La Città Delle Rose

by Dalia Sofer

Story of a prosperous Jewish family in Tehran shortly after the Iranian revolution.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Iran, Middle East, Book Club, Jewish, Novels

318 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

The Septembers of Shiraz is Dalia Sofer's first novel. She was born in 1972 in Tehran, Iran and fled at the age of ten to the United States with her family. She received her MFA in Fiction from Sarah Lawrence College in 2002 and has been a resident at Yaddo. She currently resides in New York City.

Reviews

[Tina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I always feel somewhat iffy about novels set in Iran. I'm starting to realize that I -- an Iranian-American who tries to connect to her heritage in a variety of ways -- am not the target audience for these kind of books. These books seem to be written for a different target audience -- the American population at large, which still seems to think of Iran as a monolithic country where people only ever wear black, where the culture is rigid and forbidding. In actuality, the culture is rich and fascinating. There is more to Iran than meets the eye.

Had I been a member of this target audience, I might have enjoyed The Septembers of Shiraz more. As it is, I didn’t learn anything new from the novel – I already knew about Iranian Jews (for other novels written by Iranian Jews, check out Gina Nahai’s books, namely Cry of the Peacock; for nonfiction, check out Esther’s Children, edited by Houman Sarshar), for one thing. I already knew about the class differences – the Iranian elite vs the poor – that gave rise to some of the discontent at the root of the revolution, but I salute Dalia Sofer for writing it into her novel, because it's something that is often excluded from other such novels.

In any case, I feel like this book could have been so much more, had its characters and subplots been developed a little more.

[Elyse Walters · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw this book on sale for $1.99 a few minutes ago --(Kindle special) ---

I read it when it was first released years ago and still remember the story. Great story --for a great price!

Its about a Jewish/Iranian family -- in Iran during the 80's revolutionary period.
The head of the family-- Isaac owns a Jewelry store. He is making too much money under the leadership of the Shah-- is captured --sent to prison (accused of being an Israeli spy --but really its because he successful in business) --
His wife and 9 year old daughter struggle to survive with Isaac gone -- no money coming in -- and the awful stress of what's happening to Isaac. The prison scenes are horrific -and much too real.
The older son, is 18. He's in the United States --as a student -- Hasidim in Brooklyn --and a architecture student.
I remember this being a page turning story. A terrific $1.99 special.

[Shovelmonkey1 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Engrossing and brilliantly written for a debut outing. Combine this with interesting subject matter and a delicately evocative cover and you have a winner. It's rare that I'll read a book in one sitting. I am an eternal fidget. tidier and mover of small objects, however The Septembers of Shiraz managed the impressive feat of keeping me seated for four hours and that is to be applauded. Had it not been for this books inclusion on the National Geographic books and novels for the Middle East list, then I would have overlooked it entirely.

The Peacock Throne is empty and the Shah is gone. Iran is changing and slowly the populace are disappearing. The easiest way to disappear is beneath the newly prescribed outer garments, under heavy shrouds of modest fabric. The difficult way is over the border and into Turkey or Armenia under a cloak of darkness. In the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution, Isaac Amin, rare gem dealer, is accused of being a spy and is arrested by the Revolutionary Guard. What follows is a year of uncertainty for the Amin family as friends and loved ones vanish, property is seized and the wealth and freedom that once characterised their cosmopolitan existence is slowly pared away. Old alliances are put to the test and the idea of personal and national identity comes under scrutiny. Finally it is life and not precious stones which becomes the most valued commodity of all.

By giving a voice to one small family, Sofer highlights the far reaching implications of a regime change which do not always register in the wider world.

[Stacey B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this in 2012 and loved it.
Because of that, the other book by this other is calling my name.
5.0
Whoever said this was a gem of a book was so correct.
An unfair arrest as a spy.. causes the family of the victim unjust consequences of living the life
they once knew.
I'm trying not to give the subject away. :)

[Gloria · Rating 5 out of 5]

A can't-put-it-down-even-though-I'm-also-reading-Harry Potter book. Author's debut novel, and I can't believe how well she can write. It's about the Iranian revolution in the early 80s, and a Jewish family...father gets arrested by the Revolutionary Guard in the first paragraph. The story holds your interest from then on. Gives insights into Iranian cultural, class conflicts, women's plight, what it's like to wear the scarf all of the time [like little elves crunching paper in your ear]....

[Zanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like most of the literature I've encountered that deals with the Iranian revolution, this novel comes from the perspective of a privileged family. While it rationalises the motives of the people who abuse them, giving those abusers a few chances to express their feelings about the inequality and oppression that drove many sections of society, certainly not only religious conservatives, to call for an end to the rule of the shah, in general I felt it compels sympathy with the family and their milieu, the apparently overthrown ruling class, highlighting how the revolution has thrown them under the bus. However, either in the interest of "balance" or for some other reason, the story does not make the central family, to me at least, particularly sympathetic. Finally I didn't like anyone in the book, except the Orthodox Jewish family in New York City who are kind to Parviz. Their modest, family oriented lifestyle comes off to me more appealing than the many descriptions of luxury items, foreign holidays, sophisticated gatherings that Parviz' family enjoyed before the revolution. I was willing to root for Isaac's rights and freedom, then, but I couldn't get very interested in his delights. Maybe that's my bad, or it was intentional, but it made this reading a little flat.

I also failed to connect with the central relationships. The Shiraz of the title functions as a dreamy invocation of nostalgia, but for me it gathered no substance, no weight. I had no sense of loss about Farnaz and Isaac's love, because there was so little of its story here, and since the book also lacks sections that paint a real or imagined Shiraz, the "Septembers of Shiraz" remains an opaque private code for what's missing in the couple's life, something the reader is emotionally left out of.

I was very curious to read a Jewish experience in Iran. This novel was a first for me in that. In Iran itself, however, Jewishness is kept very much in the background of life by our characters. Only for Parviz in New York, this aspect is brought to the fore (without enthusiasm on his part, but to the benefit of the story). Perhaps this reflects the relative freedom from persecution for Jews in the US. Anti-Semitic attitudes, private and official, are clearly at work in the story's trajectory, and perhaps the suppression (overt or subtle) of a specifically Jewish culture in Iran is simply something the text is made to show. That it presents no resolution for this or any of the other conflicting forces it treats, retaining a tense ambivalence between mourning and hope, is to Sofer's credit.

[Joy D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Isaac Amin, the main character, is a wealthy Jewish jeweler in post-revolutionary Tehran. The story begins with his arrest due to his associations with the previous Shah’s regime. His wife, Farnaz, and daughter, Shirin, remain in the dark as to his whereabouts. His son, Parviz, has relocated to the United States to attend university. The storyline follows the lives of Isaac’s family members during his imprisonment, as well as the horrible way he is treated in confinement.

The Septembers of Shiraz is a moving portrayal of a family dealing with the aftermath of political upheaval in their country. It is beautifully written. The characters are well developed, and it is easy to root for this family. The book provides interesting insights into Iran’s class struggles and other issues. I felt engaged the entire time, hoping they would survive. It is a story about realizing what is truly important in life. The author knows her material, having fled with her family in the wake of the Iranian Revolution.

[Wooky · Rating 3 out of 5]

i had high hopes after reading all the reviews, but was disappointed. it's a well-organized and thought-out novel in terms of structure and plot, but the characters didn't do it for me. i felt i was skimming along the surface of their feelings, and the writing also didn't particularly stand out. i'd still be interested to see what sofer does with her second work though, primarily because her background as a persian jewish american interests me.

[Emma Deplores Goodreads Censorship · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is both less and more than I expected. From a pure entertainment standpoint, I was disappointed; not so much because of the pacing (which is on the slow side, although the book is a quick read overall), but because I was hoping for a book that read like historical fiction, while this one read more like a contemporary family story--with the twist that the father is a political prisoner. Nothing objectively wrong with that, and if you like modern-day stories about families you'll probably like it better than I did, but it isn't my thing. At any rate, I was rewarded by a book that turned out to be much more thought-provoking than I expected.

The Septembers of Shiraz is about a Jewish Iranian family: in 1981, following the revolution overthrowing the Shah, the father, Isaac, is arrested on a bogus suspicion of being an Israeli spy. His wife, Farnaz, and 9-year-old daughter, Shirin, are left to deal without him in Tehran, while the college-age son, Parviz, is in New York. It quickly becomes clear that the revolutionaries' problem with Isaac isn't really that he's Jewish, it's that he's very rich. Which makes for a much more nuanced story: hating someone because of their religion is just stupid, while hating someone for living extravagantly next to others who have nothing, for willingly turning a blind eye to a regime that tortures and kills dissenters as long as it's good for business.... well, that's much more complicated.

So what we get is a story about the effects of wealth and privilege, and what happens when people who are accustomed to that lose it. But what this means is that we get a story about some often insufferable characters bemoaning the loss of their extravagant lifestyle and having great difficulty understanding why that lifestyle upset other people. (It's worth noting that the book was published in 2007, when the reading public was perhaps more sympathetic to the woes of oppressed rich people than we are today.)

And so despite all their travails brought on by the new regime (the dramatization of which occupies most of the book), it's quite difficult to like these people, the mother and son in particular. Even at the end of his character arc--and no, I won't tell where in the book that is!--Isaac self-righteously wonders, "Why the constant indignation at a man who dares to live well?" Farnaz "feels a deep pain" for the loss of "shameless extravagance" (no pain for people who actually have to deal with poverty or anything like that, though) and is annoyed at the housekeeper speaking more familiarly to her than she would have dared pre-revolution. Parviz is nothing but a spoiled brat: in New York and without money (why he suddenly has none at all is never explained), he lies around watching TV and thinking about how he wasn't born to do things like clean up after himself and take a part-time job. (Unfortunately, whining and flirting with his landlord's daughter is all Parviz ever does; his chapters are exceedingly dull.) Even Shirin is keenly aware that her current playmate is not someone she'd have befriended before the revolution shut down the private schools.

And it's not just the sense that they're better than other people; the Amins are so used to privilege that they don't seem to fully understand the political climate that they're living in. Even after Isaac has been arrested and detained for months, even after Farnaz has been unable to stop his former employees from looting the business, the characters are shocked and outraged to discover that their beach house has been confiscated; I was only astonished by their astonishment. But denial is a very human response.

Having difficult characters doesn't make a bad book, and Sofer's accomplishment is impressive in light of the fact that the novel is semi-autobiographical: she's a Jewish Iranian who fled to the U.S. at age 10. One might expect that she'd be wholeheartedly on the family's side, portraying them as innocent victims of an evil government, but while her sympathies are clearly with the family, the book is not that simple. While the focus is very closely on the Amins, a few characters who sympathize with the revolution do get to tell their stories; while the Amins try to portray their hiring employees and servants as an act of charity, one of Isaac's employees calls Farnaz out on this. I think she went a bit far with the scene where the characters talked about how Isaac hired Habibeh as their housekeeper because he saw her begging on the street and felt sorry for her, though. I mean, really? Who would choose their housekeeper that way? Wouldn’t you want references for somebody you’re going to put in a position of trust? And Isaac doesn’t seem to support any charitable causes or donate money to anyone--up until his “donation” that’s actually a bribe, of course--so I didn’t buy that he was the kind of guy who would do this, if there is anyone who would do this. There were so many poor people in Tehran and he didn't seem interested in doing anything for any of the rest of them. At any rate, creating jobs is all well and good, but don’t make it sound like you’re doing someone this huge favor by hiring them to make you tea.

Briefly, then: the plot is interesting, although a bit slow-paced and somewhat dragging in the middle (and Parviz's chapters are deadly boring throughout). The character development is decent, and the portrayal of the prison and its effects on the inmates is especially interesting. The setting is a bit sketchily drawn; I didn't get a strong sense of place or learn much about Iranian life or culture. The writing style is pretty good, especially given that this is a first novel. The dialogue is decent for the most part. The author does a good job of getting into the heads of all four members of the family; I found them all equally convincing, and given that both genders and a wide age range are represented, that's a feat in itself.

Ultimately, I didn't enjoy this book the way I'd hoped to, but its treatment of class issues was quite thought-provoking and had me thinking for days afterwards, and I don't want to penalize it too much for not being what I'd hoped. So, 3.5 stars.

[Marta Xambre · Rating 5 out of 5]

4,8 ⭐
Gostei muito da história desta família que vive tempos difíceis após a revolução de 1979 no Irão.
Através dela, conseguimos ter a perceção da transformação social, cultural e religiosa vividas na época.
A perseguição e a repressão perpetradas pelo novo regime é o tema principal que este livro aborda, e é nesta nova realidade que vamos ter acesso a vários sentimentos, reflexões, transformações, e vivências dos elementos desta família que se deparam com a inesperada detenção de Isaac Amin, marido e pai de dois filhos.
Permitiu -me regressar a algumas reflexões acerca da vida, das relações intra e Inter pessoais e da importância ou não que damos às coisas.
A importância da família, do lugar onde vivemos, do dinheiro foram alvo de pensamentos profundos...
Acabo com interrogações pertinentes do Isaac, e a partir daqui, alerta spoiler:
' Porque será, interroga -se, que a riqueza se faz sempre acompanhar de culpa, quando não de vergonha? Não foi a trabalhar, com esforço que a ganhou? E não foi essa riqueza que acabou por lhe salvar a vida? Não foi ela que sempre proporcionou conforto à sua família (...) Porque será que um homem que ousa viver bem suscita indignação constantemente? Será que viver bem pressupõe egoísmo? Terá ele, Isaac Amin, sido um homem egoísta?"

[Jan Rice · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it okay. Well-written. It grew on me, and I wanted to find out "what happened."
But I probably wouldn't have read it if not for the book club commitment.
Why is that?
This book is the story of a well-to-do Jewish family in Iran, two years after the revolution. As the book starts, there comes the knock on the door, the arrest, and worse, of the husband/father. That's the set-up.
The characters were painted in broad brushstrokes. More of character was revealed as the novel progressed; I found out things I didn't know at the beginning.
But the characters remained somewhat opaque to me. Or, that might not have been the issue. I did care about them and about what would happen, but I didn't love them.
Could part of that have been that I was reluctant to care too much under such doubtful circumstances?

I was thinking of The Shipping News, by Annie Proulx, a book I loved, where the characters similarly emerged. No blockages to loving that book! (But may not be fair, since I read it so long ago that I may not be exactly the same person!)

I don't know why, but had been thinking about the importance of character over plot for me. The main thing pulling me along in this book was plot: what was going to happen? I just don't seem to learn as much from such a yarn!

Here are some nice gems from the book, though:

Habibeh holds up a Koran and makes them pass under it for good luck. "You are doing the right thing," she says, "to leave this country. No one has ever seen the eye of an ant, the feet of a snake, or the charity of a mullah!"

I like the way this book reflects how people can absorb customs and superstitions of a country even though members of a minority culture.

And I like the way they speak in proverbs.

"Javad-jan," she says, "a pond with no water does not need goldfish."
_______

The old man does not look up. For a long time he remains quiet. Then in his wrinkled voice, he says, "If the rug of your luck has been woven in black, even the water of ZamZam cannot whiten it."

I read this with a small book group composed of ladies of a certain age (or beyond), and we generally liked this book. I also learned a movie has been made from it about 10 years ago.

3 1/2 stars

[Loredana Mariana Bublitchi]

“Septembrie în Shīrāz” urmărește povestea familiei lui Isaac Amin, un bijutier arestat și acuzat de spionaj. O dată cu arestarea sa, soția este nevoită să supraviețuiască fără ajutorul său, alături de fiica sa, dar și fiul, aflat New York, unde a fost trimis de către părinții său pentru a nu fi prins în mrejele războiului.

Am fost “jonglată” prin patru perspective, în diverse cadre, am cunoscut o familie greu încercată, supusă la multe suferințe, dar și cât de puternic este impactul revoltei politice asupra celor nevinovați, nevoiți să se gândească la varianta că mâine ar putea să piardă tot, inclusiv libertatea lor, însă le rămâne speranța. Viața trăită sub terioare nu mai este viață absolut deloc…

Mereu când citesc povești ce au loc în țările din Orientul Mijlociu, sunt încercată de sentimente grele, știind cât de mult au suferit și încă suferă populația din acele locuri. Evenimentele care au avut loc acolo de-a lungul timpului marchează, nu doar oamenii ce locuiesc acolo, ci întreaga populație, imposibil să nu empatizezi și să nu-ți dorești binele lumesc, să fie armonie. Însă armonia este ceva departe de a fi atinsă, iar “Septembrie în Shīrāz” stă mărturie, fiind bazată pe evenimente reale inspirate din viața autoarei.

Se pare că este și ecranizată cartea, deci sunt șanse mari să vizionez filmul, doar pentru a-mi face idee de cât de fidelă este ecranizarea, deși știu că inima îmi va fi greu încercată și posibil să se lase cu lacrimi…

[Kerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the different voices in this book. The story is interesting and really puts in perspective what it is like to live under and ever shifting government as a child, businessman, and a mother in Iran. What if your values don't conform with those of the ruling elite? How do you come to terms with that? Or even survive? What can a child do?

My one complaint is that the book didn't go on long enough. There were a few issues that I wanted to hear more about. I especially wanted to hear the son and daughter's thoughts a bit more. Certainly an interesting read.

[Doreen Petersen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightfully moving read.

[Nor · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Nimeni nu vede ochii unei furnici,picioarele unui șarpe sau milă unui mollah". O familie înstărită.Capul familiei ,un iranian din Shiraz ambițios,copil sarman evreu ,ajunge un bijutier bogat. În 1980 cade victimă opresiunii regimului condus de Khomeiny...Dar mai bine citiți voi urmarea acestei cărți frumoase.Desi este o ficțiune,autoarea debutanta face harta acestui roman după amintiri din copilăria ei.

[Tania Moroi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personajul principal Isaac Amin este un bijutier evreu bogat din Iranul post-revoluționar, care este arestat fiind suspectat şi învinuit de spionaj.
Povestea urmărește viața într-o lume a haosului a membrilor familiei lui Isaac în timpul arestului, precum și felul în care este tratat în detenție prin aplicarea regimului de teroare. Soția nu putea împăca normalitatea lumii din jurul ei cu prăbușirea propriei lumi prin întâmplările care i-au distrus liniștea din familie.
Autoarea reuşeşte să ne prezinte imaginea emoționantă a unei familii care se confruntă cu consecințele tulburărilor politice, totodată oferind perspective interesante despre nedreptățile, luptele de clasă și alte probleme din Iran.
M-a impresionat scrierea şi mi-a plăcut finalul, care m-a luat prin surprindere.
Cartea este inspirată din fapte reale, autoarea cunoscând aceste trăiri după ce a fugit împreună cu familia sa în urma revoluției iraniene.

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 4 out of 5]

We read to go other places, to sample other lives. Reading, for me, at times lets me escape into lives I’d never want to lead, into places I’d never want to go.

The Septembers of Shiraz takes me deep into these lives I’d never lead, places I’d never go. Isaac Amin, along with his wife, his young daughter, and even his son in distant America, suffer the changes revolution in Iran creates. The persecuted become the persecutors. There is no safe place. Fear and anger breed more fear and anger. Hatred generates more hatred.

Amin’s imprisonment spins and bends everything the family has believed and loved. Is it wrong to overlook the cruelties inflicted on the weak? How do you decide whether to remain in a familiar now dangerous place or dare to start a new life from scratch? Should one save a few strangers while risking one’s family?

I couldn’t stop reading this story. Would Amin live or die? Would the family stay or go? How had the pain inflicted on the jailers affect the way the jailers treated the jailed? Who were the good guys? How did the world become such a mess and how could it ever be made right?



This was a powerful book, beautifully told, that generated question after question in my mind long after I read the last page and closed the book.

[Sidonia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Am cartea de cativa ani insa abia acum i-a venit randul. Mi-a placut cum a urmarit familia lui Isaac Amin, pe fiecare membru in parte, cum au fost nevoiti sa faca fata inchiderii pe nedrept a tatalui lor acuzat de spionaj de catre politia iraniana. Inca o data am constatat ignoranta poporului musulman, rautatea lor fata de cei care au muncit ca sa faca ceva pentru viata lor, pentru un trai mai bun, invidia si motivatia crimelor lor - religia. Septembrie in Shiraz a fost o surpriza placuta pentru mine, povestea nu este la fel de dura pe cum ar fi putut fi, dar totusi este atat cat e necesar ca sa te faca sa intelegi mentalitatea unei tari musulmane. Fragmentele din detentie sunt cele mai intense, conditiile in care sunt tinuti detinutii si mai ales torturile la care sunt supusi. Uneori, cel mai grav pacat este sa fii bogat intr-o tara saraca. Asta a fost crima lui Isaac in ochii politiei secrete iraniene. Bogatia creeaza suspiciuni, invidie iar oamenii ignoranti sunt manati de rautate.
Dalia Sofer s-a inspirat din propria ei experienta, nascuta in Iran, a emigrat in Statele Unite la varsta de 10 ani cu parintii ei, clandestin prin Turcia. V-o recomand.

[Jeanette · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is not a review, just a reaction. I got to 67% in the Kindle read and DNF.

It's not poorly written, in fact the style is smooth. But I cannot remember a book in the last two years in which I felt so removed from the characters. Only the father himself, in the prison, could I begin to approach for his depth or cognition. The others were so hopeless in spirit and joyless! Static in movements and depressed of thought and sleep-walking in actions or else duplicitous and conniving. And beyond that the skipping to NY for double duty indolence and negativity from the son's side!

This is not a fun read. Nor, IMHO, any huge door to other than emotional insight for a Persian Jew in Iran during this period either. Although it gives you the truth of that situation. It's more a modern family dysfunction story. Adding the nasty neighbors and genocidal society.

I'll never understand why the hell people of this economic class don't move when times get this nasty. As a family or singularly- regardless. Mine all did. And will probably do it again.

[Brian Griffith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is beautifully written, with each place and each person painted as a multi-sensory whole. It's a story of heart-wrenching loss, which offers no hope but the enduring humanity of the victims. The story therefore involves a moral divide between victims and abusers, and in this case the moral divide is also a religious divide. All the Jewish people in the story are victims, and almost all the Muslims are abusers. The Jewish characters are like the Jews I have known in North America -- decent, talented, compassionate, thoughtful people, with a capacity to enjoy life. Most of the Iranian Muslims in the tale are vindictive, scheming, incapable, deceptive, and self-righteous -- unlike any of the Persian Muslims I have known in Canada or the USA.

[Lisabet Sarai · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cherish your joys. Embrace your loved ones. Celebrate the sweetness of the familiar. In the blink of an eye, everything can change.

Isaac Amin and his attractive wife Farnaz are Iranian first, Jewish second. Both grew up under the Shah, speaking Persian as their mother tongue. Thanks to Isaac’s industry and business acumen, they live a prosperous life in Tehran, with a holiday home in lovely, historic Shiraz. Their son Parviz attends university in America. Their daughter Shirin is still in school. Their Muslim servant Habibeh, who has worked in their household since Shirin was an infant, is practically a member of the family.

The Islamic revolution and the ouster of the Shah have stolen some of their comforts – no more parties or fashionable clothing – but despite the atmosphere of constant menace, the Amin family’s life continues more or less as before. Then comes the day when bearded, black-clothed guards appear at Isaac’s office, arrest him on the charge of spying for Israel, and throw him in prison. As far as Farnaz is concerned, Isaac has simply disappeared. She does what she can to search for him, drawing on reserves of strength she hadn’t realized she possessed. Meanwhile Isaac endures torture and terror, trying to maintain his sanity, knowing that every day could easily be his last.

In the U.S., Parviz knows nothing of this, but he struggles all the same, friendless and alone in a foreign culture. Nine year old Shirin silently wrestles with her fears and tries to understand how everything she’d accepted as normal could suddenly vanish.

The Septembers of Shiraz is a graceful, nuanced, heart-rending book, part memoir, part novel. The author herself fled Iran with her family at the age of ten. Obviously the book reflects her personal experiences. However, she imagines and portrays the perspectives of the adults in her world as well as her own child’s view. In the process, she paints a subtle, many-layered picture of the Persian culture she left behind. When we hear the word “Iran” in the West, we think of stern, black-robed Muslim clerics, fanatic terrorists and women in burkhas. This isn’t the world in which Ms. Sofer, and Shirin, grew up. That world included warm friendships, sensory delights, cherished traditions and a profound sense of history. In a sense, our view of Iran, the face of the revolution, is an aberration.

I found this book deeply moving, and at times, difficult to read. The descriptions of Isaac’s experience in prison, though not gratuitously violent, horrified me to the point that I put the book aside for several months, unable to stomach the nightmarish inhumanity of his treatment. Yet Dalia Sofer does not paint the guards as fundamentally evil men. Like every character in the book, they have suffered from injustice and are adapting to dangerous times.

The gorgeous prose in The Septembers of Shiraz pulled me back to the book, even though I knew Isaac might well perish during his hellish sojourn in captivity. If the real world individuals who inspired the novel could endure the horrors of their times, surely I as a reader could do so as well. Indeed, it was almost a responsibility, to follow the story to the end and appreciate its hard truths.

I don’t think I will spoil your experience by telling you that Isaac is in fact released eventually, and that the Amins manage to escape from Iran, as the author did. However, the costs are high. Abandoning your country, your language, your friends and your memories must be painful beyond words. Still, Ms. Sofer manages to capture the paradoxical emotions aroused when you choose a life of exile.

If you’re seeking light reading, I don’t recommend this book. On the other hand, if you’re not afraid to read a bit of historical truth, a gut-wrenching yet heart-warming portrayal of one family’s struggle to survive, you shouldn’t miss it.

[Stephanie Anze · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though the book (initially) was a liitle hard to really get into, by the end I was a believer. I love the story told from the four different points of view (which usually I am not a fan of).I am not exactly well versed in the history of Tehran, and reading The Septembers of Shiraz was like geeting a glimpse into this world. The array of emotions I felt while reading this varied from anger to sadness, relief to elation. Any story that can do that is golden to me, they allow a reader to really inmerse into a diferent world and a different time. The manner in which the story is told flows quite naturally with the plot. A great and very promising beggining by this author. I look forward to her next book.

[Lizzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Timely reading this amidst the brave revolutionary souls in iran right now, may we see the beautiful land free

[Janelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I previewed this as a potential book for Gettysburg College's Syria & Iran: Beyond the Headlines series, to be held in 2014-15. There will be one book discussion each semester (in addition to lectures and film screenings). The series is a continuation of Conflict & Resistance in the Middle East, held during the 2011-12 academic year.

Septembers is the story of Isaac Amin (an Iranian-Jewish gemologist) and his family in the days after the Iranian revolution. Amin is targeted by the Revolutionary Guards because of his Western, "decadent" ways. He was well-connected during the Pahlavi reign and lived an upper-class lifestyle. He is taken to prison (without charge) in the opening pages of the book.

The story is told through flashbacks and a multi-voiced narrative. Issac shares the storyteller's voice with his wife, his son (a medical school student in the U.S.), and his daughter (a teenage student living at home). I thought the author characterized the stress of this time period beautifully. Issac suffers the most physically (experiencing torture in prison), but each member of the family bears the tension in his or her own way. The lives of the family's housekeeper and his son, one of Isaac's many employees at the gem shop, are also intertwined with the fate of the family. Isaac's son, miserable in his exile in the U.S., recalls the comment of a fellow passenger on the plane to New York, who said to him, "'They've sent you off because of the war, yes? ... They did good. You're the wrong age for this country now. These mullahs will use the last one of you'" (45). So many Iranians were "the wrong age" for their country.

I thought this book effectively showed the impact of the revolution on a typical upper-class family. It would have been nice to include more perspective from other groups (we do get that glimpse from the housekeeper), but it was compelling within its scope. I noticed that another goodreads reader included this title on a list called "Light but not (too) dumb." I both agree and disagree with this categorization. The book was "easy" to read - I went through it quickly and wanted to know what happened next. I was intrigued by the triangulation of perspectives. But "dumb"? I can't go there. It could have been more complicated, but it's not dumb. It may not enter the canon of literary fiction, but it is very discussable. I foresee this being selected in many book groups. We are seriously considering it for the Beyond the Headlines series mentioned above.

[Noel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is some sort of a fictionalized memoir, a novel based on the author's life, and the lives of her family. It takes place in Iran in 1981-1982, right after the deposition of the Shah of Iran. Isaac is a Jew, born and raised in Iran, he is a jeweler and gemologist, he has accumulated a certain degree of wealth, has a beautiful home and a summer house, has traveled abroad and has rubbed elbows with the old regime. He knew his days were numbered in the new Tehran, and one morning he meets his fate as members of the Revolutionary Guard come to his office to take him into custody and interrogate him. The easy going days of the Shah are gone, together with the liberties and freedoms of the iranian citizens, and the terror filled, fundamentalist, righteous regime of the Ayatollah Homeini has started. Isaac is accused of being a Zionist spy, because of his many trips to Israel and is thrown in a cell with a very diverse population of anti-regime men. His son, Parvez, is studying in New York City, very much a loner, and more so after finding out the fate of his father. He goes through the motions in this huge city, but is barely existing, a bit of a whiny, needy character.

Back home, Isaac's wife and daughter try to cope with the uncertainty of not knowing where Isaac is, knowing that there are executions daily, and wondering which of their friends will betray them. Farnaz realizes that the cush life she once enjoyed will never come back, her young daughter, only 9 years old, quietly and secretly saves a few lives and grows up way too soon. Weeks turn into months, Isaac is interrogated and tortured, but survives. His captors and torturers have their stories, as do his housekeeper and her son who worked in Isaac's office. This is one of the strengths of the book. The author shows both sides of the coin, in as subjective a way as possible, given the fact that this is in part her own story.

The plight of the many refugees who have arrived on the shores of this country and so many others is a tale that needs to be told. So many times we get in a cab, hire a painter, or call to have our yards worked on - these are real people with real stories of persecution, greed, starting over, forgetting past lives -- and they deserve a listen.

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really beautiful novel about a Jewish family in Iran; the father is imprisoned, accused of being a "Zionist spy" after the fall of the Shah, and his wife, teenaged son, and nine-year-old daughter must cope with his sudden absence and their fears about his fate. A couple of reviewers have used the word "delicate" to describe this novel. That seems apt to me, because of the gentleness and compassion offered to every single character (even, astonishingly, the sadistic and repulsive Revolutionary guards and interrogators). This story of the horrors of a totalitarian and terroristic society is extraordinarily suspenseful yet never crude; Sofer's style is understated, intelligent, and simply lovely.

But the highest achievement of this novel is that Sofer makes the reader actually feel what it would be like to be a father, mother, son, and daughter faced in the process of losing security, freedom, beauty, and comfort--makes her feel the loneliness that comes with being forced to surrender country and past. The only other book I can remember that conveyed this as powerfully to me is Eva Hoffman's memoir Lost in Translation.

My only two quibbles are that, 1) a crucial choice the father makes toward the end is never examined morally; and 2) nor is the fact that while many of the wealthy manage to escape the Islamist regime, the family servant (whose portrait shades just slightly into sentimentality at the end) and those like her have no option but to remain.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a gorgeous and captivating semi-autobiographical read that follows a Jewish family of four through the fall of the Shah in Iran and the ensuing revolution. Through a crackdown on wealthy citizens and an imposed moral code, Isaac Amin, a self-made successful gemologist and socialite, is imprisoned and held without charges. The period of imprisonment is narrated by all four family members: Farnaz, the housewife and world traveler with expensive taste but a big heart, Shirin an intrepid nine year old for whom the revolution removes the magic of her childhood, and Parviz, an emigrant and beginning of the diaspora reconciling his lost life in a vast and cold New York. These perspectives successfully illuminate the multifaceted impact of the Fall. Sofer's account is beautifully organized, and her writing style allows the reader to immerse in Iranian day-to-day life both before and after the revolution. The pacing lent itself to lofty and heartbreaking ruminations on family, personal aspirations, identity, and personal values. Certainly recommended.

[Charlotte Guzman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am always taken in by these stories of characters from the middle East. I literally anguish over the life journey of these characters such as in this story with Isaac as the main character. My heart was in my throat so many times wondering if he would escape prison life, be killed, or go free and find freedom.
The sad part of the story is the choice he makes to save his family and give them a life of choice and freedom. Leaving a place you have so many memories in is a hard choice to make. It takes courage to make those choices, but Isaac has the ones he loves most with him.
Loved this book and highly recommend.

[Alto2 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This debut-novel from Iranian-born Dalia Sofer has received great critical acclaim. I was hoping to like it as much as The Kite Runner or Reading Lolita In Tehran, but I didn't. The story-line and plot were compelling, but the author hardly explored the depths of her interesting characters. They felt more like caricatures.

Sofer has great promise as a writer. This novel reminds me a lot of Julia Glass's Three Junes: good, not great, and followed by an outstanding second novel. I look forward to Ms. Sofer's next book.

[Mimi · Rating 4 out of 5]

In an interesting contrast, I read this one just after reading "Between Shades of Gray" by Ruta Septys. They are similar in that they describe little known events in 20th century history, and the fantastical turns that history takes when you are arrested not for crimes, but for who you are.

This one is better written than "Grey" however, and the storyline had a greater depth. The characters had a bit of need to be fleshed out, but by the end, you were captivated.

A delightful read, even though the subject matter is heavy.