Once Upon a Time in Uppsala

by Shirin Amani Azari

Shirin has just arrived from war-stricken Iran to Sweden – her new home. Her and her family must learn to acclimatise to the weather, culture and socialisation of Sweden whilst still staying in touch with their Iranian heritage.

Along with her response to such things as a traditional Swedish Christmas lunch, the dating rituals of European teenagers or the social dynamics of an unfamiliar and not always friendly classroom are fascinating glimpses into the lives of a varied community of refugees, eccentrics and drop-outs. These are interspersed with traditional Persian fairy tales and nostalgic memories of her beloved grandmother, which sustain her in her new life.

Once Upon a Time in Uppsala is a remarkable, candid and moving account of a sensitive child on the verge of adolescence transplanted from her beloved but suffering homeland into a country which, although politically safe, offers unexpected challenges of its own.

152 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2023

Reviews

[Liralen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Winter, 1985: Shirin Azari and her mother and brother are new to Uppsala, Sweden, where they have fled to escape the war in Iran. Everything is different: the cold outside makes it impossible to keep plans; people stand far apart when they talk; nobody makes eye contact; music is listened to as a matter of enjoyment rather than subversion; people sunbathe naked in the park in summer. At twelve, Azari knows that the only way to handle this is to hold on to the knowledge that they will be going home. Any day now. Just as soon as the war is over.

Once Upon a Time in Uppsala takes the reader through Azari's first year in Sweden—learning the language, standing up to playground bullies, adjusting to Swedish culture but also to the understanding that home as she knew it is not really there anymore. It's a gradual shift but a natural one, aided by her new best friend Turkan (recently arrived from Turkey) and by her burgeoning confidence in Swedish.

Interspersed throughout the story are folk tales, some from Iran and some from Sweden and some of unknown origin. As with any folk tales, some have clear morals (for the most part not directly connected to Azari's family) while others seem like pleasant tales to tell a child; worked into this memoir, they're lovely and help to keep Iran alive in the story even as Azari becomes more comfortable in Sweden. It occurred to me, reading this, that most of the folk tales I know either come from Western countries or have been Westernized, and I'd love to see more of these Persian folk tales collected in a volume.

This makes for a quick read and gives a solid sense of what it was to be an immigrant/refugee child in Sweden in the 80s. I imagine that a lot of it still holds true today—easier communication with people back home, thanks to the Internet, but the same struggles to fit in and yearnings for home. This would be a valuable read both for young refugees in foreign lands and for their local peers.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

[Jax · Rating 4 out of 5]

This interesting memoir relates the story of an Iranian family who fled the Iran-Iraq War in the mid 1980s. The author, Shirin Amani Azari, describes her initial experiences with culture and climate shock before jumping to the period wherein she has married and moved to England.

Azari describes the otherworldly experience of moving from Iran to a winter wonderland with a starkly different culture as a step through the Professor’s wardrobe in Narnia. Instead of a White Witch, they were in a country where they met kindness and support. The freedoms they found had an unsettling quality. Azari says that freedom of thought and speech were torturous coming from a world that controlled such things. It took a while to learn a new way of being.

This story is told from the point of view of twelve-year-old Shirin, but the narrative voice is refined and the point of view mature, an adult contemplating her past through the lens of time and reflection. This overlay gives the twelve-year-old voice a stilted quality, but Azari’s goal to share the immigrant experience and the pain of leaving family and her home country behind is carried through and well done.

Thank you to The Book Guild and NetGalley for providing this eARC.

[Marion Loranger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un livre touchant qui se lit bien. Bien contente d’avoir tombé sur ce livre laissé par l’hôte de notre maison en voyage.

Dans un ère où l’immigration est très présent, il est touchant d’avoir le point de vue d’un enfant qui arrive dans un nouveau pays. Il est facile pour nous de croire que les immigrants devraient être que reconnaissant de quitter la guerre et d’être accueilli dans notre pays en paix. Mais malheureusement ce n’est pas si simple. Ils quittent de la famille, des souvenirs, des traditions, des odeurs, une culture qui leur appartient et qu’ils doivent laisser derrière.

Un beau livre qui fait réfléchir :)

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once Upon a Time in Uppsala is a story beautifully told and an important one to read. When we are introduced to Shirin and her family she is a pre-teen uprooted from Iran and relocated to Uppsala with her mother and brother, having left her father and other extended family behind. I visited Uppsala last summer and was able to clearly picture the events and settings Anzari described and appreciate how drastically different their new climate and surroundings must have been from her homeland.

Anzari takes the reader along as she navigated situations common to children of her age, all of which had an additional layer of complication created by language acquisition, separation and the need for assimilation. At times she enhanced these stories with traditional folk tales, which led to a deeper appreciation of the tradition and culture she left behind. Overall, I think a wide variety of readers will find this book helpful in understanding the impact immigration and displacement have on children and families and hopefully result in more people opening their hearts to those in situations such as Anzari and her family.

[Souriisreading · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, I was immediately drawn to this book, seeing this interesting title, stunning cover and perhaps partly due to the fact that it was cleverly placed right next to the cashier. But most of all because I am an immigrant, from the same country, living in Uppsala. Would you not have been instantly attracted to it if you were in my shoes?
I started reading as soon as I got home and have to admit that it was hard to put the book down. I related to the author, to the story and went through all the similarities in my head.
I loved the storytelling technique especially when it came to combining the memoir with retelling fairytales and sagas.
I tooted for the main character and put myself in her shoes.
But as someone who has experienced similar events although many decades later than the author, I was disappointed.
This story felt shallow, scratching only the surface not going deep enough into experiences, traumas and events that where pivotal to the storyline. The character development is basically nonexistent and grammar and writing disappoints greatly.
It almost felt like this was written as a summary to a bigger memoir where we could get to know all the important details. Life altering events, major character introductions etc where given merely a few sentences. The writing and grammatical structure at some points made it difficult to understand the meaning or what the author was trying to say. Stuff that could have easily been avoided with more accurate editing.
I was even at some point searching to see if this is a bad translation and the author has written the book in some other language.
Sometimes it felt that the author was holding back both information and authenticity of her experiences keeping us the readers unsatisfied and starving to know more.
It felt as though she was distancing herself from her experiences in a way and keeping a sterilized and formal tone throughout the book.
I really wanted to like this book more but I think it needs a lot more work.

[Megz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every refugee’s story is nuanced and unique - and Shirin Amani Azari’s is no exception. I’ve read a fair amount of asylum/refugee/immigrant narratives, but surprisingly, never one set in Sweden. In fact, the Scandinavian countries are largely an enigma to me, which lead to this narrative being doubly informative by giving me a view into the country's attitudes and customs.

Azari succeeds in recalling her initial months in Sweden through her twelve-year old eyes, setting a scene so crystal clear that her bewilderment and feelings of foreignness become not just tangible, but relatable.

Through succinct prose, Azari demonstrates the complicated emotions faced by displaced children - the longing for their dangerous homelands, but relief for their safety; the emptiness and fear of leaving people behind; but knowing that for every one that joins them is a sign that their country is not getting better; the pain of their parents' disempowerment.

Though not a middle grade book, this would be an accessible reader for introducing pre-teens to the world of displacement many of their peers experience, without overwhelming them with darkness and cruelty. It is also not very long (and thus also attractive to adult readers with little time!).

If you’ve ever wondered why a country should be expected to take in displaced persons, Once Upon a Time in Uppsala might lead you to wondering, why wouldn’t a country take in those who need a soft place to land? If you are already in the camp of welcoming displaced people with open arms, this will only make you more sensitive to the fact that their struggles do not come to an end once they reach safety.

Thank you to Netgalley and The Book Guild Publishing for providing this eARC.

[Robin Price · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shirin Amani Azari arrived in Sweden, a country at peace for more than one hundred years in January 1985. She was twelve, a child from Iran, a victim of the war between Iran and Iraq.
Shirin vows she wrote this memoir to help raise awareness of the silent suffering of immigrant children across the world. I would like to think that writing about her early life in Sweden was cathartic.
This is a book about the power of the human survival instinct, about heroism and the mysterious ways in which the universe acts. It is an emotional story of a stranger in a strange land learning to call that place home.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute story, easy to read and to relate to as I am myself also an immigrant in Sweden.

However, I felt like the story lacked depth and it was full of clichés.

[Roadtotherisingsun · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very nicely written. Very moving. Wished it was longer.

[Awais Khan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honest, unflinching and thought-provoking, this is a memoir you won't soon forget. Shirin writes with undaunted passion and honesty, and readers interested in culture and its impact will love this book. Unputdownable.