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Veils
The ten stories in Veils take place in present-day Iran or in the United States where Iranian immigrants face alien ways. Teheran’s ancient Ghanat Abad Avenue, with its labyrinth of narrow streets and alleys, loosely links the stories into a single narrative: some residents leave as soon as they can, others can live nowhere else. The men and women in these spare and sensuous narratives who are caught in the confusing whirl of changing cultures sometimes meet with failure but more often transcend difficult circumstances to gain deeper self-knowledge.
- GenresShort StoriesFictionIran
146 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1992
128 people want to read
About the author
Nahid Rachlin
19 books478 followersBooks by Nahid Rachlin: nahidr@rcn.com
http://www.amazon.com/Nahid-
Nahid Rachlin went to Columbia University Writing Program on a Doubleday-Columbia Fellowship and then went on to Stanford University MFA program on a Stegner Fellowship. Her publications include a memoir, PERSIAN GIRLS (Penguin), four novels, JUMPING OVER FIRE (City Lights), FOREIGNER (W.W. Norton), MARRIED TO A STRANGER (E.P.Dutton-Penguin), THE HEART'S DESIRE (City Lights), and a collection of short stories, VEILS (City Lights). CROWD OF SORROWS, (Kindle Singles).
You can listen to my reading of three flash-fiction stories at https://soundcloud.com/roommagazine/t...
Her individual short stories have appeared in more than fifty magazines, including The Virginia Quarterly Review, Prairie Schooner, Redbook, Shenandoah. One of her stories was adopted by Symphony Space, “Selected Shorts,” and was aired on NPR’s around the country and two stories were nominated for Pushcart Prize. Her work has received favorable reviews in major magazines and newspapers and translated into Portuguese, Polish, Italian, Dutch, German, Arabic, and Persian. She has been interviewed in NPR stations such as All Things Considered (Terry Gross), P&W magazine, Writers Chronicle. She has written reviews and essays for New York Times, Newsday, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times. Other grants and awards she has received include the Bennet Cerf Award, PEN Syndicated Fiction Project Award, and a National Endowment for the Arts grant. She has taught creative writing at Barnard College, Yale University and at a wide variety of writers conferences, including Paris Writers Conference, Geneva Writers Conference, and Yale Writers Conference. She has been judge for several fiction awards and competitions, among them, Grace Paley Prize in Short Fiction (2015) sponsored by AWP, Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award sponsored by Poets & Writers, Katherine Anne Porter Fiction Prize, University of Maryland, English Dept, Teichmann Fiction Prize, Barnard College, English Dept. For more please click on her website: website: http://www.nahidrachlin.com
http://www.amazon.com/Nahid-
Nahid Rachlin went to Columbia University Writing Program on a Doubleday-Columbia Fellowship and then went on to Stanford University MFA program on a Stegner Fellowship. Her publications include a memoir, PERSIAN GIRLS (Penguin), four novels, JUMPING OVER FIRE (City Lights), FOREIGNER (W.W. Norton), MARRIED TO A STRANGER (E.P.Dutton-Penguin), THE HEART'S DESIRE (City Lights), and a collection of short stories, VEILS (City Lights). CROWD OF SORROWS, (Kindle Singles).
You can listen to my reading of three flash-fiction stories at https://soundcloud.com/roommagazine/t...
Her individual short stories have appeared in more than fifty magazines, including The Virginia Quarterly Review, Prairie Schooner, Redbook, Shenandoah. One of her stories was adopted by Symphony Space, “Selected Shorts,” and was aired on NPR’s around the country and two stories were nominated for Pushcart Prize. Her work has received favorable reviews in major magazines and newspapers and translated into Portuguese, Polish, Italian, Dutch, German, Arabic, and Persian. She has been interviewed in NPR stations such as All Things Considered (Terry Gross), P&W magazine, Writers Chronicle. She has written reviews and essays for New York Times, Newsday, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times. Other grants and awards she has received include the Bennet Cerf Award, PEN Syndicated Fiction Project Award, and a National Endowment for the Arts grant. She has taught creative writing at Barnard College, Yale University and at a wide variety of writers conferences, including Paris Writers Conference, Geneva Writers Conference, and Yale Writers Conference. She has been judge for several fiction awards and competitions, among them, Grace Paley Prize in Short Fiction (2015) sponsored by AWP, Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award sponsored by Poets & Writers, Katherine Anne Porter Fiction Prize, University of Maryland, English Dept, Teichmann Fiction Prize, Barnard College, English Dept. For more please click on her website: website: http://www.nahidrachlin.com
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 24, 2022
Oh what a frustrating waste of potential. Veils is a collection of short stories about Iranians with roots in Ghanat Abad, a neighborhood in Tehran. All the ingredients were there: the struggles of the Iranian diaspora, the interesting relationships that form when you live in a tight-nit neighborhood like that, the oppression of the revolution, the desperation of the 8 year war that followed. However, what could have been a collection of rich, highly-relatable, gut-wrenching stories became a jumble of nonsensical sentences void of emotion at the hands of a not-yet-polished author.
There were some interesting plot lines and I did highlight a few relatable passages. I just wanted more connections between the stories seeing as all these characters are from the same neighborhood. I wanted a more polished ending to each story. I wanted more natural conversations. I wanted more soul to the characters, more feeling. I just wanted more.
There were some interesting plot lines and I did highlight a few relatable passages. I just wanted more connections between the stories seeing as all these characters are from the same neighborhood. I wanted a more polished ending to each story. I wanted more natural conversations. I wanted more soul to the characters, more feeling. I just wanted more.
December 2, 2013
"Veils" is a series of short stories about Persian women, all connected by a Tehran street called Ghanat Abad. Some of the women still live there; others have moved to other parts of the world.
Author Nahid Rachlin touches not only on life as a Muslim woman in these tales, but also the challenges of cross-cultural relationships. She examines relationships between husbands and wives, parents and children ... and deals effectively with the immigrant experience through all of the stories.
I might not have known about this little book had it not shown up in our office's paperback exchange shelf, but it was an excellent read.
Author Nahid Rachlin touches not only on life as a Muslim woman in these tales, but also the challenges of cross-cultural relationships. She examines relationships between husbands and wives, parents and children ... and deals effectively with the immigrant experience through all of the stories.
I might not have known about this little book had it not shown up in our office's paperback exchange shelf, but it was an excellent read.
February 19, 2008
I chose this book to read today because I needed something that I could take to the laundry mat and not have to worry about losing my place.
I read about 2/3 of the book while doing my laundry and finished it at home. I liked the book because it paralleled her memoir Persian Girls in some of the stories. I recognized the stories, but they had a fictional flair and a twist. I enjoyed how she used her personal experiences to create some great stories of life in Iran.
I read about 2/3 of the book while doing my laundry and finished it at home. I liked the book because it paralleled her memoir Persian Girls in some of the stories. I recognized the stories, but they had a fictional flair and a twist. I enjoyed how she used her personal experiences to create some great stories of life in Iran.
October 28, 2015
Veils was tragically realistic and sorrowful. I do enjoy Nahid Rachlin's style of writing and her stories always touch my heart. I recommend this book.
My favorite story was The Poet's Visit.
My favorite story was The Poet's Visit.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews