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The Saffron Kitchen
A passionate and timely debut about mothers and daughters, roots and exile, from the streets of Iran to the suburbs of London
In what is certain to be one of the most talked-about fiction debuts of the year, Yasmin Crowther paints a magnificent portrait of betrayal and retribution set against a backdrop of Iran’s tumultuous history, dramatic landscapes, and cultural beauty. The story begins on a blustery day in London, when Maryam Mazar’s dark secrets and troubled past surface violently with tragic consequences for her pregnant daughter, Sara. Burdened by guilt, Maryam leaves her comfortable English home for the remote village in Iran where she was raised and disowned by her father. When Sara decides to follow her she learns the price that her mother had to pay for her freedom and of the love she left behind. Poetic, haunting, and brilliantly crafted, The Saffron Kitchen is sure to entrance fans of Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake and Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club.
In what is certain to be one of the most talked-about fiction debuts of the year, Yasmin Crowther paints a magnificent portrait of betrayal and retribution set against a backdrop of Iran’s tumultuous history, dramatic landscapes, and cultural beauty. The story begins on a blustery day in London, when Maryam Mazar’s dark secrets and troubled past surface violently with tragic consequences for her pregnant daughter, Sara. Burdened by guilt, Maryam leaves her comfortable English home for the remote village in Iran where she was raised and disowned by her father. When Sara decides to follow her she learns the price that her mother had to pay for her freedom and of the love she left behind. Poetic, haunting, and brilliantly crafted, The Saffron Kitchen is sure to entrance fans of Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake and Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2006
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May 6, 2013
Lepa knjiga... dobra priča... debitantski roman... Dobar prevod... :)
November 17, 2007
I don't know why I keep trying to read books about Iran. They always leave me feeling frustrated and irritated. The last one I read, Reading Lolita in Tehran, did the same thing to me - although at least I felt like I was part of a graduate-level book club. It was smart, well-written and academic - even if it did leave me feeling emotionally empty and discouraged about the Middle East.
This book, The Saffron Kitchen was unconnected and abstruse - without meaning to be. The writing is mediocre, the character's voice was hollow and you it's just plain hard to like a book about the complexity of a mother-daughter relationship when you just can't stand either the mother or the daughter! Ironically enough the only characters I could stomach with any semblance of respect were the husbands.
Plus the whole Iranian thing was just annoying - there was a bunch of longing for Iran but without any explanation. This woman has this pretty terrible life in Iran and she longs to escape and be more than what women could be in Iran. So she flees to England and then, after living there for 30 years, turns her back on her husband and daughter and goes back to live like a peasant with her former would-be boyfriend. And then she begs her daughter to come see her life there. Blah - It was too disjointed and fluffy to summon any feeling but boredom.
This book, The Saffron Kitchen was unconnected and abstruse - without meaning to be. The writing is mediocre, the character's voice was hollow and you it's just plain hard to like a book about the complexity of a mother-daughter relationship when you just can't stand either the mother or the daughter! Ironically enough the only characters I could stomach with any semblance of respect were the husbands.
Plus the whole Iranian thing was just annoying - there was a bunch of longing for Iran but without any explanation. This woman has this pretty terrible life in Iran and she longs to escape and be more than what women could be in Iran. So she flees to England and then, after living there for 30 years, turns her back on her husband and daughter and goes back to live like a peasant with her former would-be boyfriend. And then she begs her daughter to come see her life there. Blah - It was too disjointed and fluffy to summon any feeling but boredom.
May 16, 2018
2.5 stars
As Sara is sitting down with Maryam, her mother and Saeed, her mother's nephew, she does not yet that this day will end in tragedy. After hearing harsh words from Maryam, Saeed bolts from the table and heads for the bridge. Sara chases after him and successfully holds him back but not before being kicked on the stomach. Sara miscarries that day. Maryam, feeling responsible, takes off to Iran unable to repress her past no longer. In trying to understand Maryam, Sara goes to her in Iran and finally begins to see her mother in a different light.
Upon finishing this book, I found myself torn. I like the concept and the background but found the execution lacking. I was relieved to see that other reviwers felt the same way. This book was on my TBR list for a while and I thought that it was time to read it. Initially, I thought the book was going to take place in the kitchen, dealing with the flavors and scents of Iran. I thought that saffron was going to have a more prominent role. That was not the case. The narrative is focused primarily on Maryam, an immigrant from Iran, she left her homeland and eventually married in England. Most of her life in London, she has not talked about her past but having been the cause behind Sara's miscarriage, all that changes. Maryam's past begins to unravel and she flees to the last place that felt like home, to Iran. Maryam is the daughter of a general and her freedom came at a cost. Nice concept but disappointing execution. I wish the author would have put as much effort in the characterization of Maryam as she did in the beautiful descriptions of Iran. For all that Maryam went through, we really don't much about her. Her character felt detached and I think that was a problem with the prose. It was difficult to connect and relate to any of the characters.
For some reason, this work feels unfinished for me. I found the switching between the first and third person narrative confusing. I still do not quite get how the title connects with the overall narrative. Its not that I disliked Maryam, her past was difficult, but the prose made her seem detached and somewhat flat in her characterization. For a relatively short book, it felt long (and not in a good way). Where the author shines is in her descrptions of Iran, of the customs and traditions. The way she speaks about the land is great and also the way she speaks of the families. That was a major theme in the book, family and the ties that bind them and break them apart. I really feel for Edward (Maryam's husband) and thought he deserved better. I really wanted to love this book but do not regret reading it. Overall, this book was just okay but it could have been better.
As Sara is sitting down with Maryam, her mother and Saeed, her mother's nephew, she does not yet that this day will end in tragedy. After hearing harsh words from Maryam, Saeed bolts from the table and heads for the bridge. Sara chases after him and successfully holds him back but not before being kicked on the stomach. Sara miscarries that day. Maryam, feeling responsible, takes off to Iran unable to repress her past no longer. In trying to understand Maryam, Sara goes to her in Iran and finally begins to see her mother in a different light.
Upon finishing this book, I found myself torn. I like the concept and the background but found the execution lacking. I was relieved to see that other reviwers felt the same way. This book was on my TBR list for a while and I thought that it was time to read it. Initially, I thought the book was going to take place in the kitchen, dealing with the flavors and scents of Iran. I thought that saffron was going to have a more prominent role. That was not the case. The narrative is focused primarily on Maryam, an immigrant from Iran, she left her homeland and eventually married in England. Most of her life in London, she has not talked about her past but having been the cause behind Sara's miscarriage, all that changes. Maryam's past begins to unravel and she flees to the last place that felt like home, to Iran. Maryam is the daughter of a general and her freedom came at a cost. Nice concept but disappointing execution. I wish the author would have put as much effort in the characterization of Maryam as she did in the beautiful descriptions of Iran. For all that Maryam went through, we really don't much about her. Her character felt detached and I think that was a problem with the prose. It was difficult to connect and relate to any of the characters.
For some reason, this work feels unfinished for me. I found the switching between the first and third person narrative confusing. I still do not quite get how the title connects with the overall narrative. Its not that I disliked Maryam, her past was difficult, but the prose made her seem detached and somewhat flat in her characterization. For a relatively short book, it felt long (and not in a good way). Where the author shines is in her descrptions of Iran, of the customs and traditions. The way she speaks about the land is great and also the way she speaks of the families. That was a major theme in the book, family and the ties that bind them and break them apart. I really feel for Edward (Maryam's husband) and thought he deserved better. I really wanted to love this book but do not regret reading it. Overall, this book was just okay but it could have been better.
May 12, 2022
Review originally published April 2009
Yasmin Crowther’s first novel, The Saffron Kitchen, is a powerful story of mothers and daughters, past and present, and roots and exile in the mountains of Iran and the London suburbs.
Maryam Mazer has a comfortable London home, a loving, mild English husband, but is haunted by events of decades ago and dark secrets of her childhood in Iran. After a tragic accident involving her daughter, Sara, and newly orphaned nephew, Saeed, Maryam is so guilt stricken that she flees to her native village, Mazareh, Iran.
She can’t go on without facing her past and the memories of the life she left behind. Young and headstrong, she was forced to leave her country. She had wanted something different than other young women. It was arranged that she would volunteer in a doctor’s office. Maryam liked this so much she wanted to study nursing in Tehran and marry later. She did study to be a nurse, but was exiled by her father due to his opinion of the relationship she had with a family servant, Ali.
When Maryam flees to her village, she breathes in the familiar smells, relishes in the mountain scenery and red dust of the home she was forced to leave so many years before. She has yearned for this place, and invites Sara to join her in Mazareh, to experience Iran. Once there, Sara learns the terrible price her mother paid for her freedom, the secrets she kept, and the love she left behind.
She also made the trip to hopefully bring her mother home and help her father make sense of the bits and pieces they had discovered at home. Saeed’s entry into the Mazur household forever changes the family and the way Sara looks at her mother.
As I finished this novel, I felt relief and sadness for all of the characters. They all had gained understanding of how often one freedom is exchanged for another.
Thanks to the Campbell patron that recommended this book to me. It was an excellent, satisfying read about heritage, another part of the world, culture, and exile.
Find this book and other titles within our catalog.
Yasmin Crowther’s first novel, The Saffron Kitchen, is a powerful story of mothers and daughters, past and present, and roots and exile in the mountains of Iran and the London suburbs.
Maryam Mazer has a comfortable London home, a loving, mild English husband, but is haunted by events of decades ago and dark secrets of her childhood in Iran. After a tragic accident involving her daughter, Sara, and newly orphaned nephew, Saeed, Maryam is so guilt stricken that she flees to her native village, Mazareh, Iran.
She can’t go on without facing her past and the memories of the life she left behind. Young and headstrong, she was forced to leave her country. She had wanted something different than other young women. It was arranged that she would volunteer in a doctor’s office. Maryam liked this so much she wanted to study nursing in Tehran and marry later. She did study to be a nurse, but was exiled by her father due to his opinion of the relationship she had with a family servant, Ali.
When Maryam flees to her village, she breathes in the familiar smells, relishes in the mountain scenery and red dust of the home she was forced to leave so many years before. She has yearned for this place, and invites Sara to join her in Mazareh, to experience Iran. Once there, Sara learns the terrible price her mother paid for her freedom, the secrets she kept, and the love she left behind.
She also made the trip to hopefully bring her mother home and help her father make sense of the bits and pieces they had discovered at home. Saeed’s entry into the Mazur household forever changes the family and the way Sara looks at her mother.
As I finished this novel, I felt relief and sadness for all of the characters. They all had gained understanding of how often one freedom is exchanged for another.
Thanks to the Campbell patron that recommended this book to me. It was an excellent, satisfying read about heritage, another part of the world, culture, and exile.
Find this book and other titles within our catalog.
October 27, 2011
This is a well written book which is easy to read and for that I've awarded it three stars as it helped some long commutes to sail by fairly effortlessly and let me tell you, when your commute happens to go through Wigan (land of wind-tunnel platforms and limited shelter), this is no mean feat.
I suspect that a lot of the description and some of the experiences in the book are somewhat autobiographical with Crowther drawing on her own background and experience of a one-step-removed Iranian Culture. I did enjoy her descriptions of the Iranian landscape though as the steppe and mountainous regions are very like many places I have lived and worked in Turkey and at times I could almost smell the dust after the rain, or feel the heat ebbing out of the earth as the sun sets behind another dun coloured mound. Always a nice thing to reminisce about when it's dark and cold outside.
The subject matter is something which can be engaged with by people of all backgrounds, regardless of age or cultural divide. The young will always battle to be free of the constraints of their parents. Parents will always try to harness and temper a spirited child who seems likely to flout their will. And frequently there will be terrible and unpleasant consequences.
A further theme is that the wrongs which are done to us in childhood will remain with us, like unseen shadows, for the rest of our lives. Again, this is true. How many can still think back to a smack or an unjust punishment by a parent or to the haunting taunts of a bully or persecutor? I would imagine most people can. But life is a tapestry of experience and once you start unpicking the knots the rest will unravel too. The Saffron Kitchen is a book about the unravelling.
This sort of book is not normally my thing but I wanted to read a few more books on Iran by Iranian writers and this seemed a convenient and pain free place to start. No startling revelations or hidden truths here but a pleasant read when the winter is drawing in.
I suspect that a lot of the description and some of the experiences in the book are somewhat autobiographical with Crowther drawing on her own background and experience of a one-step-removed Iranian Culture. I did enjoy her descriptions of the Iranian landscape though as the steppe and mountainous regions are very like many places I have lived and worked in Turkey and at times I could almost smell the dust after the rain, or feel the heat ebbing out of the earth as the sun sets behind another dun coloured mound. Always a nice thing to reminisce about when it's dark and cold outside.
The subject matter is something which can be engaged with by people of all backgrounds, regardless of age or cultural divide. The young will always battle to be free of the constraints of their parents. Parents will always try to harness and temper a spirited child who seems likely to flout their will. And frequently there will be terrible and unpleasant consequences.
A further theme is that the wrongs which are done to us in childhood will remain with us, like unseen shadows, for the rest of our lives. Again, this is true. How many can still think back to a smack or an unjust punishment by a parent or to the haunting taunts of a bully or persecutor? I would imagine most people can. But life is a tapestry of experience and once you start unpicking the knots the rest will unravel too. The Saffron Kitchen is a book about the unravelling.
This sort of book is not normally my thing but I wanted to read a few more books on Iran by Iranian writers and this seemed a convenient and pain free place to start. No startling revelations or hidden truths here but a pleasant read when the winter is drawing in.
July 27, 2012
After a terrible accident causes Sara to lose her baby, an accident she blames her mother Maryam for, Maryam in her grief and guilt leaves England for her home country of Iran, and the village of Mazareh where she was once, as a girl, the happiest. But the past cannot be outrun, and Sara is left struggling to understand her moody mother, the things she said, and what secrets she is keeping so tightly to herself. When Maryam invites Sara to join her in Mazareh, Sara goes thinking - hoping - she'll be able to bring her mother back, and put her family back together again.
Once in Iran, Sara confronts her mother, and finally learns what Maryam left behind all those years ago. Between the cold winter plains of Mazareh and the bustling city of London, Sara and Maryam both come closer to a true understanding of home.
I struggled with this - with reading it, and with now writing this. I was left feeling so ambivalent about it, confused even, and disappointed. On the one hand, I loved the story. But on the other hand, the way it was told - the narrative structure, the voice, and prose style - all converged to make it as hard as possible to connect with the story and care about the characters.
It starts out so promisingly:
Of course this struck a nerve with me, being a new mother: with a healthy 1 year old, I don't want to imagine the pain of losing him, of him suddenly not existing - it feels like he was always here, with us, waiting to be born, a part of our lives. Sara's loss cut through me, blunt and profound.
She blames her mother for what happened on the bridge, because Maryam had struck Saeed, her recently orphaned teenaged nephew only newly arrived in England, for not being "tough enough". Bullied at his new school, grieving for his mother, Mara, and slapped by his aunt at his new home, Saeed is a quiet, polite boy you feel instant sympathy for, and that doesn't change. Maryam at first seems like a cold-hearted cow, and I could understand Sara's quiet anger towards her. It's always been hard to understand Maryam, who has times of withdrawing into herself in a dark way, especially when news from Iran arrives, either by mail or the news media. Sara's very English father, Edward, has always loved Maryam and seems to have endless patience for her, but there's always been a gap between them, a cultural and shared-history one he can't bridge and Maryam doesn't want to.
Maryam's thoughts have always stayed in Iran, really, in Mashhad, the city she lived in with her family, and Mazareh, the village the peasants who farmed her family's land lived in. In Masshad, she was the middle daughter of a general in the Shah's army, an important man who took a much younger, second wife in order to have a son, leaving Maryam's mother forgotten in her room. Maryam and her sisters, Mairy, the eldest, and Mara, the youngest, are all very different. Maryam is the rebellious one, the one who pushes and provokes her father the most by wanting more out of her life than simply being someone's wife and the mother of children. She wants to be a nurse in Tehran, and with the help of the family doctor, Ahlavi, is allowed to help out at his clinic.
When disaster strikes, it comes in many guises, and Maryam gets her wish but only by being cast off by her father. Again with Dr Ahlavi's help, she emigrates to England, and it's in London that she meets Edward. But all down the years, giving birth to Sara and witnessing her country's dramatic change during the violent Revolution of 1978-9, Maryam was never really a part of England, or of her family's life. When Sara arrives in Mazareh, she finds a different kind of Maryam, someone, perhaps, she can finally reach and demand answers of.
For most of the short novel, Sara narrates in first person. This present-day narration is juxtaposed against the story of Maryam's past, told from Maryam's perspective in first person. When Sara arrives in Iran, though, it switches to only third person voice, told from both Maryam and Sara's perspectives. I can understand why Crowther decided to do this, but it was still disjointed. I enjoyed Sara's voice, but it would have been smoother to use third person throughout. This criticism sounds even more harsh and unfair when I consider that I'm currently reading another book that does the same thing, but I'm really enjoying it - it's more than just the choice of voice, or the switching of voice, but the prose itself. And that was my biggest sticking point with this book.
For such a short novel, you'd think you'd read it quickly. But instead I struggled, especially after the first bit. The prose just didn't flow for me; it's crammed full of detail and little descriptions and thoughts, and I could never relax into it. It lacked longer scenes, a still camera, instead layering many bits one atop the other, squished into a single paragraph, making it hard for me to imagine it all as I read. I'll pick a passage at random to see if you can get the idea:
It's a very nice passage, the language is fine (by "fine" I don't mean "good" or "acceptable" but fine as in pleasing and also a touch elegant), but time often passes in this condensed, abstract manner, and characters are suddenly there and gone again, and it's the abruptness of it that unsettles me. I never get to really envision a scene (I know I picked a paragraph that seems suited to the quick passing of time - it does start with "days passed..." but it all reads like this). I couldn't help but think that the story would have been more successful, overall, if Crowther had made it a bit longer, to better flesh it out.
Similarly the characters, as interesting as they were, were like chalk drawings rather than full-colour depictions. That said, it was Sara and Maryam's story that interested me the most - which is why I wanted to understand better, and see more. Sara is distinctly English despite mixed parentage. Having an Iranian mother meant she had a rich and varied upbringing, culturally-speaking, but she never struggled with her identity or a feeling of home like her mother did. Maryam I could sympathise with, in a way. I know what it's like to be an immigrant in a country where you don't really feel like you belong, that isn't home whatever that means, and where you still get blank looks when you say certain things.
But my experience is nothing like Maryam's. You couldn't get two more culturally different countries than England and Iran, and I'm not surprised Maryam was so homesick all the time: the trouble with it is that, within Iran, she felt like she had no home to go back to. And what is home? That is a central theme with the book. Is it where love is, family? Is it the place where you were born and grew up, that leaves such an impression on your soul, your character? And what if you have two competing loves for people in two different places? Ali in Iran, Sara in England - it tears Maryam, she suffers. That came across clearly.
Some passages that I particularly liked, on the theme of home-coming:
This isn't a story to teach you very much about 20th/21st century Iranian history or culture; in fact, it relies on you having some background on which to draw, in order to understand the events that contributed to changing Maryam's life, when she was just a teenager. But you do get a feel for the place, and what it was like growing up there at a certain time and in a certain class. It's hard to understand the chronology, not just of Iran but of Maryam and Sara's lives, and I was confused over whether Sara had been to Iran before - I had thought not, but at the end she says something about going to the mosque in Mashhad before. Such confusing or lacking details get in the way of the story, and are nothing that good editing couldn't fix.
With this debut novel, Crowther shows promise. She successfully captured the immigrant experience, the clash of culture, the misunderstandings that arise, without resorting to cliche or melodrama. Her prose displays some lyrical lines and lovely observations, and I appreciated that she neither dumbed-down Iranian life or gave too much exposition, though it could have been more fleshed out without resorting to an omniscient narrative voice to explain things to us ignorant readers.
Once in Iran, Sara confronts her mother, and finally learns what Maryam left behind all those years ago. Between the cold winter plains of Mazareh and the bustling city of London, Sara and Maryam both come closer to a true understanding of home.
I struggled with this - with reading it, and with now writing this. I was left feeling so ambivalent about it, confused even, and disappointed. On the one hand, I loved the story. But on the other hand, the way it was told - the narrative structure, the voice, and prose style - all converged to make it as hard as possible to connect with the story and care about the characters.
It starts out so promisingly:
Strange not to know that you're alive or even that you're about to die. That's what it must have felt like for my unborn baby. I'd been kicked in the gut by my young cousin as I hauled him back from trying to jump over the bridge's railings into the old gren water rushing out to sea. My mother's scream rang in my ears as she ran toward us and the world froze: the churn of the Thames at high tide, the rumble of going-home school traffic and the tremble of the bridge. In that moment, my baby started to die. [p.3]
Of course this struck a nerve with me, being a new mother: with a healthy 1 year old, I don't want to imagine the pain of losing him, of him suddenly not existing - it feels like he was always here, with us, waiting to be born, a part of our lives. Sara's loss cut through me, blunt and profound.
She blames her mother for what happened on the bridge, because Maryam had struck Saeed, her recently orphaned teenaged nephew only newly arrived in England, for not being "tough enough". Bullied at his new school, grieving for his mother, Mara, and slapped by his aunt at his new home, Saeed is a quiet, polite boy you feel instant sympathy for, and that doesn't change. Maryam at first seems like a cold-hearted cow, and I could understand Sara's quiet anger towards her. It's always been hard to understand Maryam, who has times of withdrawing into herself in a dark way, especially when news from Iran arrives, either by mail or the news media. Sara's very English father, Edward, has always loved Maryam and seems to have endless patience for her, but there's always been a gap between them, a cultural and shared-history one he can't bridge and Maryam doesn't want to.
Maryam's thoughts have always stayed in Iran, really, in Mashhad, the city she lived in with her family, and Mazareh, the village the peasants who farmed her family's land lived in. In Masshad, she was the middle daughter of a general in the Shah's army, an important man who took a much younger, second wife in order to have a son, leaving Maryam's mother forgotten in her room. Maryam and her sisters, Mairy, the eldest, and Mara, the youngest, are all very different. Maryam is the rebellious one, the one who pushes and provokes her father the most by wanting more out of her life than simply being someone's wife and the mother of children. She wants to be a nurse in Tehran, and with the help of the family doctor, Ahlavi, is allowed to help out at his clinic.
When disaster strikes, it comes in many guises, and Maryam gets her wish but only by being cast off by her father. Again with Dr Ahlavi's help, she emigrates to England, and it's in London that she meets Edward. But all down the years, giving birth to Sara and witnessing her country's dramatic change during the violent Revolution of 1978-9, Maryam was never really a part of England, or of her family's life. When Sara arrives in Mazareh, she finds a different kind of Maryam, someone, perhaps, she can finally reach and demand answers of.
For most of the short novel, Sara narrates in first person. This present-day narration is juxtaposed against the story of Maryam's past, told from Maryam's perspective in first person. When Sara arrives in Iran, though, it switches to only third person voice, told from both Maryam and Sara's perspectives. I can understand why Crowther decided to do this, but it was still disjointed. I enjoyed Sara's voice, but it would have been smoother to use third person throughout. This criticism sounds even more harsh and unfair when I consider that I'm currently reading another book that does the same thing, but I'm really enjoying it - it's more than just the choice of voice, or the switching of voice, but the prose itself. And that was my biggest sticking point with this book.
For such a short novel, you'd think you'd read it quickly. But instead I struggled, especially after the first bit. The prose just didn't flow for me; it's crammed full of detail and little descriptions and thoughts, and I could never relax into it. It lacked longer scenes, a still camera, instead layering many bits one atop the other, squished into a single paragraph, making it hard for me to imagine it all as I read. I'll pick a passage at random to see if you can get the idea:
Days passed and the edges of my body returned. I felt the rise and fall of my chest, the soft stroke of Mara's fingers on my cheek. I would lie against Fatima as she put morsels of food in my mouth: fresh bread, cheese, a slice of apple. The tastes burst on my tongue. I do not know how long it was before I opened my eyes again and saw the early evening light through the window. I lay still and watched the dust spiral. A cockerel crowed in the distance, and seemed to be answered from a minaret. [p.83]
It's a very nice passage, the language is fine (by "fine" I don't mean "good" or "acceptable" but fine as in pleasing and also a touch elegant), but time often passes in this condensed, abstract manner, and characters are suddenly there and gone again, and it's the abruptness of it that unsettles me. I never get to really envision a scene (I know I picked a paragraph that seems suited to the quick passing of time - it does start with "days passed..." but it all reads like this). I couldn't help but think that the story would have been more successful, overall, if Crowther had made it a bit longer, to better flesh it out.
Similarly the characters, as interesting as they were, were like chalk drawings rather than full-colour depictions. That said, it was Sara and Maryam's story that interested me the most - which is why I wanted to understand better, and see more. Sara is distinctly English despite mixed parentage. Having an Iranian mother meant she had a rich and varied upbringing, culturally-speaking, but she never struggled with her identity or a feeling of home like her mother did. Maryam I could sympathise with, in a way. I know what it's like to be an immigrant in a country where you don't really feel like you belong, that isn't home whatever that means, and where you still get blank looks when you say certain things.
But my experience is nothing like Maryam's. You couldn't get two more culturally different countries than England and Iran, and I'm not surprised Maryam was so homesick all the time: the trouble with it is that, within Iran, she felt like she had no home to go back to. And what is home? That is a central theme with the book. Is it where love is, family? Is it the place where you were born and grew up, that leaves such an impression on your soul, your character? And what if you have two competing loves for people in two different places? Ali in Iran, Sara in England - it tears Maryam, she suffers. That came across clearly.
Some passages that I particularly liked, on the theme of home-coming:
At last, she lifted her face to Ali's and saw the lines of his years. It was the same air she had breathed a moment before, but now Maryam felt life in her veins. She handed him their book, the pages falling open where they always had - the world, which seems to lie before us like a land of dreams - and Ali looked at her, his eyes finding hers so quickly, with no need to speak. There, beneath the surface of reflections, was their lost world. He would reach out and touch it if he could. [p.138]
Ali looked at her outstretched fingers and she followed his eyes to the gold band and all it stood for, her other winters and another life. He cradled her hand in his palm. "Maryam," he said, "let us make this one day ours." A kind frown played across his eyes, as he gently slid the ring over her knuckle and nail, smudged with earth. He placed it in her palm. "It wasn't a Muslim marriage." Maryam shook her head, as much to herself as at his words. "So come."
She stared at her palm, not moving, remembering black rain on a London pavement and her white bridal veil billowing in the wind. She closed her hand into a fist. Just one day. It had existed in her mind for ever, it seemed: its prospects, loss and promise, stretching back and forth through the years. "No, Ali," she said at last. "Not like this. Of all people, you must accept me as I am." She took the ring and slid it back on her finger, her chest tight, angry and sad. [pp.157-8]
Sara sat back on her haunches and watched. It was beautiful, timeless. She closed her eyes and felt the chill on her skin, breathing in the salty earth smell of rocks. For a moment she pictured her father descending through the clouds on the battered old sofa from the loft, a glass of red wine in his hand, and smiled, wistful and sad at the thought of him, so far away. [p.212]
This isn't a story to teach you very much about 20th/21st century Iranian history or culture; in fact, it relies on you having some background on which to draw, in order to understand the events that contributed to changing Maryam's life, when she was just a teenager. But you do get a feel for the place, and what it was like growing up there at a certain time and in a certain class. It's hard to understand the chronology, not just of Iran but of Maryam and Sara's lives, and I was confused over whether Sara had been to Iran before - I had thought not, but at the end she says something about going to the mosque in Mashhad before. Such confusing or lacking details get in the way of the story, and are nothing that good editing couldn't fix.
With this debut novel, Crowther shows promise. She successfully captured the immigrant experience, the clash of culture, the misunderstandings that arise, without resorting to cliche or melodrama. Her prose displays some lyrical lines and lovely observations, and I appreciated that she neither dumbed-down Iranian life or gave too much exposition, though it could have been more fleshed out without resorting to an omniscient narrative voice to explain things to us ignorant readers.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 12, 2012
I am currently reading The Saffron Kitchen by Yasmin Crowther. I picked this up on Saturday in a charity shop, browsing absent-mindedly through the shelves of discarded books, so I approached it with an open mind. It was published in 2006. I haven't finished reading it yet, but I have to say I am absolutely loving it more than I have enjoyed a book for a while. And the Reason? A beautifully lyrical and poetic writing style, and a main character (the mother Maryam) that I can really identify with. The characters have completely different experiences from my own - it's mainly set in Iran - but so far the author writes with such honesty that you really get inside the character's hearts and minds. Maryam as a young girl of 16 is a free spirit, living a fairly privileged life in Iran, but resists the restrictions of a patriarchal society. At the same time, the troubled historical backdrop of Iran and the Revolution is rumbling away in the background, dictating what will happen next. It's a book about what it's like to cross cultures, to straddle two completely different worlds, and it's also a book about the conflicts and barriers of being a woman (in whatever society).
It's giving me a lot of pleasure to read. one thing about picking up a book second-hand is that I'm always fascinated by the inscriptions inside, wondering who gave the book to who and why. Inside this one is one big bold word BARBARA. That seems appropriate as it was my mother's name; she died the year that this was published, and in addition, it's a book very much about mothers and daughters...
It's giving me a lot of pleasure to read. one thing about picking up a book second-hand is that I'm always fascinated by the inscriptions inside, wondering who gave the book to who and why. Inside this one is one big bold word BARBARA. That seems appropriate as it was my mother's name; she died the year that this was published, and in addition, it's a book very much about mothers and daughters...
November 18, 2018
2 stelline soltanto perché sono riuscita a finirlo, ma già a metà libro avrei voluto abbandonarlo fregandomene di ciò che era successo nel passato della protagonista principale (Maryam) e delle scelte che avrebbe preso per il suo futuro.
Dalla trama sembrava interessante, anche per imparare qualcosa sulla storia e la cultura dell'Iran, ma il libro è pieno di difetti.
1) I personaggi sono funzionali alla trama, caricature di ciò che devono rappresentare, quindi non sono reali o credibili. Maryam, la protagonista principale, ha un atteggiamento oserei dire isterico e disfunzionale. Il lettore dovrebbe essere incuriosito, chiedersi cosa sarà mai successo nel passato di questa donna per comportarsi in questo modo. Invece no! Il suo comportamento era talmente poco credibile che invece di incuriosirmi, mi irritava.
2) I tempi di alcuni avvenimenti sono poco credibili perché non corrispondono alla realtà (anche se non mi sono messa con un calendario in mano). Ci sono soprattutto troppi eventi in un tempo riavvicinato che si fa fatica a credere che in quel poco tempo sia successo tutto quello di cui si parla.
3) Piccoli dettagli "strani". Il marito di Sara (figlia di Maryam) rientra a casa, la bacia e le accarezza il polpaccio. Si china? Lei era sdraiata sul divano quindi il polpaccio era a portata di mano? Non ci è dato sapere. Maryam e Sara sono in Iran: è inverno, si muore dal freddo, loro sono chiuse in un santuario e si accovacciano a terra. Maryam inizia a fare disegni con le dita nella polvere e nel sudiciume che c'è sul pavimento, poi si mette le dita in bocca per riscaldarle. O è un problema della traduzione o non ha senso. Se hai le dita sudice, non le metti in bocca; ma a prescindere, per riscaldarsi le mani, nessuno si mette le dita in bocca, casomai ci alita sopra. Però, come detto, forse è un problema della traduzione. Il problema è che il libro è pieno di certi piccoli dettagli che non hanno senso.
4) Non è un romanzo storico. Tutta la storia ruota intorno a Maryam e il suo passato; sulla storia dell'Iran non c'è praticamente niente. Al massimo si vede il comportamento delle famiglie musulmane tradizionaliste, ma anche a questo riguardo c'è ben poco e le solite due cose: la ragazza deve sposare l'uomo che le trova il padre; innamorarsi di qualcun altro è impensabile.
Purtroppo non viene affrontato bene nemmeno l'argomento delle origine, della nostalgia per il paese natio e del vivere da straniero in un altro paese. Ma non so se era l'intento della scrittrice metterci anche questo argomento. Cioè, ci sono brevi accenni a parecchie cose, ma niente viene approfondito. Non si capisce dove vuole andare a parare, di cosa vuole parlare, a che cosa serve questa storia.
Dalla trama sembrava interessante, anche per imparare qualcosa sulla storia e la cultura dell'Iran, ma il libro è pieno di difetti.
1) I personaggi sono funzionali alla trama, caricature di ciò che devono rappresentare, quindi non sono reali o credibili. Maryam, la protagonista principale, ha un atteggiamento oserei dire isterico e disfunzionale. Il lettore dovrebbe essere incuriosito, chiedersi cosa sarà mai successo nel passato di questa donna per comportarsi in questo modo. Invece no! Il suo comportamento era talmente poco credibile che invece di incuriosirmi, mi irritava.
2) I tempi di alcuni avvenimenti sono poco credibili perché non corrispondono alla realtà (anche se non mi sono messa con un calendario in mano). Ci sono soprattutto troppi eventi in un tempo riavvicinato che si fa fatica a credere che in quel poco tempo sia successo tutto quello di cui si parla.
3) Piccoli dettagli "strani". Il marito di Sara (figlia di Maryam) rientra a casa, la bacia e le accarezza il polpaccio. Si china? Lei era sdraiata sul divano quindi il polpaccio era a portata di mano? Non ci è dato sapere. Maryam e Sara sono in Iran: è inverno, si muore dal freddo, loro sono chiuse in un santuario e si accovacciano a terra. Maryam inizia a fare disegni con le dita nella polvere e nel sudiciume che c'è sul pavimento, poi si mette le dita in bocca per riscaldarle. O è un problema della traduzione o non ha senso. Se hai le dita sudice, non le metti in bocca; ma a prescindere, per riscaldarsi le mani, nessuno si mette le dita in bocca, casomai ci alita sopra. Però, come detto, forse è un problema della traduzione. Il problema è che il libro è pieno di certi piccoli dettagli che non hanno senso.
4) Non è un romanzo storico. Tutta la storia ruota intorno a Maryam e il suo passato; sulla storia dell'Iran non c'è praticamente niente. Al massimo si vede il comportamento delle famiglie musulmane tradizionaliste, ma anche a questo riguardo c'è ben poco e le solite due cose: la ragazza deve sposare l'uomo che le trova il padre; innamorarsi di qualcun altro è impensabile.
Purtroppo non viene affrontato bene nemmeno l'argomento delle origine, della nostalgia per il paese natio e del vivere da straniero in un altro paese. Ma non so se era l'intento della scrittrice metterci anche questo argomento. Cioè, ci sono brevi accenni a parecchie cose, ma niente viene approfondito. Non si capisce dove vuole andare a parare, di cosa vuole parlare, a che cosa serve questa storia.
October 27, 2010
I listened to this as an audio book. The two narrators were quite good. The story is basically Maryam's, an Iranian woman who came to live in London when she was a young woman. As the story opens her daughter Sara is pregnant and Maryam's young nephew has just arrived to live with his aunt. Sara loses her baby as an indirect result of Maryam bullying her nephew Said. Maryam then abruptly departs the country and returns to Iran.
The story has three narratives; Maryam as a young woman living in Iran; her story after she returns to Iran; and Sara's story as she attempts to unravel her mother's actions.
Her story as a young woman is the most interesting and paints the most vivid picture. Once the story moves into the present I found Maryam to be an unlikeable person and rather flat. I would have liked to have known her as an adult but we never get a clear picture of her other than the fact that she is unhappy. We don't know why she came to England, what she did before or after she married, or why she married a man she didn't love.
Some of the scenes the author sets up to push forward the scene make no sense to me either. Why was Said sent to England when his father was still living and he had other relatives in Iran? I believe it was simply so his actions would act as catalyst for Maryam to leave the country. I also found it hard to believe that Maryam would leave the country immediately after her daughter miscarries.
I have so many other questions as well, would Ali never really marry, why does he not attempt to contact her after she leaves for nurses training? Maryam's mother is another enigma. I suspect we were to draw parallels between her and Maryam but we know so little about her yet she could have been interesting. Why did she marry Maryam's father, where is she from originally that she speaks Russian?
Would Maryam really be able to so easily readapt to living in Iran after 30 years away, surely England would have changed her in some way? I wish the author had written scenes not merely to make things happen but rather to add depth to her characters. Overall i'd say an interesting but flawed attempt.
The story has three narratives; Maryam as a young woman living in Iran; her story after she returns to Iran; and Sara's story as she attempts to unravel her mother's actions.
Her story as a young woman is the most interesting and paints the most vivid picture. Once the story moves into the present I found Maryam to be an unlikeable person and rather flat. I would have liked to have known her as an adult but we never get a clear picture of her other than the fact that she is unhappy. We don't know why she came to England, what she did before or after she married, or why she married a man she didn't love.
Some of the scenes the author sets up to push forward the scene make no sense to me either. Why was Said sent to England when his father was still living and he had other relatives in Iran? I believe it was simply so his actions would act as catalyst for Maryam to leave the country. I also found it hard to believe that Maryam would leave the country immediately after her daughter miscarries.
I have so many other questions as well, would Ali never really marry, why does he not attempt to contact her after she leaves for nurses training? Maryam's mother is another enigma. I suspect we were to draw parallels between her and Maryam but we know so little about her yet she could have been interesting. Why did she marry Maryam's father, where is she from originally that she speaks Russian?
Would Maryam really be able to so easily readapt to living in Iran after 30 years away, surely England would have changed her in some way? I wish the author had written scenes not merely to make things happen but rather to add depth to her characters. Overall i'd say an interesting but flawed attempt.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 17, 2009
This book is about an Iranian woman whose traumatic experiences during childhood completely alter the course of her life and ultimately affect the family she has built in a foreign land. Crowther really understands Iran and Iranians; she gets the details - the saffron, the gold bangles, the tea from samovars - and she gets the big issues - especially the family name. For a first novel, I'm impressed.
December 28, 2008
I liked the idea of the book more than I liked the book. But I'm still looking forward to discussing it at book club.
At times I was distracted by the differing points of view - Crowther switches from first person to third person and back again. There were some chapters where I wasn't sure who was talking - and even when I knew who was talking, it was unclear the timeframe. Was it present day or 40 yrs ago?
At the end, Maryam explains the big secret of her life and it ended up being rather anti-climatic. That part of the book could have been expanded quite a bit but as is, it was kind of a let down. Not that the circumstance wasn't tragic, but it sure wasn't a secret or a surprise to the reader.
I liked the character of Sara very much and found her much more interesting than her mother. Maryam was presented as this defiant strong-willed young girl who really turned out to just be a victim and someone who made some pitiful and hurtful choices.
At times I was distracted by the differing points of view - Crowther switches from first person to third person and back again. There were some chapters where I wasn't sure who was talking - and even when I knew who was talking, it was unclear the timeframe. Was it present day or 40 yrs ago?
At the end, Maryam explains the big secret of her life and it ended up being rather anti-climatic. That part of the book could have been expanded quite a bit but as is, it was kind of a let down. Not that the circumstance wasn't tragic, but it sure wasn't a secret or a surprise to the reader.
I liked the character of Sara very much and found her much more interesting than her mother. Maryam was presented as this defiant strong-willed young girl who really turned out to just be a victim and someone who made some pitiful and hurtful choices.
May 1, 2008
I'm loving this book. It's emotionally a bit intense. I keep wanting to switch the pov to the mother, right now it's first person from the daughter. Maybe I can just relate more to the mother and wish I could hear her thoughts. UPDATE: I finished the book, and really liked the story. It's a love story on so many levels, love of a man and woman, love of a mother and daughter, and the love a person has for a place and how that is tied up with the feelings for a person. I could relate to the mother more than the daughter, mother was multidimensional compared to daughter. I do wish it had been first person through the mother, but the fact she was a puzzle may be what pushed the story along. Altogether I would recommend!
April 26, 2015
I thought this book was a really good read. Not un-put-downable, but very good all the same. The book started off a little slow, but I found myself drawn into the characters and the cultures in just a few pages.
I always enjoy reading about different cultures and the potrayal of Iran and its cultures was done just perfectly in this book. The author certainly has a gift at conveying emotion of the characters, especially Maryam (the main character) and as a reader, you really do feel the sense of yearning she feels towards Iran.
Overall, this is a great book providing an interesting window into Iran's past and present.
I always enjoy reading about different cultures and the potrayal of Iran and its cultures was done just perfectly in this book. The author certainly has a gift at conveying emotion of the characters, especially Maryam (the main character) and as a reader, you really do feel the sense of yearning she feels towards Iran.
Overall, this is a great book providing an interesting window into Iran's past and present.
June 17, 2009
This book is almost comparable to The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns. Yasmin Crowther doesn't quite pull you in to the story like Khaled Hosseini does but it's an excellent try and great first novel. To me, this was a story about finding out who you are, conquering your demons and being the person you were meant to be.
July 7, 2023
Un romanzo quanto mai attuale, che fa riflettere sulla situazione della donna in Iran, una situazione che recentemente sembra essere addirittura peggiorata!
Per Sara Mazar non è facile comprendere Maryam, quella madre così ermetica che spesso si estranea nei propri pensieri e nelle proprie attività, prigioniera di un passato terribile, che l'ha ferita irrimediabilmente; che è riuscita a realizzare il proprio sogno di essere indipendente, ma a quale prezzo?
La sua anima è divisa tra l'Inghilterra, dove è andata a vivere dopo essere stata cacciata ingiustamente da casa dal padre, e l'Iran, il suo paese, il luogo a cui sa di appartenere e a cui anela ritornare... se solo fosse così facile.
La fragile situazione di equilibrio di Maryam si infrange quando Sara accidentalmente perde il bambino che attende a causa della madre. Per ritrovare un minimo di sanità mentale e per espiare la colpa di aver perso il nipote non nato, Maryam decide di tornare nel suo paese, adesso che suo padre e molte delle persone a lei vicine non ci sono più. L'unica persona rimasta è Ali, il suo più caro amico d'infanzia, servitore del padre, che ha pagato quasi quanto Maryam una vicinanza innocente e allo stesso tempo proibita.
Per Sara Mazar non è facile comprendere Maryam, quella madre così ermetica che spesso si estranea nei propri pensieri e nelle proprie attività, prigioniera di un passato terribile, che l'ha ferita irrimediabilmente; che è riuscita a realizzare il proprio sogno di essere indipendente, ma a quale prezzo?
La sua anima è divisa tra l'Inghilterra, dove è andata a vivere dopo essere stata cacciata ingiustamente da casa dal padre, e l'Iran, il suo paese, il luogo a cui sa di appartenere e a cui anela ritornare... se solo fosse così facile.
La fragile situazione di equilibrio di Maryam si infrange quando Sara accidentalmente perde il bambino che attende a causa della madre. Per ritrovare un minimo di sanità mentale e per espiare la colpa di aver perso il nipote non nato, Maryam decide di tornare nel suo paese, adesso che suo padre e molte delle persone a lei vicine non ci sono più. L'unica persona rimasta è Ali, il suo più caro amico d'infanzia, servitore del padre, che ha pagato quasi quanto Maryam una vicinanza innocente e allo stesso tempo proibita.
April 7, 2019
Çok güzeldi. Ne olacak, Meryem geçmişi ile nasıl yüzleşecek. Sara kabullenecek mi? Okuyun öğrenin :)
January 30, 2018
The Saffron Kitchen is told from the perspective of Sara, a half Iranian and half British woman living in London; as well as her mother Maryam, who left Iran as a young woman to make a new life.
One day in London, a tragic event involving pregnant Sara, leads Maryam to leave London and go to Iran, for how long no one knows. Her daughter Sara, who is married, is left with her father to pick up the pieces Maryam left behind.
The story flits between Sara in London, Maryam in Iran as a child growing up and Maryam in the present as an adult. Sara and Maryam have a difficult relationship and Sara is trying to understand her mother and why she has acted certain ways throughout her childhood.
I enjoyed the parts of the story about Maryam’s childhood in her remote village in Iran; her difficult relationship with her father and how she finds solace in her mother figure, Fatima. Maryam grows up resenting the woman’s place in Iran. She does not want to get married and lose her independence or her spirit. After feeling guilty about the tragic event in London, Maryam decides she has to go back to Iran and she seems to suddenly have a unstoppable desire to stay there no matter what the consequences are. This aspect of the story I did not find believable due to the way Maryam’s resentment of the norms and traditions regarding women in Iran were portrayed so heavily.
Neither Maryam nor Sara were particularly likeable and I found it hard to feel a connection with either one of them. The plot seemed to make jumps which didn’t make sense and were not made believable. Maryam’s past and her father cutting off all ties with her before she came to Britain was built up a lot throughout the book, however, the climax didn’t live up to the suspense that had been created and I expected more from it.
I had been looking forward to reading this and I expected to be captivated by it but I was somewhat disappointed. Overall, the plot in this story was lacklustre and the characters did not have enough depth for me. However, I enjoyed certain aspects of the book, especially the scenes of Maryam’s upbringing and the setting of Iran.
5/10
One day in London, a tragic event involving pregnant Sara, leads Maryam to leave London and go to Iran, for how long no one knows. Her daughter Sara, who is married, is left with her father to pick up the pieces Maryam left behind.
The story flits between Sara in London, Maryam in Iran as a child growing up and Maryam in the present as an adult. Sara and Maryam have a difficult relationship and Sara is trying to understand her mother and why she has acted certain ways throughout her childhood.
I enjoyed the parts of the story about Maryam’s childhood in her remote village in Iran; her difficult relationship with her father and how she finds solace in her mother figure, Fatima. Maryam grows up resenting the woman’s place in Iran. She does not want to get married and lose her independence or her spirit. After feeling guilty about the tragic event in London, Maryam decides she has to go back to Iran and she seems to suddenly have a unstoppable desire to stay there no matter what the consequences are. This aspect of the story I did not find believable due to the way Maryam’s resentment of the norms and traditions regarding women in Iran were portrayed so heavily.
Neither Maryam nor Sara were particularly likeable and I found it hard to feel a connection with either one of them. The plot seemed to make jumps which didn’t make sense and were not made believable. Maryam’s past and her father cutting off all ties with her before she came to Britain was built up a lot throughout the book, however, the climax didn’t live up to the suspense that had been created and I expected more from it.
I had been looking forward to reading this and I expected to be captivated by it but I was somewhat disappointed. Overall, the plot in this story was lacklustre and the characters did not have enough depth for me. However, I enjoyed certain aspects of the book, especially the scenes of Maryam’s upbringing and the setting of Iran.
5/10
December 13, 2012
I really wanted to love this book by Yasmin Crowther. It has one of those book jackets that is so terribly appealing, especially in the way it feels. Yes, I really wanted to love this book…but as the saying goes never judge a book by its cover!
I just couldn’t love it. There was something not quite right in the telling of the story. For one, the POV (Point of View) changed not chapter by chapter, which I can deal with, but by sections within chapters. Unmarked sections that made me say, “Wait, hold on a sec, who? Huh?” Add that in with occasional flashbacks, and the effect was perplexing and jarring.
The story itself lacked deep feeling. I never connected at any level—as a woman, daughter, wife, or mother—with any of the characters. There is Maryam, an Iranian woman in her 60s who leaves her home of 40 years in England to go back to Iran and her childhood love, Ali. And there is Sara, her Anglo-Iranian daughter, who has a miscarriage in the opening scene which is apparently caused by Maryam. That whole scene was confusing to me and probably set the tone for the rest of the book. Sara is furious with her mother for causing her miscarriage, of course, and also for leaving her father and returning to Iran after a lifetime spent together.
Read more of the review here http://www.mothersnotebook.com/?p=1772
I just couldn’t love it. There was something not quite right in the telling of the story. For one, the POV (Point of View) changed not chapter by chapter, which I can deal with, but by sections within chapters. Unmarked sections that made me say, “Wait, hold on a sec, who? Huh?” Add that in with occasional flashbacks, and the effect was perplexing and jarring.
The story itself lacked deep feeling. I never connected at any level—as a woman, daughter, wife, or mother—with any of the characters. There is Maryam, an Iranian woman in her 60s who leaves her home of 40 years in England to go back to Iran and her childhood love, Ali. And there is Sara, her Anglo-Iranian daughter, who has a miscarriage in the opening scene which is apparently caused by Maryam. That whole scene was confusing to me and probably set the tone for the rest of the book. Sara is furious with her mother for causing her miscarriage, of course, and also for leaving her father and returning to Iran after a lifetime spent together.
Read more of the review here http://www.mothersnotebook.com/?p=1772
January 30, 2010
Where "The Joy Luck Club" succeeded I think "The Saffron Kitchen" floundered. The story is about a mother daughter relationship and explores the cultural differences that can occur in a single household when one parent is an immigrant.
Maryam is from Iran. She immigrated to England and married an Englishman, Edward, and they have one daughter named Sara.
Maryam's tale is poignant, but watered down in fragmented flash backs and a disjointed narrative. The narrative jumps between first person and third person and I often had to go back and re-read sections because I lost who was telling the story. Sara's side of the story is told from her perspective and I feel like her narrative is the strongest part of the book. Maryam's story is told in third person. I would have much rather had more insight into how she felt and had her describe her story and surroundings.
So - it was okay. I felt like it's potential slipped through my fingers. Where I could have been left feeling sympathy for the Iranian culture and had a deeper understanding of their traditions I was left feeling disappointed and still ignorant of why it is they do what it is they do.
Maryam is from Iran. She immigrated to England and married an Englishman, Edward, and they have one daughter named Sara.
Maryam's tale is poignant, but watered down in fragmented flash backs and a disjointed narrative. The narrative jumps between first person and third person and I often had to go back and re-read sections because I lost who was telling the story. Sara's side of the story is told from her perspective and I feel like her narrative is the strongest part of the book. Maryam's story is told in third person. I would have much rather had more insight into how she felt and had her describe her story and surroundings.
So - it was okay. I felt like it's potential slipped through my fingers. Where I could have been left feeling sympathy for the Iranian culture and had a deeper understanding of their traditions I was left feeling disappointed and still ignorant of why it is they do what it is they do.
May 9, 2008
This was the paperback (sorry the record doesn't match--couldn't find it) I carried to doctor appointments for the last month or so. I have that system where the heavyweight hardcovers are on the bedside table, the romances I don't wish to be seen with by the exercycle, and higher-brow paperbacks in the battered tote with the essentials for waiting and waiting and waiting...I digress. Saffron Kitchen held my attention though all the interruptions. (Why is it patients can wait an hour, but then must jump up instantly ready to be transfered to another room to wait some more? Sorry.)
The story of Maryam, who had to leave her family and home in northern Iran after she was caught alone with her father's secretary, is riveting. Maryam moves to London, marries Edward, and has a daughter, Sara. All along, a part of Maryam's heart remains in her remote village. The sites and scenes in Iran and England are well-evoked, as well as the relationships between characters.
The story of Maryam, who had to leave her family and home in northern Iran after she was caught alone with her father's secretary, is riveting. Maryam moves to London, marries Edward, and has a daughter, Sara. All along, a part of Maryam's heart remains in her remote village. The sites and scenes in Iran and England are well-evoked, as well as the relationships between characters.
January 31, 2017
When a stressful situation with Maryam's nephew drives her to leave London for her home country of Iran, her adult daughter struggles to understand why. There are some nice mother/daughter scenes in this book, but the flashback to Maryam's life before moving to London left me feeling unfulfilled. Ultimately Maryam felt like an incomplete character to me, which is why this book only gets three stars.
September 13, 2018
در روزی بارانی در شهر لندن، رازهای سیاه و سر به مهر مریم مزار به نحو خشونت باری سرباز میکنند و باعث بروز حادثه تلخی برای دخترش سارا و خواهرزاده ی کوچکش سعید میشود.
مریم که خودش را مقصر می داند خانه و خانواده خود را ترک میکند و پس از چهل سال به زادگاهش، روستایی دور افتاده در ایران، باز می گردد.
سارا برای بازگرداندن مادرش راهی ایران میشود. او در این سفر به راز دردناک مادرش پی می برد.
مریم که خودش را مقصر می داند خانه و خانواده خود را ترک میکند و پس از چهل سال به زادگاهش، روستایی دور افتاده در ایران، باز می گردد.
سارا برای بازگرداندن مادرش راهی ایران میشود. او در این سفر به راز دردناک مادرش پی می برد.
November 24, 2016
Picked this up at the Rabun County Library book sale last month. While I read it, Rabun county was on my mind with the fires as much as Iran was with the story.
December 6, 2017
Onvan : The Saffron Kitchen - Nevisande : Yasmin Crowther - ISBN : 670038113 - ISBN13 : 9780670038114 - Dar 272 Safhe - Saal e Chap : 2006
October 4, 2017
I really wanted to like this book, and at times I did. But the writing seemed a bit forced, the plot ho-hum, and many of the characters flat and unrelatable. So it was just ok: 2 1/2 stars.
March 17, 2015
I give this book a 3.5 for its ability to straddle both cultures and make it seem believable. The book poses an interesting question: what does one do if the woman that a man loves lives in another country and he is prevented from pursuing a relationship with her b/c of international politics and familial concerns? Does one move on with ones life (Maryam) or does one wait for the beloved to come back (Ali)? Also, the book talks how the immigrant experience can be one of hope for a new safe life but also one of profound cultural dislocation as can be seen in Maryam experience. The children of immigrants who lived in two different culture can also feel somewhat discombobulated from the main culture.
Saeed was bullied at school and Maryam response was to hit him to make him stronger. So he decided to have a suicide attempt to which Sara successfully prevented him. B/c Saeed kicked Sara in the stomach when she saved him from jumping off the bridge, she ended up having a miscarriage. Maryam is unpredictable in her thoughts and her movements. B/c she is saddened by her indirect involvement in her daughter's miscarriage, Maryam decided to go back to Iran. Maryam felt she lost her daughter due to her indirect role of forcing Sara to miscarry. While Edward made Maryam feel safe, she was still haunted by her past which she did not feel worth sharing with Edward.
Maryam belonged to the old world aristocracy in Iran and now is going back from England to Iran. Young Maryam did not like the predestined way women were raised in Iran and sought to find freedom from it. She starting to like Ali who is her father's village farmer scholar/servant. She rejects her arranged marriage in favor of the book smart Ali b/c they share a love of learning. In Iran, she was not allowed to look @ her father's books. In 1950's Iran, a woman had a choice of being a wife or a maid but not a professional. Maryam was odd b/c she was an intelligent woman who wanted to be a professional and postponed being a wife. It used to be the world of women was to be a wife and was far away from the outside world which was the world of men.
Stories of Fatima turned into fables of doing what was expected of the girls. Maryam did not want to do what was expected of her but rather what she wanted to do with her life. Her issue was compounded by the fact that she was beautiful so she was expected to be wife and mother not to have a career. It must be painful to be as smart as Maryam but be trapped in a conservative country where a woman's choices are limited. She wanted to live her life as a nurse before doing her father's will. Her father is involved in a Western plot to overthrow Mossadeq for his insistence on nationalizing the oil fields from BP and to install the Shah as its ruler. Since she said that she wanted to be a nurse, their family doctor helped her fulfill that mission by taking her as his intern which gave her purpose in living.
B/c of the imminent coup, the father ordered that Maryam be hidden but b/c she was out and about she ended hiding out with Ali. B/c it was bad for Maryam to hide with a servant boy, she was in danger of being disowned by her family by being alone with a boy. B/c of the forbidden nature of their relationship, they kissed while reciting poetry to each other. For being alone with Ali, she has been disowned by her father and Ali was beaten up to the point of death by her father's men b/c their family's honor was compromised. She convinced the family doctor to talk to her father and to tell him that nothing sexual happened b/w Ali and her. B/c her father was a general in the Shah's army, his pride and the fear of appearing weak in front of his enemies forced him to disown Maryam by banishing her but at the same time allowing her to live her own life. He supported her nursing training in Tehran.
Maryam was devastated when the Iranian revolution occurred and her half brother hung from a tree. When she returned to Iran as a grown up, she realized Ali was still waiting for her in the village that her family owned as the headmaster of the school that he worked at. Meanwhile the village owed her father a lot b/c he allowed the village elders to keep 100% of the produce that they produced on his land after he died. Despite having the freedom to choose her own destiny, Maryam desires to be back in Iran b/c her roots are there. Whereas Farnoosh wants to leave Iran b/c she fears forever being the village's caretaker, Mayam desires to retire in Iran into what she knows. Whereas Iran was used to be known for its civilization and culture, the Ayatollah's Iran is now associated with terrorism. Maryam was a trailblazer in that she was the first Iranian woman who married an Englishman and moved to England. Sara does not know her mother was the defiant one in her family.
As an old woman, Maryam met Ali again and it is though there was no break in time. She told him that he has never left her mind. Maryam swears that she will never leave Ali again. He placed his life on hold in order be with her focusing his desire to have a family with school children instead. Maryam loves Ali b/c they are from the same village and their youthful love was prevented by her father but she realizes her husband took care of her and fathered and daughter with her. Ali realized that Maryam compartmentalized her life into Iran and England and thought when she spoke of England with a blunt affect. She asks Sara to go to Iran and to realize where she spent the happiest period of her life.
Sara's father had a premonition that Maryam was never coming back again and his belief in keeping her safe and knowing her was just a delusion. He never really felt that she belonged in England. Sarah remembered her first time with Julian on how her mother told her to prize her virgin body over all else. While she initially was saddened by the fact that Julian's family had roots in the UK and hers didn't, he later told her that that was attracted him to her that she had an outsiders perspective in seeing the world; thus she took nothing for granted.
Sara went to Iran to be with her mother. Shirin asks whether a person can truly be an individual in a society that values family above all else. By going with Ali, Maryam risked hurting not only her families Iranian name but also her English family especially, Sara. Sara confronts Maryam on Ali and how she is being selfish in staying with him instead with going back to her family. Maryam states that she wants to be with Ali b/c he is her own link to her past. Edward wrote to Maryam telling her that he knows that she went back for a past lover to which he responded with jealous anger. He also told her that he knew in the long run she would find her way back to him. Although Edward always gave Maryam the space she needed, Sara thought that he has given up hope on being with Maryam. Seeing her mother and Ali together, Sara was pissed off that Maryam left their family in England to be with Ali in the middle of nowhere. She told Sara that she escaped Iran b/c she wanted to escape traditional life only to fall in with a New World life where she did not fit in.
Maryam told Sara what happened the night that her father disowned her for being with Ali. Sara understood b/c in Islamic Iran a girls body is something they should be ashamed of instead of priced. Sara tries to understand the reasoning behind her mother's pull toward Ali. Maryam tried to love Edward but was really in love with Ali who lived in their families village in Iran. Sara
asked Ali what he wanted from Maryam; his response was to be herself and true to who she is as an individual much to Sara's surprise. Furthermore, he stated as young people in love they daydreamed that they would be together forever. He did not want to keep Maryam from her destiny though he was happy with the little time that they spent with each other. Sara was saddened by the thought that, through his answers Ali, proved to be a good man. Ali started a frank conversation full of depth b/w Sara and Maryam. For Sara, Iran remains an ideal though she never felt English, she also never knew what it was like to be an American. For Maryam being in England means having Sara in the safety of a developed country, she also states that in England she was always lonely b/c she had to learn how to constantly try to read a new culture that she did not belong to. Sara realizes that it was her mother's choice to go back to Iran without any pressure from Ali.
Maryam stood next to Ali with pride against a bully who wanted to take away a bastard from them to work his fields. Standing in defiance, Ali saw Maryam of old which he celebrated. Maryam wrote a letter to Edward signaling that she would stay with Ali and her historic past. Despite Sara forgiving Maryam for abandoning her English, her Iranian family still treats both her and Ali as outcast because of customs that die hard. Ali told Sarah that Maryam's father was bound by tradition and duty and prized respect and obedience above all else. Maryam's father had her daughter checked that she was a virgin only to be raped by his men. Edward never had a chance b/c of the punishment metted out by Maryam's father assured her that her shame would only be shared with Ali. Despite the horrors that her father put her through, Maryam still remained Daddy's little girl. It ends with life going on with Edward moving forward, Maryam staying in Iran with Ali, and Sara starting a new life pregnant with Julien.
Saeed was bullied at school and Maryam response was to hit him to make him stronger. So he decided to have a suicide attempt to which Sara successfully prevented him. B/c Saeed kicked Sara in the stomach when she saved him from jumping off the bridge, she ended up having a miscarriage. Maryam is unpredictable in her thoughts and her movements. B/c she is saddened by her indirect involvement in her daughter's miscarriage, Maryam decided to go back to Iran. Maryam felt she lost her daughter due to her indirect role of forcing Sara to miscarry. While Edward made Maryam feel safe, she was still haunted by her past which she did not feel worth sharing with Edward.
Maryam belonged to the old world aristocracy in Iran and now is going back from England to Iran. Young Maryam did not like the predestined way women were raised in Iran and sought to find freedom from it. She starting to like Ali who is her father's village farmer scholar/servant. She rejects her arranged marriage in favor of the book smart Ali b/c they share a love of learning. In Iran, she was not allowed to look @ her father's books. In 1950's Iran, a woman had a choice of being a wife or a maid but not a professional. Maryam was odd b/c she was an intelligent woman who wanted to be a professional and postponed being a wife. It used to be the world of women was to be a wife and was far away from the outside world which was the world of men.
Stories of Fatima turned into fables of doing what was expected of the girls. Maryam did not want to do what was expected of her but rather what she wanted to do with her life. Her issue was compounded by the fact that she was beautiful so she was expected to be wife and mother not to have a career. It must be painful to be as smart as Maryam but be trapped in a conservative country where a woman's choices are limited. She wanted to live her life as a nurse before doing her father's will. Her father is involved in a Western plot to overthrow Mossadeq for his insistence on nationalizing the oil fields from BP and to install the Shah as its ruler. Since she said that she wanted to be a nurse, their family doctor helped her fulfill that mission by taking her as his intern which gave her purpose in living.
B/c of the imminent coup, the father ordered that Maryam be hidden but b/c she was out and about she ended hiding out with Ali. B/c it was bad for Maryam to hide with a servant boy, she was in danger of being disowned by her family by being alone with a boy. B/c of the forbidden nature of their relationship, they kissed while reciting poetry to each other. For being alone with Ali, she has been disowned by her father and Ali was beaten up to the point of death by her father's men b/c their family's honor was compromised. She convinced the family doctor to talk to her father and to tell him that nothing sexual happened b/w Ali and her. B/c her father was a general in the Shah's army, his pride and the fear of appearing weak in front of his enemies forced him to disown Maryam by banishing her but at the same time allowing her to live her own life. He supported her nursing training in Tehran.
Maryam was devastated when the Iranian revolution occurred and her half brother hung from a tree. When she returned to Iran as a grown up, she realized Ali was still waiting for her in the village that her family owned as the headmaster of the school that he worked at. Meanwhile the village owed her father a lot b/c he allowed the village elders to keep 100% of the produce that they produced on his land after he died. Despite having the freedom to choose her own destiny, Maryam desires to be back in Iran b/c her roots are there. Whereas Farnoosh wants to leave Iran b/c she fears forever being the village's caretaker, Mayam desires to retire in Iran into what she knows. Whereas Iran was used to be known for its civilization and culture, the Ayatollah's Iran is now associated with terrorism. Maryam was a trailblazer in that she was the first Iranian woman who married an Englishman and moved to England. Sara does not know her mother was the defiant one in her family.
As an old woman, Maryam met Ali again and it is though there was no break in time. She told him that he has never left her mind. Maryam swears that she will never leave Ali again. He placed his life on hold in order be with her focusing his desire to have a family with school children instead. Maryam loves Ali b/c they are from the same village and their youthful love was prevented by her father but she realizes her husband took care of her and fathered and daughter with her. Ali realized that Maryam compartmentalized her life into Iran and England and thought when she spoke of England with a blunt affect. She asks Sara to go to Iran and to realize where she spent the happiest period of her life.
Sara's father had a premonition that Maryam was never coming back again and his belief in keeping her safe and knowing her was just a delusion. He never really felt that she belonged in England. Sarah remembered her first time with Julian on how her mother told her to prize her virgin body over all else. While she initially was saddened by the fact that Julian's family had roots in the UK and hers didn't, he later told her that that was attracted him to her that she had an outsiders perspective in seeing the world; thus she took nothing for granted.
Sara went to Iran to be with her mother. Shirin asks whether a person can truly be an individual in a society that values family above all else. By going with Ali, Maryam risked hurting not only her families Iranian name but also her English family especially, Sara. Sara confronts Maryam on Ali and how she is being selfish in staying with him instead with going back to her family. Maryam states that she wants to be with Ali b/c he is her own link to her past. Edward wrote to Maryam telling her that he knows that she went back for a past lover to which he responded with jealous anger. He also told her that he knew in the long run she would find her way back to him. Although Edward always gave Maryam the space she needed, Sara thought that he has given up hope on being with Maryam. Seeing her mother and Ali together, Sara was pissed off that Maryam left their family in England to be with Ali in the middle of nowhere. She told Sara that she escaped Iran b/c she wanted to escape traditional life only to fall in with a New World life where she did not fit in.
Maryam told Sara what happened the night that her father disowned her for being with Ali. Sara understood b/c in Islamic Iran a girls body is something they should be ashamed of instead of priced. Sara tries to understand the reasoning behind her mother's pull toward Ali. Maryam tried to love Edward but was really in love with Ali who lived in their families village in Iran. Sara
asked Ali what he wanted from Maryam; his response was to be herself and true to who she is as an individual much to Sara's surprise. Furthermore, he stated as young people in love they daydreamed that they would be together forever. He did not want to keep Maryam from her destiny though he was happy with the little time that they spent with each other. Sara was saddened by the thought that, through his answers Ali, proved to be a good man. Ali started a frank conversation full of depth b/w Sara and Maryam. For Sara, Iran remains an ideal though she never felt English, she also never knew what it was like to be an American. For Maryam being in England means having Sara in the safety of a developed country, she also states that in England she was always lonely b/c she had to learn how to constantly try to read a new culture that she did not belong to. Sara realizes that it was her mother's choice to go back to Iran without any pressure from Ali.
Maryam stood next to Ali with pride against a bully who wanted to take away a bastard from them to work his fields. Standing in defiance, Ali saw Maryam of old which he celebrated. Maryam wrote a letter to Edward signaling that she would stay with Ali and her historic past. Despite Sara forgiving Maryam for abandoning her English, her Iranian family still treats both her and Ali as outcast because of customs that die hard. Ali told Sarah that Maryam's father was bound by tradition and duty and prized respect and obedience above all else. Maryam's father had her daughter checked that she was a virgin only to be raped by his men. Edward never had a chance b/c of the punishment metted out by Maryam's father assured her that her shame would only be shared with Ali. Despite the horrors that her father put her through, Maryam still remained Daddy's little girl. It ends with life going on with Edward moving forward, Maryam staying in Iran with Ali, and Sara starting a new life pregnant with Julien.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 13, 2018
I enjoy reading about diverse cultures so I did enjoy the immersion into Iran, the sights, the smells, the dusty heat and bone-chilling cold. It opened my eyes to much of the culture that I didn’t know much about before. That said, the story was building and building toward what seemed to be an explosive revelation which when it came, finally, for me it was not completely clear. I don’t want to give anything away, but I believe the back blurb said something about a childhood trauma, which the entire book until the second to last chapter you’re waiting to figure out, and then it’s kind of only eluded to. I still am not sure exactly what happened to her. After that the book kind of ends with many of the characters in limbo. Nothing is satisfied, which left me feeling much the same.
December 8, 2017
This is a tough book to review. Recommended by a friend, I chose it for my book club to read. The overall feeling seemed to be the same: it seemed there should have been more of an emphasis on the significance of saffron vs it just being mentioned a lot. Or maybe we all just missed the boat (I did score low on reading comprehension in school after all, thanks mostly to taking things too literally), and at one point I did Google "The significance of saffron in Iran," which didn't really give me any answers.
This story is told from two points of view: Maryam was born and raised in Iran. However, the perception that she had brought shame on to her affluent father led to her being disowned and banished from her family's village leading her to ultimately start a new life in London. Many years later, she becomes the guardian of her nephew following the death of her sister.
Shortly after Saaed's arrival in London, tragedy strikes Maryam's daughter, Sara, due in large part to Maryam's actions. From here, the story is told from the point of view of Sara, who tries to recover and make sense of what has happened - and understand why her mother is the way she is - and from Maryam's point of view as she returns to Iran to deal with her guilt over causing Sara's anguish and to resolve her unfinished past.
I found that as the story alternated from London to Iran, I was more interested in Maryam's story than I was Sara's. It just seemed to have more depth to it as there was so much unresolved for Maryam, both in present day and in her past. I was surprised to read about the present day culture in Iran, something I don't really know that much about. This aspect of the story just seemed to be written with more emotion.
In the end, Sara goes to Iran to try to get some of answers she needs from her mother, who had only booked a one-way ticket. I liked that some things were resolved, but others weren't - that is very true to life in general. This was a thought provoking book in some respects and it definitely made for a good discussion as we all zeroed in on different aspects of it.
This story is told from two points of view: Maryam was born and raised in Iran. However, the perception that she had brought shame on to her affluent father led to her being disowned and banished from her family's village leading her to ultimately start a new life in London. Many years later, she becomes the guardian of her nephew following the death of her sister.
Shortly after Saaed's arrival in London, tragedy strikes Maryam's daughter, Sara, due in large part to Maryam's actions. From here, the story is told from the point of view of Sara, who tries to recover and make sense of what has happened - and understand why her mother is the way she is - and from Maryam's point of view as she returns to Iran to deal with her guilt over causing Sara's anguish and to resolve her unfinished past.
I found that as the story alternated from London to Iran, I was more interested in Maryam's story than I was Sara's. It just seemed to have more depth to it as there was so much unresolved for Maryam, both in present day and in her past. I was surprised to read about the present day culture in Iran, something I don't really know that much about. This aspect of the story just seemed to be written with more emotion.
In the end, Sara goes to Iran to try to get some of answers she needs from her mother, who had only booked a one-way ticket. I liked that some things were resolved, but others weren't - that is very true to life in general. This was a thought provoking book in some respects and it definitely made for a good discussion as we all zeroed in on different aspects of it.
June 13, 2014
It seems like I read this book years ago! But in fact, it was just two months ago. I have slipped into my "can't finish a book I start" phase. Thankfully I did finish Yasmin Crowther's The Saffron Kitchen.
Nothing exceptional about this book really. To me I felt it was more an effort to include Iran in the story and therefore garner the attention of those "Oh! I love the exotic dangerous Middle East!" types who would read anything that mentions Ali in a book. The story was simple : at the beginning Sara suffers a miscarriage after her mother Maryam's violent outburst against Saeed. Maryam runs off to her beloved Iran leaving her British husband behind and rediscover her old love Ali.
The writing is lyrical and it is Yasmin Crowther's maiden venture. So keeping that in mind, the book is not tedious at any stretch. However, I felt that the most interesting part of the book was Maryam herself, and her relationship with Ali in Iran. The rest of the drama - the troubled mother-daughter relationship was painfully wrought out, and ended in a bizarre snowed-out scenario that puts Sara, Ali and Maryam in the same place, and they are forced into acknowledging the truths of the past. By then, you could almost guess what the truths and mysteries were, and have reached the point where you just want to finish the book because it should not end up being another on the "to be completed" shelf.
Nothing exceptional about this book really. To me I felt it was more an effort to include Iran in the story and therefore garner the attention of those "Oh! I love the exotic dangerous Middle East!" types who would read anything that mentions Ali in a book. The story was simple : at the beginning Sara suffers a miscarriage after her mother Maryam's violent outburst against Saeed. Maryam runs off to her beloved Iran leaving her British husband behind and rediscover her old love Ali.
The writing is lyrical and it is Yasmin Crowther's maiden venture. So keeping that in mind, the book is not tedious at any stretch. However, I felt that the most interesting part of the book was Maryam herself, and her relationship with Ali in Iran. The rest of the drama - the troubled mother-daughter relationship was painfully wrought out, and ended in a bizarre snowed-out scenario that puts Sara, Ali and Maryam in the same place, and they are forced into acknowledging the truths of the past. By then, you could almost guess what the truths and mysteries were, and have reached the point where you just want to finish the book because it should not end up being another on the "to be completed" shelf.
August 30, 2008
This is Crowther's first novel. She is the daughter of an Iranian mother and British father, just as her main character is, and she brings a lot of authenticity to the page in terms of being of two different worlds. I was especially interested to see how Crowther handled point of view in her novel. Her choices, unfortunately, don't always work. In an interview, Crowther explains her moves from first to third person as she moves among Sara (the daughter) and Maryam (the mother), but until I read the interview (actually, even since I've read it) I didn't quite understand why she made the pov shifts. They distracted me from the story, which I thought was most powerful when Maryam, as first person narrator, tells about her childhood in Iran. Near the end of the novel, when Maryam finally reveals to Sara the big secret that has colored her entire life, I was left wanting more. Crowther shies away from the hard stuff, and in doing so, left me dissatisfied. The impact that section might have had is deflated. When her writing is good, it really shines, but it is inconsistent. The story she has to tell is fascinating. I can't wait for a second book by Crowther, as I think the flawed writing will gain polish with experience.
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