|
| |||||||||||
What are readers saying about Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books?
|
A Reader posted a review at 2009-01-10 08:01:27.
(Language: English)
  
This was a great book! Part memoir, part literature study, part social commentary.I'm amazed at the picture of the social climate, of censorship and intolerance on so many levels. It's an interesting irony that those in power believed that an individual's very thoughts and opinions had so much power as to be "dangerous and poisonous" to the fabric of society. It's amazing how many people in this world (elsewhere and here) practice such extreme intolerance of others as a result of their own fear. The certainty that "I must be right, therefore others must be wrong" never leads to peace and unity. I'm only about half way into this right now, but I'm loving every minute of it. It reminds me of a lit class I took in high school. The teacher really brought the stories to life with his "digging" for us to examine the similarities in our own lives. Ms. Nafisi has done a great job painting a picture of her society. 
|
Yes (0) 
No (0) |
|
A Reader posted a review at 2011-11-04 04:40:26.
(Language: English)
if u think u live in a secular country, among citizens with 'loose' morals, & u wish for a regime that makes religious obedience compulsory, then read this.
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2011-06-04 11:21:30.
(Language: English)
This book really makes you appreciate your freedom here!!!!!
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2010-04-08 05:27:51.
(Language: English)
A very big disappointment. I was really looking forward to this book and was very disappointed. It is more of a political science text than anything. Nothing about the book club is shared and most of the book is centered around the university environment, and changes within the republic. A good read if you are interested in Iranian politics as it centers on their university culture.
|
|
Zahirah posted a review at 2010-07-25 09:43:15.
(Language: English)
After a few chapters I realized I'm not getting what I expected to get. I was hoping it's about a group of girls commenting about books that mostly won't be read in revolutionary Iran. but it's more about the writers personal view about the state of the country. It's not focused and at times confusing with lack of punctuations marks in conversations. but the few instances where books were discussed are quite entertaining especially the Gatsby trial. I think her students' responses about what she taught revealed more about Iranians than her own remarks which I feel a bit pretentious and too righteous. If she were to focus on her secret class sessions and her university students, readers would get a better sense about the state of mind of Iranians at that time.
|
|
Susan posted a review at 2011-03-03 06:23:19.
(Language: English)
This is a really interesting book. It made me want to read more about Iran and the complete cultural change that it went through. S
|
|
Karen posted a review at 2011-02-22 08:26:03.
(Language: English)
I own a copy of this book. I have tried to read it twice, most recently thinking that having my book club tackle it would force me to get through it. It's just not my cup o' tea. Oh it's a great premise: forbidden book club in Iran, reading and discussing forbidden "western literature." But the author's style smarts of too much self-importance and not enough good story-telling for my likes. I will not attempt a third read on this.
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2011-07-22 05:26:53.
(Language: English)
not as good as I'd hoped
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2009-09-24 07:38:34.
(Language: English)
This took me a long time to finish. I vacillated in my opinion because I did not always agree with her literary assessments. But, on the whole, I would recommend this book. It is personal and idiosyncratic, however, not only does the "personal" make for a good read, but it is so helpful for those of us in the "west", women in particular, to get some glimpse of what those oppressive regimes really mean when you live there.
|
|
Rita posted a review at 2009-03-24 03:37:11.
(Language: English)
This book is a memoir from the author, who is from Iran and lived there for many years. She taught Literature at the University of Tehran and raised her family there. The book is divided into chapters named by the books she was teaching at the time; the first chapter is "Lolita", the second and subsequent chapters are Henry James, Great Gatsby, etc. The first part of the book is a bit dull, but the second part is very interesting, after the Ayatollah Khomeini comes to power and women are oppressed and made to wear "the veil" and religious fanaticism is at its peak. Nafisi (the author) is eventually banned from teaching because she will not wear the veil, and the rest of the book chronicles her life after the Ayatollah is gone. The book is plodding in some areas but interesting and educational.
|
|
Gypsi posted a review at 2010-09-12 10:54:06.
(Language: English)
Nafisi has written not an autobiography, but a story of her love affair with certain books and authors. She divides her life into four important phases, and the four books or authors that influenced her during that time in her life. It is a mix of personal memories, important moments in Iranian history, what she was reading at the time and how it colored her impressions. She begins with what would be the next-to-the-last sequentially, the start of her home class and the reading of Lolita. That Nafisi is an excellent literature professor shines through from the beginning. She doesn't merely mention the books, she discusses them, as though with a class, discussing plot, characters, details, meaning. I, who had never been interested in Lolita or Nabokov, became convinced of his worth solely due to her enthusiasm and passion for his works. She follows with the Iranian revolution and the subsequent "trial" of Gatsby in her classroom. Henry James accompanies the times following the revolution, the war with Iraq, her feelings of uselessness and her return to teaching. She ends with Jane Austen, more about her home class, how she ended up in America and where all her "girls" are now. Though this could have easily been a depressing book, about life in Iran, it is not. Instead, Nafisi has written about the beauty and hope of the novel, how it affected her and how she wanted it to affect her students. Nafisi is a kindred spirit to all us ardent bibliophiles. She expresses in words the passion, exhilaration and transfiguration I often feel during and after reading a novel and has lit a fire in me to re-read several classics she mentioned. This is definitely a five star book!
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2011-09-05 09:33:40.
(Language: English)
I struggled through this book. Fifty pages in I realized that I didn't want to finish this book but kept trudging through it out of a sense of obligation (the same kind that strikes many readers - once you start a book, you can't not finish it). The pacing is dreadfully, painfully slow and I didn't plan for a book that spent at least half the pages on literary analysis. Granted, the analysis attempted to draw parallels between the novels and life in Tehran but typically these parallels were vague. Perhaps what bothered me most - more than the slow pacing and literary essays and feeling like I was in an English class through most of it - was the emotional disconnect between the author and her memoirs. What could have been a fantastic and moving story fell flat because there was no emotional or personal infusion into what was an emotional and personal story.
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2009-06-09 10:01:07.
(Language: English)
Interesting and well-written history of Nafisi's experiences as an academic during the 1980's and 1990's in Iran. Like Marjane Satrapi's _Persepolis_ this book takes a strongly critical view of the regime based in part on the author's contact with Western values and ideals. I like the way it underlines the complexity of the Iranian revolution in the late 1970s, and how Ayatollist Islam formed temporary alliances with radical leftist factions to triumph over the liberal and democratic movements. This contradicts the narrative put forward by American conservatives of a single and relentless drive towards "Islamization" in the Middle East that is supported by any kind of popular majority. In fact, the birth of the Islamic Republic of Iran was the result of shrewd leadership and manipulation on the result of the Ayatollists, not popular support. Although Nafisi touches on the meaning of Islam as a political ideology (rather than as a religion), I believe she could have spent more time discussing the difference. This failure to elaborate on, for instance, her grandmother's experience of Islam and the hypocrisy of the so-called Islamic regime in Iran is why her story is susceptible to co-optation by saber-rattlers in the US. They point to the very real atrocities documented in this book as evidence that what Iran needs is what we gave Iraq. Bad idea. This lack of complexity is best exemplified in her misreading of _Lolita_ as a simple tale of repression, of stolen life. It is about repression, but it is really about the way a master becomes a slave. This more nuanced critical lens could have prompted a more interesting reflection on the contemporary dynamics of Iranian politics and religion.
|
|
Debbie posted a review at 2009-01-12 07:28:17.
(Language: English)
A fascinating memoir of a woman who taught American Literature in Tehran until the "Revolution" which required women to wear the veil and basically cower, look at the ground, never look a man in the eye, work, have an opinion etc. Azar Nafisi and some former students find strength in their new class, in Nafisi's home. A wonderful story of living in Iran but also a celebration of reading and great authors and how novels are an escape. I found it so interesting that at first, he students could only tell her the plot of a book, not their own opinions. Because, being raised in a society that doesn't value women in any way, the women didn't KNOW their opinion or even feel that they could express it if they did know.
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2009-03-18 09:47:44.
(Language: English)
I wish that I had read this book before my book club on Nabakov's Lolita. Many interesting insights on Lolita and a range of other classics. This novel proves that we all connect to literature in different ways depending on our own life experiences. Powerfully written. I would definitely recommend this book. I love the reflections on literature - this proves that everyone can connect to fiction in one way or another. This would have been a good book to read alongside Lolita . . . if only I had known at the time.
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2009-12-14 09:27:14.
(Language: English)
While my book club was reading Azar Nafisi's memoir, Reading Lolita in Tehran, an open letter by an Iranian filmmaker came on news urging the release of an American journalist (http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/04/21/iran.journalist.letter/index.html). "My Iranian girl with Japanese eyes and an American ID, is in jail. Shame on me! Shame on us!" wrote the filmmaker. Like many characters in Nafisi's book, there may be a happy ending for this journalist, too. The journalist, Roxana Saberi, was conditionally released on May 11, 2009.
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2010-04-08 06:40:36.
(Language: English)
In beginning my review, allow me to take a page (no pun intended--ha, ha) from Nafisi's book: compassion is one of the most important of the human feelings, feeling itself being the greatest marker of humanity. So, I have nothing but sympathy and respect for Nafisi's memoir, the experiences, philosophies, and feelings described in this book. It is truly a triumph of human emotion over its oppression by governmental and religious rule. Okay. That said, this book kind of sucked. What irked me from page one right up until distant page 339 was the REPETITIVENESS. Jeez. Every other second she'd remind us to "imagine [her and 'her girls'] sitting in the living room, reading Lolita in Tehran." Seriously, if I had to read that line again, I'd scream. This book is so, so, so jam-packed with the boring, repetitive, actually terribly obvious of an English-professor-cum-oppressed-woman's interpretation of classic novels that it gets ridiculous. In addition to that, Nafisi's "girls" were so numerous and so little developed that as of now I have no idea who they are--that one was super religious, that one was blond, etc. This was just a book about books with a lot of words in it, and a halfway moving memoir thrown in. I expected a lot from it and came up short. Sadly, I recommend this one be passed by!
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2011-01-30 04:55:43.
(Language: English)
I really wanted to like it. Took forever for me to get through it. Might have been easier if I was more familiar with the literature talked about in the book? Actually a kipped whole sections which I NEVER do! Wish there had been. By the end I still couldn't keep these characters straight. Just never really engaged me.
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2009-04-02 07:48:40.
(Language: English)
It is understandable that some readers would have a difficult time relating to the authors in this book. However, it is not merely about having read and understood Gatsby or Austen. It is about a group of womyn secretly meeting in order to share there love of Western Lit and for that moment escaping the restraints impossed upon them by such a barbaric government. A government that obviously enjoys keeping it population, mainly womyn, ignorant and uneducated. As a population that is both ignorant and uneducated would be that much easier to manipulate and control. These womyn are the future liberators of Iran. They will break down the misogynist attitudes that a great majority of the men have choosen to keep from mores that date so many centuries. A great read
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2010-03-15 12:01:42.
(Language: English)
I was very interested in the subject matter and from the author's experiences the book had a lot of potential. However, the author tried WAY too hard to insert an incredible amount of literary critique and comparatively little about the context of Tehran and her experiences there. It was tedious to read, and as someone who usually finishes even a mediocre book, I am sad to say that I put this one down in irritation and boredom. =/ What a wasted chance to tell an important story.
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2011-04-14 08:38:43.
(Language: English)
a very interesting subject, and at times the book is an excellent read. however, it did go on an on at times.
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2010-05-15 01:41:50.
(Language: English)
Iran has always had a vibrant intellectual middle class...they were the majority when the revolution occurred...but lost out to the radical groups on both sides...the extreme. some are living life via the people they meet in literature and others see it as a launching pad into other worlds. . iran has always had a vibrinanr
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2010-02-10 11:15:33.
(Language: English)
While I do not desire to read her whole booklist, I do admire reading and discusssing the books. I also loved that the women in Iran kept reading and becoming educated during the time the universities were closed to them. I did read some of the books she read that I might not have read otherwise. This book was evidence to my position that you do not need a teacher or a school to learn and become educated; You just need a good book. With access to books anyone can becom educated.
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2009-01-17 09:47:46.
(Language: English)
"A great novel heightens your senses and sensitivity to the complexities of life and of individuals, and prevents you from the self-righteousness that sees morality in fixed formulas about good and evil . . . " (pg 133) A fantastic read not only into the realm that Iran is in but it is an interesting viewpoint of some of classics of modern literature. This is sometime deemed as a book geared towards women but I have to disagree wholeheartedly with that. Anybody who enjoys reading will understand the feelings of the characters in the book who escape the woes of real life through literature. Also it was said that one must be well versed in the books talked about in READING LOLITA in order to understand it. While I do recommend getting familiar with at least Nabokov's LOLITA and F.Scott Fitzgerald's THE GREAT GATSBY before starting this book, other titles discussed in it have lead me to read books, not discouraged me from doing so.
|
|
|
A Reader posted a review at 2009-07-23 05:58:44.
(Language: English)
I like the idea of having a "memoir in books." Azar Nafisi beautifully tells the story of her academic career and the revolutionary history of Tehran by weaving in and out of the plot lines of fiction. However, Nafisi warns at the beginning of her book (and to her students): "do not, under any circumstances, belittle a work of fiction by trying to turn it into a carbon copy of real life; what we search for in fiction is not so much reality but the epiphany of truth" (3). By defining and limiting fiction, Nafisi gives the reader a framework for discussion, life lessons, and teaching. As a teacher of literature, she has reminded me of the "life giving power of literature--" especially for a culture that desperately needs an escape from the censorship and control of a corrupt government. And, just as the theme for Nafisi's "Thursday class" of girls was "to find the relation between fiction and reality," we all can learn from different cultures, especially in the form of books. I know Reading Lolita in Tehran has taught me a lot about the unpredictable life in the Islamic Republic. By going through the authors/books that Nafisi teaches and explores, she shows that "a novel is not an allegory [odd, since I often teach the allegory in novels.] It is the sensual experience of another world, hold your breath with the characters and become involved in their destiny, you won't be able to emphathize, and empathy is at the heart of the novel. This is how you read a novel: you inhale the experience. So start breathing..." (111). I suppose I was "breathing" this novel because though I could experience with the students the great works, as an American woman, I could not emphathize with the plight and restrictions of the Tehran women. In fact, I was most horrified by Sanaz's jail experience and the hypocricy of the"moral code." I. LOLITA: After reading Nafisi's criticism, thoughts, and love for Nabokov, I am intrigued to read Lolita. Though I was briefly familiar with the plot line, I am interested in the "hidden, deeper, inner meaning" of the story as stated: "The desperate truth of Lolita's story is not the rape of a twelve-year-old by a dirty old man but the confiscation of one's individual life by another" (33). How true that the emotional and spiritual rape can be more damaging than any physical act. This point was brought up in The Kiterunner, another book I read this summer. And I am also intrigued by the desire for Nafisi's students to always "write about their search for beauty" (39) which reminds me of a quote by C.S. Lewis: "The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing to find the place where all the beauty came from." II. GATSBY: How unique that Nafisi studied at OU in Norman, Oklahoma! I was not aware of this fact and when I read I felt indeed a bit more connection to her story through our geographical proximity. I really liked how Nafisi presented the American story about the "American dream" to her students with debate. Since The Great Gatsby is indeed the quintessential American novel, and because that culture was so Anti-American, I liked her distinction between the clashing of the cultures: "We [Tehran] obsess over our past. They, Americans, have a dream: to feel nostalgia about the promise of the future" (109). I have never considered that difference and perspective. The trial was interesting in how the students argued morality, when "[Nafisi] wanted to tell them that this book is not about adultery but about the loss of a dream" (133). And, with fervor, Nafisi again teaches the purpose of the novel per The Great Gatsby's theme: "A good novel is one that shows the complexity of individuals, and creates enough space for all these characters to have a voice; in this way a novel is called democratic-- not that it advocates democracy but that by nature it is so. Empathy lies at the heart of Gatsby, like so many other great novels-- the biggest sin is to be blind to others' [even Americans] problems and pains" (132). It is in this quote that Mr. Nyazin's arguments become null and void to me, the reader (and one who has the ability to find relevance and empathy). Overall, Gatsby was a great connection and bridge to the history and revolution in Tehran. III. JAMES: Daisy Miller is one of my favorite stories and I was please by the role in played in Nafisi's memoir. I also liked the reaction her girls had to Daisy Miller because "Daisy unhinged them, made them not know what was right and what was wrong" (196). There are indeed many Daisy Millers of the world and how fun that Nafisi compares her daughter, Negar, to her the most: "a mixture of vulnerability and courage that accounst for gestures of defiance" (171); and I might add naviete! Aren't we all "perfectly equipped failures." I think that is why tragedy is always possible: we all have tragic flaws... which is why "James did not like his heroines to be infallible. In fact, they all made mistakes, harmful mostly to themselves. Their mistakes, like the tragic flaw in a classical tragey, become essential to their development and maturity" (223). I think this is a great lesson for Nafisi's students because they are in a culture that strives for perfection... which ultimately becomes one's downfall. IV. AUSTEN: Because Nafisi starts off this section playing on Jane Austen's famous first line, I had to go back to my Pride and Prejudice to re-read the opening line: "It is a truth universally acknowledge that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife." Their play on words with this sentence brings up the issues and stories of marriage and relationships for Tehran women. I was so interested in Nafisi's graduate work that compared the structure of Pride and Prejudice to an eighteenth-century dance! How unique, true, and visually beautiful! So not only does Reading Lolita in Tehran recount stories and history, it offers great insight from an esteemed teacher/scholar. I enjoyed reading it and learned not only about literature, but about relationships, culture, and teaching!
|
Share your views!
Similar books
