

"We all have dreams - things we fantasize about doing and generally never get around to. This is the story of Azar Nafisi's dream and of the nightmare that made it come true." "For two years before she left Iran in 1997, Nafisi gathered seven young women at her house every Thursday morning to read and discuss forbidden works of Western literature. They were all former students whom she had taught at university. Some came from conservative and religious families, others were progressive and secular; several had spent time in jail. They were shy and uncomfortable at first, unaccustomed to being asked to speak their minds, but soon they began to open up and to speak more freely, not only about the novels they were reading but also about themselves, their dreams and disappointments. Their stories intertwined with those they were reading - Pride and Prejudice, Washington Square, Daisy Miller and Lolita - their Lolita, as they imagined her in Tehran." Nafisi's account flashes back to the early days of the revolution, when she first started teaching at the University of Tehran amid the swirl of protests and demonstrations. In those frenetic days, the students took control of the university, expelled faculty members and purged the curriculum. When a radical Islamist in Nafisi's class questioned her decision to teach The Great Gatsby, which he saw as an immoral work that preached falsehoods of "the Great Satan," she decided to let him put Gatsby on trial and stood as the sole witness for the defense.

My Thoughts~

A good friend of mine had recommended this book to me, and I was eager to read it, yet didn't expect the great memoir that it turned out to be. The novel is set in 80's and 90's Iran, and documents the life of Azar Nafisi as a professor, confidante, intellectual, woman, and Iranian. The first and fourth sections (subtitled Lolita and Austen) detail her life in a more present day after she has resigned her teaching positions, leading a private reading group of former students. The second and third sections (Gatsby and James) document her rise as a teacher, the ways in which she met the girls that would people her group later, and her struggles as a woman throughout the Iranian Revolution and the reign of the Ayatollah Khomeini. These sections are really an insight into the struggles of not just women, but of all Iran's citizens who were not rabid fundamentalists during the revolution, and the tumultuousness that characterized their lives: when one day it was allowed to walk unveiled and eat ice cream in public and the next day it was not. Perhaps one of the most enlightening things for me was to learn that the rigidity of Iran's conservative, Islamic policies fluctuated: at times travel restrictions were loosened, and artistic performances were forgiven, and at other times, they were all shut down. But the most skillfully crafted aspect of this book is how Nafisi manages to incorporate the themes of novels which she teaches at the University of Tehran into her daily life, and draw parallel between the mirroring scenarios. With Lolita, she describes a life that at any moment could be stolen away, and how a human's lack of empathy creates a villain, ruthlessly destroying others' dreams. With The Great Gatsby, she defends a more disrespectable, materialistic side of Gatsby, citing his pure and inalterable dream of Daisy and how that is honorable. Yet she draws conclusions that this dream cannot coincide with the corruption of society, as is similar to her students' dreams of Western society paired with an oppressive regime. With Henry James, she discusses different forms of courage, and the ways in which characters are apportioned different traits, possibly creating a scene where no individual stands out, but where each has some admirable qualities. And finally with Jane Austen's novels, she talks about her multivocality, and the ways all her characters play significant roles, as did all of her students in their tight nit reading circle: the ways in which she was affected by all of their plight. Lastly, and possibly most directed to their strife in Iran, Nafisi presents the ways in which Austen's characters are forced to express themselves: not by overtly sensual ways that her students covet, but by more hidden ways (the uses of language, posing desiress individuals as opposite, and creating dramatic tension by forcing characters to express themselves in ways not entirely adequate). These forced compliances closely resemble Iranian subservience under Islamic rule. The novel goes on to explore other subjects of hopelessness, loyalty, sacrifice (reasonable and unreasonable), glorification through vilifying, fictional/imaginative escapes, personality, and reality in limbo. And possibly the most heartwrenching idea is that amid Nafisi's and her students' attempt to avoid the government's forced unreality, they must flee to another world of fiction, which sadly doesn't either exist. This struggle to find a rooted existence is key to Nafisi's and all of her girl's hopes and dreams, from men to education to true freedom. This novel/memoir is perfect for anyone who loves to read about other books and their impacts, and draw parallels from novels and other societies in relation to their own lives. Amazing.

Part memoir, part textual analysis of several classics, this was an alternatingly interesting and dull book. I was fascinated by the picture of intelligent Iranian women of all creeds and how they live their lives. Some of the ideas I had of Iranian women were borne out- like their reluctance of many to wear the veil. This book also gave me an idea of how they are still women, they still have friends and lovers and lives and are not completely subjugated by the law.
The analysis of the books they read took me back to college and was much less exciting. It was okay for the ones that I had read, and it helped that I recently finished Nabakov's memoirs. But for the stories I hadn't read, it was just boring and pretentious sounding.

I really wanted to love this book but just couldn't. I found her writing style amateur and annoying.

A great insight into women's lives in Iran. Focuses on an underground literary group comprised solely of women, and the issues they face. Weaves in the stories of Lolita and other literary classics.

Interesting, but pretentious throughout.