Something feels wrong a bout writing a book review about this book. Not because it is not worthy of a book review, in fact far from it, it is by far one of the best pieces of proper literature that I have read. What makes it seem wrong to be writing a book review about Reading Lolita In Tehran is that the book itself is a book review. In fact, not a single book review but an in depth analysis of some of the greatest books ever written, the author takes a look at Gatsby by Fitzgerald, Nabokov, Jane Austen and, of course, Lolita among many many more.

The book is captivating tale of the authors days as a lecturer at the university and also her time after that while she struggled to teach literature at the height or the Islamic revolution when books like Gatsby were being banned because they ‘promoted adultery’ writings of the famous poets like Rumi were being banned because they weren’t completely in line with the revolutionary way of thinking. Yet still somehow amidst all this Azar Nafisi manages to get a literature Robin hood band going of her and seven of her favorite students meeting every Thursday and discussing the texts that have been banned due to the Islam Revolution.

The fact that it is women who are doing this in itself makes the stealing away to read that much more of a challenge and it is amazing how the author manages to steer us away from thinking it is women vs men in the book. She paints portraits of bad men, and of good men just as she paints portraits of good women and bad men. She puts it simply in one line when she says “When one half of the population is made invisible the other half is also affected” This affection comes out clearly when her one male student can’t attend the lessons just because he is male and holding a mixed gathering at that time would be the equivalent of suicide.

Many critics have used the word eloquent to describe this book and I was going to avoid using the word but no other word captures how well the author picks her words. She is elegant and eloquent in her writing. So much so that while discussing matters of tremendous weight she manages to tell them in a such a way that it doesn’t hit you how important what she was saying is until you have had a second to think about it. All this time she is giving in depth analysis and quotes from the classics and still she only makes you long to reread those books that you read once upon a time because they were thrust upon you in high school or they were spoked about. This is a lady who makes you long to read Rumi, Fitzgerald, Dorothy Sayers, Nabokov and all these authors who were writing classics way back when you were still a bad idea.

My excerpt this week was, again, one that I had to struggle with. I did settle though on a part that captures the entire essence of the boo and the Islamic revolution when it comes to literature for me. This is from somewhere in Chapter two. Having being challenged by one of her students on whether it was appropriate to be reading studying Gatsby – which you should read by the way, fascinating book – a book that ‘promotes adultery and greed’ in her classes, she doesn’t hide from the issue or dismiss the student. In fact she does something way more fascinating she puts Gatsby on trial. They pick a judge, the questioning student is the prosecutor and another is the defence, the author herself represents the book. This is how she describes what happened after the defence gave their last statement:

In her “can’t you see?” there was a genuine note of concern that went beyond her disdain and hatred of Mr. Nyazi, a desire that even he should see, definitely see. She paused for a moment and cast a look around the room at her class mates. The class went silent for a while after that. Not even Mr. Nyazi had anything to say.

 

See from the above how Mr Nyazi – the accuser – was turned silent when faced with the truth as it was. And that’s why the literature was destroyed, because within it truth lies and truth, is a powerful weapon in the right hands.

The veil. It just needs to be mentioned. All through the book the veil is a symbol of how something innocent can be used to create fear and tyranny. Pre revolution ladies wore the veil as a symbol of their sacred pact wit Allah but during the revolution with the veil being imposed on women and them being forced to go through random and unnecessary inspections it became a symbol of tyranny it became a tool for oppression. Good thing bad people concept.

I must confess however, that as I write this book review I am but 30 pages from the end of the book and deadlines are looming so I must type faster but with a book like this I have no fear in saying that it has a wonderful ending because the author weaves such a good yarn that you can always be sure that she will not disappoint.

About the Author

Azar Nafisi is an Iranian academic and bestselling writer who has resided in the United States since 1997 when she emigrated from Iran. Her field is English language literature. Nafisi’s 2003 book Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books has been translated into 32 languages. It was on the New York Times Bestseller list for 117 weeks, and has won numerous literary awards, including the 2004 Non-fiction Book of the Year Award from Booksense, and the Europe based Persian Golden Lioness Award for literature. The book also led to controversy about Nafisi’s alleged connections to neoconservatism and colonialism.

Reading Lolita in Tehran is available on Amazon

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