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City of Lies: Love, Sex, Death and the Search for Truth in Tehran
Far removed from the picture of Tehran we glimpse in news stories, there is another, hidden city, where survival depends on an intricate network of lies and falsehoods. It is a place where Mullahs visit prostitutes, gangs sell guns supplied by corrupt Revolutionary Guards, cosmetic surgeons restore girls' virginity and homemade porn is bought and sold in the bazaars. It is also the home of our eight protagonists, drawn from across the spectrum of Iranian society: the gun runner, the aging socialite, the porn star, the assassin and enemy of the state who ends up working for the Republic, the volunteer religious policeman who undergoes a sex change, and the dutiful housewife who files for divorce. These are ordinary people forced to live extraordinary lives. plotted around the city's pulsing central thoroughfare, Vail Asr Street, City of Lies is an energetic, intimate and unforgettable portrait of modern Tehran and of what it is to live, love and survive under one world's most brutally repressive regimes.
301 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2014
190 people are currently reading
4641 people want to read
About the author
Ramita Navai
5 books55 followersRamita Navai is a British-Iranian foreign affairs journalist who has reported from over thirty countries including South Sudan, Afghanistan, Egypt, Nigeria, El Salvador, and Zimbabwe. She has made twenty documentaries for Channel 4’s series, “Unreported World,” and she was awarded an EMMY for her undercover report from Syria for PBS “Frontline.” She has also worked as a journalist for the United Nations in Pakistan, Iraqi Kurdistan, and Iran, and was the Tehran correspondent for The Times from 2003 to 2006.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 350 reviews
February 10, 2017
In underground Tehran, the lgbt girls call themselves Lezbollah :-)
Carrying out the death penalty
The death penalty has been pronounced, the people have been given the Muslim equivalent of the last rites and are buried in holes in the ground. The man is buried up to his waist, the woman above her breasts. Islamic law says that if they can wriggle out then they must be allowed to walk free. The woman has no chance since her arms are buried. This says everything to me about the Islamic view of women. At every step they are hobbled by man's laws, they will never ever be allowed freedom of movement.
If they don't wriggle free then they will be stoned to death.
______
Filthy joke warning. Avert your eyes in the second paragraph if you are a delicate flower.
In Iran it is terribly important that a girl is a virgin on her wedding day. However, it is the 21st century and these young women are city girls. The country people are very firmly in favour of strict Islamic practice. However the city people grew up under the Shah whose father had banned the burkha. The Shah didn't go that far and people were frightened of his corrupt and tyrannical reign, but they had the freedom of the West to do and wear what they pleased. Religion was a private concern back then, so parents are perhaps not quite so strict on their chador-wearing daughters as it might seem from the outside.
A man really likes a girl and asks her father if he could marry her and is given permission. On their wedding night he discovers she really is a virgin. He can hardly believe it, a real virgin! He is thrilled.
He goes to her father and says that he wants to say thank you to him for bringing up his daughter to maintain her purity. Her father says not to thank him but to thank her mother. So he goes to his mother-in-law and thanks her profusely for guarding her daughter so well that she has remained a virgin. His mother-in-law replies, don't thank me, thank my daughter. It was her who kept herself pure for her wedding night.
So he goes to his bride and says, "Darling, thank you so much for being a good, traditional girl and saving your virginity for me. I was so thrilled you kept yourself pure for me." The girl replies, "Don't thank me, thank my ass!"
It is said that Teheran is the anal sex capital of the Middle East!
This book is rather good and presenting interesting persepectives on modern-day Iran under the iron rule of the misogynist government and mullahs.
I've read a few books on Iran, from the desperately sad and banned in Iran, The Colonel to the very moving Persian Girls. This book will hopefully add to my knowledge of the country. My interest was originally sparked when I was a teenager and met a young brain surgeon who had fled the country. I pursued him mercilessly, I was a Girl with a Crush. I never caught him. He was gay...
Carrying out the death penalty
The death penalty has been pronounced, the people have been given the Muslim equivalent of the last rites and are buried in holes in the ground. The man is buried up to his waist, the woman above her breasts. Islamic law says that if they can wriggle out then they must be allowed to walk free. The woman has no chance since her arms are buried. This says everything to me about the Islamic view of women. At every step they are hobbled by man's laws, they will never ever be allowed freedom of movement.
If they don't wriggle free then they will be stoned to death.
______
Filthy joke warning. Avert your eyes in the second paragraph if you are a delicate flower.
In Iran it is terribly important that a girl is a virgin on her wedding day. However, it is the 21st century and these young women are city girls. The country people are very firmly in favour of strict Islamic practice. However the city people grew up under the Shah whose father had banned the burkha. The Shah didn't go that far and people were frightened of his corrupt and tyrannical reign, but they had the freedom of the West to do and wear what they pleased. Religion was a private concern back then, so parents are perhaps not quite so strict on their chador-wearing daughters as it might seem from the outside.
A man really likes a girl and asks her father if he could marry her and is given permission. On their wedding night he discovers she really is a virgin. He can hardly believe it, a real virgin! He is thrilled.
He goes to her father and says that he wants to say thank you to him for bringing up his daughter to maintain her purity. Her father says not to thank him but to thank her mother. So he goes to his mother-in-law and thanks her profusely for guarding her daughter so well that she has remained a virgin. His mother-in-law replies, don't thank me, thank my daughter. It was her who kept herself pure for her wedding night.
So he goes to his bride and says, "Darling, thank you so much for being a good, traditional girl and saving your virginity for me. I was so thrilled you kept yourself pure for me." The girl replies, "Don't thank me, thank my ass!"
It is said that Teheran is the anal sex capital of the Middle East!
This book is rather good and presenting interesting persepectives on modern-day Iran under the iron rule of the misogynist government and mullahs.
I've read a few books on Iran, from the desperately sad and banned in Iran, The Colonel to the very moving Persian Girls. This book will hopefully add to my knowledge of the country. My interest was originally sparked when I was a teenager and met a young brain surgeon who had fled the country. I pursued him mercilessly, I was a Girl with a Crush. I never caught him. He was gay...
April 3, 2017
"A European diplomat friend helped push Farideh's visa application through....A month later she was on a plane to London. The plan was to spend three months with (her sister) while she looked for a small apartment to buy,...then divide her time between Tehran and London. ...She realized how little her rials and tomans would buy her. ...a minuscule, dingy one bedroom apartment...or...suburban hell...with crude gas boilers... . And the weather...one cold, grey, wet drizzly day morphed into another...."
"After just two months, Farideh was surprised to discover that she...wanted to go...home. To Tehran."
Farideh's story is one of those Iranians' who had been wealthy landowners, those of the upper classes prior to the coup which ousted the Shah in 1979 and who have remained in the country, hopeful for a return of their property and greater freedom in government. They are a small elite, split among the old upper crust, ancient Silk Road merchant families, the landowners and the few academics left in the country who socialize with one another, whose many relatives left the country and who try to keep among themselves. The erosion of simple freedoms for gatherings by women - art classes, gentle dance exercise classes - deemed morally reprehensible by the current regime, increased the widow's sense of isolation and frustration so much that she left. But, the draw of home was too great to resist.
The chapters in this book aren't pretty in comparison to Farideh's, but what they do share is the Iranians' love of their country, people and strong ties to community. I hesitated reading City of Lies, resisting what might be one tale of brutal horror after another under the Islamic regime, and its Sharia law but instead I found a story of people, trying their best to do their best with their values, faith, deprivation, desires for material success and some version of hope for the political system at large.
As author Ramita Navai explains, survival under constant upheaval and political philosophies which change according to the position of interpretation of its religious leaders, or one leader being interpreted by those of increasingly lower status and all ruled by fear- require lying. Trump would call it "alternate facts". To slip and slide around untenable situations, people must become adept at being chameleons, at predicting the behaviour of the callously stringent, of figuring out how to protect one another from those who see themselves as being righteously religious in an invisible layer of order outside that mandated by its government.
It is worth reading. Perhaps the Middle East's aversion to "The West" can be understood a bit better when you read how the British and American CIA undermined Iranian efforts to nationalize their own oil and put the Shah back in power, and the reactionary and protectionist consequences from its people, not all supporting the Ayatollah. It is also enlightening to consider how a country makes choices to govern itself when it has had no history of democracy in its past. The lives of everyday people tell that story better than any governmental report ever could.
Recommended.
"After just two months, Farideh was surprised to discover that she...wanted to go...home. To Tehran."
Farideh's story is one of those Iranians' who had been wealthy landowners, those of the upper classes prior to the coup which ousted the Shah in 1979 and who have remained in the country, hopeful for a return of their property and greater freedom in government. They are a small elite, split among the old upper crust, ancient Silk Road merchant families, the landowners and the few academics left in the country who socialize with one another, whose many relatives left the country and who try to keep among themselves. The erosion of simple freedoms for gatherings by women - art classes, gentle dance exercise classes - deemed morally reprehensible by the current regime, increased the widow's sense of isolation and frustration so much that she left. But, the draw of home was too great to resist.
The chapters in this book aren't pretty in comparison to Farideh's, but what they do share is the Iranians' love of their country, people and strong ties to community. I hesitated reading City of Lies, resisting what might be one tale of brutal horror after another under the Islamic regime, and its Sharia law but instead I found a story of people, trying their best to do their best with their values, faith, deprivation, desires for material success and some version of hope for the political system at large.
As author Ramita Navai explains, survival under constant upheaval and political philosophies which change according to the position of interpretation of its religious leaders, or one leader being interpreted by those of increasingly lower status and all ruled by fear- require lying. Trump would call it "alternate facts". To slip and slide around untenable situations, people must become adept at being chameleons, at predicting the behaviour of the callously stringent, of figuring out how to protect one another from those who see themselves as being righteously religious in an invisible layer of order outside that mandated by its government.
It is worth reading. Perhaps the Middle East's aversion to "The West" can be understood a bit better when you read how the British and American CIA undermined Iranian efforts to nationalize their own oil and put the Shah back in power, and the reactionary and protectionist consequences from its people, not all supporting the Ayatollah. It is also enlightening to consider how a country makes choices to govern itself when it has had no history of democracy in its past. The lives of everyday people tell that story better than any governmental report ever could.
Recommended.
August 17, 2017
"From above, Tehran has an ethereal glow. An orange mist hangs over the city, refracting sunrays: a thick, noxious haze that stubbornly clings to every corner, burning the nose and stinging the eyes. Every street is clogged with cars coughing out the black clouds that gently rise and sit, unmoving, overhead…"- Ramita Navai, City of Lies
I’ve always been intrigued by Iranian history and this book was fascinating. It’s a collection of stories from various Tehranis, giving us lots of insight into Iranian society. These are the stories of Tehrani citizens, told to the reporter/writer, citizens including a prostitute, an assassin, an exile, and a closeted Islamic militia member.
What I’ll say is this: people who are obsessed with morals and laws are often the least moral (and the most abusive). Some of the stories in the book are heart-wrenching and so unfair. The hypocrisy of life within a very rigid religious society was so obvious from these stories, particularly the hypocrisy around sexuality.
I learned a lot of interesting tidbits about Iran; for example, I had no idea that in the 1970s lots of Iranians provided cheap labour to Japan, doing the ‘3K’ jobs ; kitanai (dirty), Kitsui (difficult), and kurushii (painful). Nor did I know about the chronic drug problem in the country.
Iran seems to be a place of contradictions, and a place where people, young women in particular, seem to be oppressed. Take Somayeh whose family believes that “religion means living by the words of the Koran and the Supreme Leader’s fatwas to earn a place in paradise”:
"Somayeh and her friends strongly believed that the hejab should be enforced. They agreed with the law, which states that if your make-up and clothes are contrary to public decency and you intend to attract attention, you can be arrested and taken straight to court…The girls were not to blame for their misogynous views. They had been fed the regime’s line on hejab, which was usually touted around the city via huge billboard advertisements, since birth."
I’m always interested by how oppressive regimes use children to further their agendas, and how they program them to do so. For example:
"Morteza’s own views were not changing so much as being formed for the first time. The lectures were having an effect. Islamic scholars thundered about the dangers of moral decay, titillating the boys with enough morsels of lascivious detail to keep them interested and entrusting them with enough responsibility to keep them excited. The boys were wide-eyed with pride when they were told that they were the guardians of their citizens’ virtue."
I was incredibly frustrated by the limitations such regimes put on its people, the hypocrisy which unfortunately hurts the women and children the most, and how people have to often hide who they truly are. Navai did share some important stories though, and regardless of how oppressive the regime is, people do their best to live, and I’d say that’s pretty inspirational.
The book did remind me of Persepolis, the feminist graphic novel set in Iran, and it’s no wonder because the women in these stories were treated abysmally.
I’ve always been intrigued by Iranian history and this book was fascinating. It’s a collection of stories from various Tehranis, giving us lots of insight into Iranian society. These are the stories of Tehrani citizens, told to the reporter/writer, citizens including a prostitute, an assassin, an exile, and a closeted Islamic militia member.
What I’ll say is this: people who are obsessed with morals and laws are often the least moral (and the most abusive). Some of the stories in the book are heart-wrenching and so unfair. The hypocrisy of life within a very rigid religious society was so obvious from these stories, particularly the hypocrisy around sexuality.
I learned a lot of interesting tidbits about Iran; for example, I had no idea that in the 1970s lots of Iranians provided cheap labour to Japan, doing the ‘3K’ jobs ; kitanai (dirty), Kitsui (difficult), and kurushii (painful). Nor did I know about the chronic drug problem in the country.
Iran seems to be a place of contradictions, and a place where people, young women in particular, seem to be oppressed. Take Somayeh whose family believes that “religion means living by the words of the Koran and the Supreme Leader’s fatwas to earn a place in paradise”:
"Somayeh and her friends strongly believed that the hejab should be enforced. They agreed with the law, which states that if your make-up and clothes are contrary to public decency and you intend to attract attention, you can be arrested and taken straight to court…The girls were not to blame for their misogynous views. They had been fed the regime’s line on hejab, which was usually touted around the city via huge billboard advertisements, since birth."
I’m always interested by how oppressive regimes use children to further their agendas, and how they program them to do so. For example:
"Morteza’s own views were not changing so much as being formed for the first time. The lectures were having an effect. Islamic scholars thundered about the dangers of moral decay, titillating the boys with enough morsels of lascivious detail to keep them interested and entrusting them with enough responsibility to keep them excited. The boys were wide-eyed with pride when they were told that they were the guardians of their citizens’ virtue."
I was incredibly frustrated by the limitations such regimes put on its people, the hypocrisy which unfortunately hurts the women and children the most, and how people have to often hide who they truly are. Navai did share some important stories though, and regardless of how oppressive the regime is, people do their best to live, and I’d say that’s pretty inspirational.
The book did remind me of Persepolis, the feminist graphic novel set in Iran, and it’s no wonder because the women in these stories were treated abysmally.
March 26, 2020
Tehran, Iran.
Zoroastrianism was the national faith of Iran for more than a millennium before the Arab conquest. It has had an immense influence on Iranian philosophy, culture and art after the people of Iran converted to Islam.
Images of Val Asr Street
Vali Asr Street forms the spine of the city, as well as of the book. The author collected a few stories from just a few characters who form part of the microcosm present on a daily basis in the street. From the rich to the poor, the religious to the secular, the traditionalist to the modernist. In between all of them lie centuries of history dividing the population like the two poles of the earth.
The underbelly of the city is exposed in the book. Meaning, the focus is on the less known, the true color in the rainbow of ideas, lifestyle choices, politics and religion. The title says it all. A little bit of sensationalism, so typical of a journalistic rendition. It might attract attention. It might work.The monochromatic images we are exposed to in the highly controlled media of the world are ripped open. The prose is excellent. The stories sad. But the energy and vibrancy of a community are present in all of them.
I chose the images that shows the magic of a beautiful place where adversity cannot dampen the gentle heart and minds of this highly sophisticated civilization. Tehran is much more than the pain and suffering. But that makes the tragedy of their situation so much more apparent. I needed to see this, to bring balance to the otherwise grizzly stories. And to understand the passion the inhabitants have for a city where a government could end everything for anyone in a split second (according to the book).
The reason why I added these images, was to celebrate the unbelievable spirit of the Iranian people. The history, architecture, and engineering marvels are plastered all over the scene, and with the hundreds of universities it is evident that the education of the people are serious business. Within this environment, these street level stories in the book allow us a glimpse into the lesser-known world of the city. The execution of the death penalty, the high divorce rate, the serious drug problems, the clashes between traditionalism versus modernism in one family, the emancipation of women, the modern influences on young girls, prostitution, plastic surgery on a staggering level, alcoholism, religious bigotry, homosexuality, and so much more. The book is more or less a collection of short stories, written with so much heart-wrenching honesty and skill. There is atmosphere and heart in this book. The protagonists exposed a story of a world we did not know existed in this country. The author introduced us to people just like us. We are all the same.
The book is a literary documentary of a few people on Vali Asr Street, who stopped for a minute to tell their stories. It was done very well. And really honest. However, there are many more to tell. Even happy ones. This was just a drop in a bucket. The rest are out there, somewhere else, or untold. But these ones were worth the read. The approach also different from a memoir I read: The Cypress Tree: A Love Letter to Iran by Kamin Mohammadi.
I wanted to rate this book 3.5 but will go for 4 stars. The shock value was just too apparent and became somewhat boring. However, the excellent prose was a joy to read. The author should try writing novels. One story at a time. She is a really talented writer.
Read THIS ARTICLE to really grasp the history and diversity of Iran. Mindblowing.
Zoroastrianism was the national faith of Iran for more than a millennium before the Arab conquest. It has had an immense influence on Iranian philosophy, culture and art after the people of Iran converted to Islam.
01 September 2017Tehran accommodates a diverse society characterized by opulence and debauchery, complete illiteracy and excellent universities; a terrifying regime, and underground resistance movements. At Theran's railway station, the diversity becomes even more apparent: Lors, Kurds, Azeris, Turkmens, Tajiks, Arabs, Baluchis, Bakhtiyaris, the Qashqa'is and Afghans mill around, waiting for the next transport opportunity into the city. The railway station is also the place where Vali Asr Street ends in the south.
Preface
Let’s get one thing straight: in order to live in Tehran you have to lie. Morals don’t come into it: lying in Tehran is about survival. This need to dissimulate is surprisingly egalitarian – there are no class boundaries and there is no religious discrimination when it comes to the world of deceit. Some of the most pious, righteous Tehranis are the most gifted and cunning in the art of deception. We Tehranis are masters at manipulating the truth. Tiny children are instructed to deny that daddy has any booze at home; teenagers passionately vow their virginity; shopkeepers allow customers to surreptitiously eat, drink and smoke in their back rooms during the fasting months and young men self-flagellate at the religious festival of Ashura, purporting that each lash is for Imam Hossein, when really it is a macho show to entice pretty girls, who in turn claim they are there only for God. All these lies breed new lies, mushrooming in every crack in society.
The truth has become a secret, a rare and dangerous commodity, highly prized and to be handled with great care...
...Let me be clear about one last thing. I am not saying that we Iranians are congenital liars. The lies are, above all, a consequence of surviving in an oppressive regime, of being ruled by a government that believes it should be able to interfere in even the most intimate affairs of its citizens.
While living (and lying) in Tehran I heard the stories of the Tehranis you are about to meet. Not all of them are ordinary Tehranis; some exist at the very margins of Iranian society. But I hope that even the most extreme stories in this book will help an outsider understand everyday life in this city of over twelve million people. In my experience, the defining trait of Tehranis is their kindness, for no matter how hard life gets, no matter how tight the regime turns the screw, there is an irrepressible warmth; I have felt it from diehard regime supporters to ardent dissidents and everyone in between.
Images of Val Asr Street
Vali Asr Street forms the spine of the city, as well as of the book. The author collected a few stories from just a few characters who form part of the microcosm present on a daily basis in the street. From the rich to the poor, the religious to the secular, the traditionalist to the modernist. In between all of them lie centuries of history dividing the population like the two poles of the earth.
The underbelly of the city is exposed in the book. Meaning, the focus is on the less known, the true color in the rainbow of ideas, lifestyle choices, politics and religion. The title says it all. A little bit of sensationalism, so typical of a journalistic rendition. It might attract attention. It might work.The monochromatic images we are exposed to in the highly controlled media of the world are ripped open. The prose is excellent. The stories sad. But the energy and vibrancy of a community are present in all of them.
THE BLURBDespite the journalistic realism of the stories, I headed onto the internet to find a broader idea of the city in which these stories are embedded. All the characters in the book have a passion for Tehran. The city is their heimat, their soul. I was wondering why anyone suffering to this extent would want to remain here.
Far removed from the picture of Tehran we glimpse in news stories, there is another, hidden city, where survival depends on an intricate network of lies and falsehoods. It is a place where Mullahs visit prostitutes, gangs sell guns supplied by corrupt Revolutionary Guards, cosmetic surgeons restore girls' virginity and homemade porn is bought and sold in the bazaars. It is also the home of our eight protagonists, drawn from across the spectrum of Iranian society: the gun runner, the aging socialite, the porn star, the assassin and enemy of the state who ends up working for the Republic, the volunteer religious policeman who undergoes a sex change, and the dutiful housewife who files for divorce. These are ordinary people forced to live extraordinary lives. plotted around the city's pulsing central thoroughfare, Vail Asr Street, City of Lies is an energetic, intimate and unforgettable portrait of modern Tehran and of what it is to live, love and survive under one world's most brutally repressive regimes.
I chose the images that shows the magic of a beautiful place where adversity cannot dampen the gentle heart and minds of this highly sophisticated civilization. Tehran is much more than the pain and suffering. But that makes the tragedy of their situation so much more apparent. I needed to see this, to bring balance to the otherwise grizzly stories. And to understand the passion the inhabitants have for a city where a government could end everything for anyone in a split second (according to the book).
The reason why I added these images, was to celebrate the unbelievable spirit of the Iranian people. The history, architecture, and engineering marvels are plastered all over the scene, and with the hundreds of universities it is evident that the education of the people are serious business. Within this environment, these street level stories in the book allow us a glimpse into the lesser-known world of the city. The execution of the death penalty, the high divorce rate, the serious drug problems, the clashes between traditionalism versus modernism in one family, the emancipation of women, the modern influences on young girls, prostitution, plastic surgery on a staggering level, alcoholism, religious bigotry, homosexuality, and so much more. The book is more or less a collection of short stories, written with so much heart-wrenching honesty and skill. There is atmosphere and heart in this book. The protagonists exposed a story of a world we did not know existed in this country. The author introduced us to people just like us. We are all the same.
The book is a literary documentary of a few people on Vali Asr Street, who stopped for a minute to tell their stories. It was done very well. And really honest. However, there are many more to tell. Even happy ones. This was just a drop in a bucket. The rest are out there, somewhere else, or untold. But these ones were worth the read. The approach also different from a memoir I read: The Cypress Tree: A Love Letter to Iran by Kamin Mohammadi.
I wanted to rate this book 3.5 but will go for 4 stars. The shock value was just too apparent and became somewhat boring. However, the excellent prose was a joy to read. The author should try writing novels. One story at a time. She is a really talented writer.
Read THIS ARTICLE to really grasp the history and diversity of Iran. Mindblowing.
December 30, 2020
The premise of this book is in the title: City of Lies - Love, sex, death and the search for truth in Tehran. To expand on this a little - everyone is living a life slightly different to the life they portray, and differently than the regime want them to live.
The book and the stories it tells all revolve around Vali Asr Street - which runs through the middle of Tehran roughly north/south and connects the neighbourhoods which are the location of the individual stories. The beginning of each chapter identifies a street and a neighbourhood.
However, given all the peoples names and identifiable features of each story have been changed, the device is more of a gimmick than a basis for unifying the stories.
So to each chapter follows a central character, sometimes two, who lives a lie, or lies about their life. The author documents her source info in an appendix - and clearly states when her information is first hand or second hand, reported in the media etc, and advises when her story is from a single character or a composite of several stories. This sometimes makes the stories seem over the top, or exaggerated, but really it was the best way to make the narrative work.
And the stories - lots of variation from prostitutes to a high society lady who still yearns for her old lifestyle; aging thug to a gay militia man; crooked cop to drug dealers and addicts, and others about what normal life is for youth in Iran - at odds with the intolerant religious leaders who are in control.
I think the most telling aspects were the gap between rich and poor, and the way that bribery and corruption set the scene for a spectrum of outcomes when laws are broken; the prevalence for plastic surgery amongst the young, and the morality police and their effect on the behaviour of people - not in any way preventing normal behaviour from happening, but making it underground or carried out in secret, which really just encourages all the more!
I found this bit particularly funny, only because of the reality. When I spent a short time in Tehran I saw lots of people having picnics in the strangest places!
This was an interesting read. Without doubt it focuses on the most interesting characters - the darker side of society, but nevertheless these people are operating in a society far removed from the liberal places the majority of us live.
For me, 4 stars.
The book and the stories it tells all revolve around Vali Asr Street - which runs through the middle of Tehran roughly north/south and connects the neighbourhoods which are the location of the individual stories. The beginning of each chapter identifies a street and a neighbourhood.
However, given all the peoples names and identifiable features of each story have been changed, the device is more of a gimmick than a basis for unifying the stories.
So to each chapter follows a central character, sometimes two, who lives a lie, or lies about their life. The author documents her source info in an appendix - and clearly states when her information is first hand or second hand, reported in the media etc, and advises when her story is from a single character or a composite of several stories. This sometimes makes the stories seem over the top, or exaggerated, but really it was the best way to make the narrative work.
And the stories - lots of variation from prostitutes to a high society lady who still yearns for her old lifestyle; aging thug to a gay militia man; crooked cop to drug dealers and addicts, and others about what normal life is for youth in Iran - at odds with the intolerant religious leaders who are in control.
I think the most telling aspects were the gap between rich and poor, and the way that bribery and corruption set the scene for a spectrum of outcomes when laws are broken; the prevalence for plastic surgery amongst the young, and the morality police and their effect on the behaviour of people - not in any way preventing normal behaviour from happening, but making it underground or carried out in secret, which really just encourages all the more!
I found this bit particularly funny, only because of the reality. When I spent a short time in Tehran I saw lots of people having picnics in the strangest places!
On a small patch of scrubland beside the motorway, a family had laid out a sofrehi, picnic blanket, and were eating abgoosht, a hearty peasant dish of meat, beans and potatoes; nothing could get in the way of an Iranian and a picnic, not even six lanes of roaring traffic.
This was an interesting read. Without doubt it focuses on the most interesting characters - the darker side of society, but nevertheless these people are operating in a society far removed from the liberal places the majority of us live.
For me, 4 stars.
February 2, 2015
I was born and raised in Tehran and have always been looking for a book that shows a picture of Iran close to reality; something different from the one that media tries to impose. Well, one good point about this book was that the writer chose her characters from very different social classes in Iran. Although at some parts I sensed exaggeration but most of the time I didn't have a hard time believing the stories. This is what I didn't like about the book: There are negative and positive realities about Iran, like any other country or society. The negative realities about Iran have been widely heard. I wish someone someday writes a book which talks about the beautiful side of Iran, Iranian people and Iranian culture as well; this is the part which is always ignored. The perfect window to Iran for readers who don’t know much about Iran except from the news, would be a story to show both negative and positive realities together next to each other. This book did a good job in showing one of them.
September 8, 2025
Vali Asr Street (formerly Pahlavi Avenue) is the longest street in the Middle East. It is a huge thoroughfare bisecting the city of Tehran. It is this street that is central to this book by Ramita Navai.
Each chapter introduces a new person along that street and goes over many topics from a botched assassination by a member of the Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) to cousin marriage, teenagers, wealth & class, desires, divorce, contradiction, the morality police, the revolution, religion & atheism, the illegal drug trade, prostitution, free speech, the justice system, the Basij (Organization for Mobilization of the Oppressed), transsexuality and, of course, secrets & lies.
Through the characters stories we see Tehran. We see how people live. OK, so the characters are those that are more interesting rather than the majority who grind out work all day and spend time with family at night. The author states that some of the characters are an amalgamation of people stitched together.
The concept of the book did not really work for me. I did learn about Tehran and its people (some of them) but it was the telling of the stories that I just could not connect with and found it a bit of a toil.
Each chapter introduces a new person along that street and goes over many topics from a botched assassination by a member of the Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) to cousin marriage, teenagers, wealth & class, desires, divorce, contradiction, the morality police, the revolution, religion & atheism, the illegal drug trade, prostitution, free speech, the justice system, the Basij (Organization for Mobilization of the Oppressed), transsexuality and, of course, secrets & lies.
Through the characters stories we see Tehran. We see how people live. OK, so the characters are those that are more interesting rather than the majority who grind out work all day and spend time with family at night. The author states that some of the characters are an amalgamation of people stitched together.
The concept of the book did not really work for me. I did learn about Tehran and its people (some of them) but it was the telling of the stories that I just could not connect with and found it a bit of a toil.
July 17, 2022
Navai spins a series of marvelously street-smart, slightly fictionalized tales of ordinary people, up and down the length of Tehran’s most prominent street. The accounts she focuses on are rich in both comedy and tragedy. These characters feel forced to live lies, hide them, and suffer for them. The hypocrisy is outrageous, the banter is hilarious, and the perils are real. But through it all Navai can’t help but admire the city’s magnetism. She can’t help but respect these people who lie because they care. In her preface, Navai puts it this way: “In my experience, the defining trait of Tehranis is their kindness, for no matter how hard life gets, no matter how tight the regime turns the screw, there is an irrepressible warmth: I have felt it from diehard regime supporters to ardent dissidents and everyone in between.”
November 21, 2014
Out of sheer curiosity about Iran and how life is under the strict rule of the Ayatollahs, I picked this book. I cannot say I am not impressed, but this book is clearly not the kind I expected from a journalist based in Tehran. Ramita Navai starts strong and makes a good plot of bringing to light the secret lives of everyday Tehranis but her narrative lacked the depth of research and 'as-it-happened' factuality of some of the more known journalist turned authors.
Most of the chapters read like gossip and hearsay. Ramita also fell into the well know trap of over emphasizing the ridiculous. Case in point is the story of Leyla, the girl who turns to prostitution to make ends meet. The story is too full of cliches and make believes, throw in a highly placed Mullah as her client and it seemed that the author is trying too hard to create sensationalism.
The story of Amir is more believable and the author has managed to beautifully capture the emotions of a young guy wronged by the system.
I gave three stars to the book because it is a good first book for someone to understand Tehrani society under excessive state control. It has also whetted my appetite for a more well researched and through account of Iran. Keep the recommendations coming.
Most of the chapters read like gossip and hearsay. Ramita also fell into the well know trap of over emphasizing the ridiculous. Case in point is the story of Leyla, the girl who turns to prostitution to make ends meet. The story is too full of cliches and make believes, throw in a highly placed Mullah as her client and it seemed that the author is trying too hard to create sensationalism.
The story of Amir is more believable and the author has managed to beautifully capture the emotions of a young guy wronged by the system.
I gave three stars to the book because it is a good first book for someone to understand Tehrani society under excessive state control. It has also whetted my appetite for a more well researched and through account of Iran. Keep the recommendations coming.
July 14, 2022
A shocking factual book of lives in Iran in 2015. Courageous and, I assume, totally honest, it makes me despair in human kind. I’m sure such stories can be told of any city, but this is horrific and stays in the mind. Recommended? Only if you want to upset yourself.
June 27, 2016
It's a three star rating because the writing didn't manage to elevate the subject in any way. In terms of stories, I feel like it's striving to deliver a much stronger reaction than it actually did. Granted - I might have become desensitized to information regarding religion and its oppressive qualities, but if you want to read an amazing story that can change you, you might as well go for Ayaan Hirsi Ali's book, and call it a day.
January 30, 2015
I have to admit that before reading this book, my only familiarity with Iran came from reading the fantastic The Complete Persepolis graphic novel. While Persepolis gives you a great sense of a family in turmoil as the Islamic Revolution changes the Iran that they know, Ramita Navai gives a complete street level view of Iranian life after the Revolution. Navai splits the book into eight chapters on ordinary Iranians: an exile who had left when the Revolution began and came back as an anti-regime assassin, a young girl who is forced to divorce her husband and face the fallout that comes from that, the son of dissidents who were killed by a regime judge who now wants to beg for forgiveness, a surprisingly sympathetic meth dealer, a porn star who began as a prostitute, an Islamic militia member who struggles to reconcile his sexuality with his fundamentalist beliefs, an old-school gangster who has the cutest old person love story ever and an aristocrat alienated by the now fundamentalist country she loves.
Navai spent years in Iran as a journalist and uses the stories she heard from people in south Tehran and her own experiences to give an absolutely fascinating view of the web of lies and intrigue that perfectly ordinary Iranians go through every day. It really demolishes the idea that all Iranians are a bunch of crazy, evil Islamic fundamentalists. Yet Navai clearly shows that the oppressive regime in Iran can make life there utterly terrifying if you don't conform. It's both uplifting and scary depending on which side of Iran Navai is revealing and it's just so very human which I loved. One of the best things about this book, for me as a history geek, is that Navai provides summaries for her sources for each chapter and a glossary so you can learn more if you want. The stories certainly made me want to learn more about Iran's history. At its heart, City of Lies is a study of people and it shows the author's love of her home country without being afraid to show its scars and grime. It's an absolutely stunning book that I would not hesitate to recommend to anyone.
Navai spent years in Iran as a journalist and uses the stories she heard from people in south Tehran and her own experiences to give an absolutely fascinating view of the web of lies and intrigue that perfectly ordinary Iranians go through every day. It really demolishes the idea that all Iranians are a bunch of crazy, evil Islamic fundamentalists. Yet Navai clearly shows that the oppressive regime in Iran can make life there utterly terrifying if you don't conform. It's both uplifting and scary depending on which side of Iran Navai is revealing and it's just so very human which I loved. One of the best things about this book, for me as a history geek, is that Navai provides summaries for her sources for each chapter and a glossary so you can learn more if you want. The stories certainly made me want to learn more about Iran's history. At its heart, City of Lies is a study of people and it shows the author's love of her home country without being afraid to show its scars and grime. It's an absolutely stunning book that I would not hesitate to recommend to anyone.
June 12, 2014
Tehran, Iran: a city I had minimal knowledge of, and certainly no insider info. City of Lies consists of eight intimate written portraits of eight Tehranian souls. Navai reveals their lives, their times, and (more often than not) their crimes, at least in the eyes of Iranian authorities.
It’s hard for me not to compare it to Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo, a book which I recently read and really enjoyed. Both tell stories of real lives in cities few westerners stop to consider beyond the news, but told in the form of fiction. It’s clear that corruption, sexual taboos, hypocrisy and the desire to better oneself dominate in all parts of the world. The devil is in the detail though – how birth and circumstance make us who we are.
There are key differences though. Boo puts her “characters” (i.e. interviewees) all on the stage together and shows us continuous scenes of their lives in the squalor of an Indian slum. Navai instead brings each “character” onto the stage individually, with no connections between them other than the city itself. This has the benefit of allowing us to see a much broader range of what Tehran can produce, from the high-flying to the bottom-feeders to people who have been both.
My only complaint here is that, at an average of about thirty pages per person (which includes backstory), it does sometimes feel a little like speed-dating. I just begin to feel like I’m getting to know someone before their story is wrapped up and we move on to the next, never to see them again. Thankfully the aforementioned “next” was generally just as compelling as the last so I don’t feel like it ruined my enjoyment.
I really appreciated what I suppose must be called the “supplemental information” at the front and back of the book. The map, the historical timeline and the glossary all helped build up a richer picture of Tehran. At the end of the book, Navai also provides a source summary for each of the eight stories clearly explaining what strands of information (interviewees, news pieces etc) she used to construct each character, which I liked.
I would give this book 4.5 stars but I shall round it up to 5 stars because the overall reading experience was compelling, interesting and informative. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to experience real lives in a part of the world they may not have considered before.
Disclaimer: I received this book free from a Goodreads Giveaway.
It’s hard for me not to compare it to Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo, a book which I recently read and really enjoyed. Both tell stories of real lives in cities few westerners stop to consider beyond the news, but told in the form of fiction. It’s clear that corruption, sexual taboos, hypocrisy and the desire to better oneself dominate in all parts of the world. The devil is in the detail though – how birth and circumstance make us who we are.
There are key differences though. Boo puts her “characters” (i.e. interviewees) all on the stage together and shows us continuous scenes of their lives in the squalor of an Indian slum. Navai instead brings each “character” onto the stage individually, with no connections between them other than the city itself. This has the benefit of allowing us to see a much broader range of what Tehran can produce, from the high-flying to the bottom-feeders to people who have been both.
My only complaint here is that, at an average of about thirty pages per person (which includes backstory), it does sometimes feel a little like speed-dating. I just begin to feel like I’m getting to know someone before their story is wrapped up and we move on to the next, never to see them again. Thankfully the aforementioned “next” was generally just as compelling as the last so I don’t feel like it ruined my enjoyment.
I really appreciated what I suppose must be called the “supplemental information” at the front and back of the book. The map, the historical timeline and the glossary all helped build up a richer picture of Tehran. At the end of the book, Navai also provides a source summary for each of the eight stories clearly explaining what strands of information (interviewees, news pieces etc) she used to construct each character, which I liked.
I would give this book 4.5 stars but I shall round it up to 5 stars because the overall reading experience was compelling, interesting and informative. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to experience real lives in a part of the world they may not have considered before.
Disclaimer: I received this book free from a Goodreads Giveaway.
June 5, 2015
3.5 on my own Richter scale. Won as an ARC via Goodreads.
All accounts center around the main road through Tehran: Vali Asr. These eight stories are inspired by true aspects of Tehrani society ranging mostly from the ouster of pro-Westernized leader Mohammed Reza Shah in 1978 by martial law which created the Islamic Revolution, to the Iran-Iraq conflict until 1988 and also the struggle between a new group of people living in a city where to be accepted, you must lie.
Themes include homophobia; an outbreak of an ever growing amount of crystal meth users in the poverty stricken south Vali Asr of Shoosh to the high class in the northern parts towards Tajrish Square; a militant 'basij' and morality police who's job is to decide if one is
living a life conducive to Allah's teachings; the taboo of pornographic paraphernalia; the importance of the mullahs and clerics to society albiet hypocrisy flourishes; the rhinoplastic strive for perfection among others.
My ignorance of this 'world' is now in the past and my journey and new-found knowledge is well-accepted and appreciated.
All accounts center around the main road through Tehran: Vali Asr. These eight stories are inspired by true aspects of Tehrani society ranging mostly from the ouster of pro-Westernized leader Mohammed Reza Shah in 1978 by martial law which created the Islamic Revolution, to the Iran-Iraq conflict until 1988 and also the struggle between a new group of people living in a city where to be accepted, you must lie.
Themes include homophobia; an outbreak of an ever growing amount of crystal meth users in the poverty stricken south Vali Asr of Shoosh to the high class in the northern parts towards Tajrish Square; a militant 'basij' and morality police who's job is to decide if one is
living a life conducive to Allah's teachings; the taboo of pornographic paraphernalia; the importance of the mullahs and clerics to society albiet hypocrisy flourishes; the rhinoplastic strive for perfection among others.
My ignorance of this 'world' is now in the past and my journey and new-found knowledge is well-accepted and appreciated.
December 22, 2014
I'm not sure how I feel about this book. On one hand, it's well written, so it's very easy to read. And any real information from a place that I don't think we get much from, is always appreciated.
But on the other, aren't there any normal people in Iran? It's hard to imagine that even a regime as oppressive as Iran's is supposed to be could so damage their entire population.
Plus, nowhere in the prologue does it say anything about the characters being composites. So does that answer my question? If these are composites, does that mean that Naval doubled up peoples', well, idiosyncrasies, in order to create these extremely damaged people? It makes me wonder, but not in the way the author probably intended.
But on the other, aren't there any normal people in Iran? It's hard to imagine that even a regime as oppressive as Iran's is supposed to be could so damage their entire population.
Plus, nowhere in the prologue does it say anything about the characters being composites. So does that answer my question? If these are composites, does that mean that Naval doubled up peoples', well, idiosyncrasies, in order to create these extremely damaged people? It makes me wonder, but not in the way the author probably intended.
February 18, 2024
„Orașul minciunilor. Dragoste, sex și moarte în Teheran” de Ramita Navai
5/5 ⭐️
Am luat cartea asta de la bibliotecă pe lângă altele care mă atrăseseră. Aceasta nu-mi promisese nimic. Dar m-a prins și mi-a plăcut. M-a făcut să mă bucur că m-am născut în locul și la timpul potrivit.
Autoarea colectează informații, mărturii ale localnicilor și le ordonează în opt povești pline de suflet și suferință despre viața din Iran. Deși prefer romanele lungi celor povestiri scurte în care sunt nevoită să mă obișnuiesc iar și iar cu alte personaje, cartea asta s-a citit destul de rapid, aș zice eu.
E fresca unui oraș, a unui stat plin de revolte, interne și externe, de lupte, frică, interdicții la tot pasul, judecata statului, judecata vecinului, judecata părinților; cu toate astea, o mulțime de persoane (mai cu seamă tineri) curajoase sau naive încearcă să iasă din tipare. Cartea aceasta ilustrează lupta de zi cu zi pe care o duc cei din Iran, cum se opun sistemului, ce riscă și dacă le reușește sau nu.
Vali Asr este bulevardul care străbate Teheranul de sud și cel de nord – două lumi diferite.
Veți face cunoștință aici cu Dariush (un tânăr adept al grupării MEK), Somayeh (o fată cumsecade, frumoasă, deșteaptă, care își păstrează onoarea și care are parte de o mare de dezamăgiri în urma căsniciei sale, ca multe altele din țara ei, de fapt), Amir (un blogger rămas orfan de ambii părinți, aceștia fiind arestați și uciși în închisoare pe când fiul lor avea 6 ani), Bijan (un mafiot care lucrează în poliție), Leyla (o tânără frumoasă care devine prostituată, apoi actriță în filmele pentru adulți), Morteza (un tânăr care sparge barierele sociale, fiind sătul să trăiască în umbra celor doi frați mai mari ai săi, decedați în război), cu Ashgar și Pari (și povestea lor frumoasă de dragoste, poate cea mai frumoasă din toată această carte presărată cu spini) și cu Farideh (una dintre multele iraniene care încearcă să-și schimbe țara).
Mi-a plăcut cartea asta. Oferă o grămadă de emoții contradictorii. Aveți aici de toate: iubire, trădare, pasiune, droguri, artă, devotament, prostituate, confesiuni religioase și tradiții ale islamismului șiit și zoroastrism.
Recomand!
5/5 ⭐️
Am luat cartea asta de la bibliotecă pe lângă altele care mă atrăseseră. Aceasta nu-mi promisese nimic. Dar m-a prins și mi-a plăcut. M-a făcut să mă bucur că m-am născut în locul și la timpul potrivit.
Autoarea colectează informații, mărturii ale localnicilor și le ordonează în opt povești pline de suflet și suferință despre viața din Iran. Deși prefer romanele lungi celor povestiri scurte în care sunt nevoită să mă obișnuiesc iar și iar cu alte personaje, cartea asta s-a citit destul de rapid, aș zice eu.
E fresca unui oraș, a unui stat plin de revolte, interne și externe, de lupte, frică, interdicții la tot pasul, judecata statului, judecata vecinului, judecata părinților; cu toate astea, o mulțime de persoane (mai cu seamă tineri) curajoase sau naive încearcă să iasă din tipare. Cartea aceasta ilustrează lupta de zi cu zi pe care o duc cei din Iran, cum se opun sistemului, ce riscă și dacă le reușește sau nu.
Vali Asr este bulevardul care străbate Teheranul de sud și cel de nord – două lumi diferite.
Veți face cunoștință aici cu Dariush (un tânăr adept al grupării MEK), Somayeh (o fată cumsecade, frumoasă, deșteaptă, care își păstrează onoarea și care are parte de o mare de dezamăgiri în urma căsniciei sale, ca multe altele din țara ei, de fapt), Amir (un blogger rămas orfan de ambii părinți, aceștia fiind arestați și uciși în închisoare pe când fiul lor avea 6 ani), Bijan (un mafiot care lucrează în poliție), Leyla (o tânără frumoasă care devine prostituată, apoi actriță în filmele pentru adulți), Morteza (un tânăr care sparge barierele sociale, fiind sătul să trăiască în umbra celor doi frați mai mari ai săi, decedați în război), cu Ashgar și Pari (și povestea lor frumoasă de dragoste, poate cea mai frumoasă din toată această carte presărată cu spini) și cu Farideh (una dintre multele iraniene care încearcă să-și schimbe țara).
Mi-a plăcut cartea asta. Oferă o grămadă de emoții contradictorii. Aveți aici de toate: iubire, trădare, pasiune, droguri, artă, devotament, prostituate, confesiuni religioase și tradiții ale islamismului șiit și zoroastrism.
Recomand!
July 2, 2018
** Books 97 - 2018 **
3,2 of 5 stars!
It is story compilation about people who living in Iran. The most shocking one is about crazy the prostitute is and it somehow reminds me a lot with Indonesia in Order baru's era when people doesn't have any freedom to speech and suddenly they just disappeared and being punished to voice what they thought
Thankyou Big bad Wolf 2018
3,2 of 5 stars!
It is story compilation about people who living in Iran. The most shocking one is about crazy the prostitute is and it somehow reminds me a lot with Indonesia in Order baru's era when people doesn't have any freedom to speech and suddenly they just disappeared and being punished to voice what they thought
Thankyou Big bad Wolf 2018
June 2, 2019
“On a small patch of scrubland beside the motorway, a family had laid out a sofreh, picnic blanket, and were eating abgoosht, a hearty peasant dish of meat, beans and potatoes; nothing could get in the way of an Iranian and a picnic, not even six lanes of roaring traffic.”
I loved this book. I was staying at my friend’s, and I couldn’t help opening it whenever I could. The portrait of Tehran, its vastness, complexity, resilience and diversity was stunning. I appreciated that the author stayed behind and never interposed herself between the subject and the reader.
Iran is an old, old country with a culture which goes unimaginably far back in time. I remember talking to my Iranian friend who told me that Iranians don’t really like to be grouped with other Muslim countries; they are not the same. I don’t know enough about that, but I thought it interesting that according to the book the current Iranian government doesn’t like the fact that Iran was once not predominantly (or even at all) Muslim, and villains in TV dramas have “traditional” old Persian names like Darius :D
The title is somewhat misleading, because Tehran is not a city of lies, it’s a city of secrets. Everyone seems to have a double life, sometimes the secrets spill over and ruin the owner – or maybe save them. Iranians are not portrayed as a monolith of course, not even those who live on the margins, but also not those deeply religious people, nor people who are trying to believe sincerely in good intentions of the government – they all have their tangled, complex reasons, and individual problems they try to navigate the best they can. I felt sad for most of them, and wished them well.
Why not five stars? Maybe because it seems that some of the characters are compound, rather than individual characters. But they were fascinating all the same. I wasn’t surprised by them, it’s rather than I had my faith in human resilience and ability to resist strengthened by them. We all are trying to find a way around dogmatism and oppression, aren’t we?
November 15, 2020
I’d probably only recommend this book to people who are interested in Iran, but for people who are it’s a unique read, if a bit sensationalized.
So many of the accounts of life in Iran that are popular in the west are centered around the lives of the privileged or the exiled. When I went to Iran, I realized that these accounts don’t come close to giving a full picture of what the country is like, and I am grateful to Navai for going to such lengths to showcase an impressively diverse sample of Tehranis.
Her true achievement however is not the diversity she shows, but rather the unity. I loved how all the characters, despite their ideological and socio-economic differences, were in some ways united: physically by a road and symbolically by their lies and their love of their city despite its many flaws.
So many of the accounts of life in Iran that are popular in the west are centered around the lives of the privileged or the exiled. When I went to Iran, I realized that these accounts don’t come close to giving a full picture of what the country is like, and I am grateful to Navai for going to such lengths to showcase an impressively diverse sample of Tehranis.
Her true achievement however is not the diversity she shows, but rather the unity. I loved how all the characters, despite their ideological and socio-economic differences, were in some ways united: physically by a road and symbolically by their lies and their love of their city despite its many flaws.
June 15, 2015
Wretched, wretched book. I stopped reading when I got to the chapter on the prostitute turned porn actress.
This book focuses primarily on the outlaws and outcasts of society. I daresay a writer could find a prostitute, a meth dealer, a killer, in any big city in any country in the world and write very nearly the same book.
The little I learned about the city itself was far overshadowed by the distorted portrayal if a small segment of society.
This book focuses primarily on the outlaws and outcasts of society. I daresay a writer could find a prostitute, a meth dealer, a killer, in any big city in any country in the world and write very nearly the same book.
The little I learned about the city itself was far overshadowed by the distorted portrayal if a small segment of society.
May 8, 2017
20th book for 2017.
This book is a really well-written set of fact-based stories, exposing the darker (but very human) side of the Iranian capital.
Well worth a read for anyone who wants to understand this part of the World a bit better.
This book is a really well-written set of fact-based stories, exposing the darker (but very human) side of the Iranian capital.
Well worth a read for anyone who wants to understand this part of the World a bit better.
March 5, 2023
4,5 - ça aurait peut-être pu être légèrement resserré et certains passages étaient une tite affaire trop didactiques. Mis à part ces deux petits points, c’était excellent! J’ai vraiment aimé cette incursion dans un monde qui m’est inconnu. Il y avait une belle humanité dans le propos.
September 22, 2014
Even though I really, really hate the title of this book - I find it needlessly sensational - I felt compelled to read it. The past year I have worked quite extensively, and almost exclusively with Iranian refugees, all with tales stranger than the other. It is hard to wrap your head around a reality that is so bitterly divorced from your own that it seems almost like it is impossible for it to be *anyone's* reality. The stories in this book are both very familiar and very revelatory.
Contrary to my expectations, the book really humanizes Iranians - they are not the crazy, austere, fundamentalists they are often made out to be. Rather, like everyone else, they are in search of love, sex, happiness,freedom and a really good party. But, of course, Iranians must navigate the obstacles created by a relentlessly obtrusive state, a state that in all its illimitable cruelty has shaped a singular culture of untruth, of bewildering contradictions, of bacchanal despair.
Navai is an engaging writer, sucking you into the lives of her characters quite effortlessly. "Amir" and "Leyla" especially stuck with me. I also enjoyed her Katherine Boo-like approach of removing herself from the narratives completely. It reads almost like a collection of short stories.
Unlike other reviewers, it does not bother me that the author uses composite characters. She is very upfront about her methods in the notes and as long as the events that she describes did happen, I am comfortable calling it non-fiction. I do think it's disingenuous to call it 'reportage' though - I'd label it "creative non-fiction" or more generously, "magic journalism," in the unorthodox vein of Kapuscinski.
Contrary to my expectations, the book really humanizes Iranians - they are not the crazy, austere, fundamentalists they are often made out to be. Rather, like everyone else, they are in search of love, sex, happiness,freedom and a really good party. But, of course, Iranians must navigate the obstacles created by a relentlessly obtrusive state, a state that in all its illimitable cruelty has shaped a singular culture of untruth, of bewildering contradictions, of bacchanal despair.
Navai is an engaging writer, sucking you into the lives of her characters quite effortlessly. "Amir" and "Leyla" especially stuck with me. I also enjoyed her Katherine Boo-like approach of removing herself from the narratives completely. It reads almost like a collection of short stories.
Unlike other reviewers, it does not bother me that the author uses composite characters. She is very upfront about her methods in the notes and as long as the events that she describes did happen, I am comfortable calling it non-fiction. I do think it's disingenuous to call it 'reportage' though - I'd label it "creative non-fiction" or more generously, "magic journalism," in the unorthodox vein of Kapuscinski.
November 11, 2016
This book seems to be the kind that would stir up a number of controversies, and I was quite hesitant to give it a go until a friend of mine recommended it to me. What I like about this book is the way it was structured and organized, I like how each character had a different background, and each character was from a different social class and experienced life in Iran in his/her own unique twisted way, which gave Ramita that diversity to her book. I also like the fact that this is all stories of real people and real events, and that the author actually put in the effort to authenticate her work. However, I wish the book portrayed more of the positive sides to Iran rather than just focusing on many of the negatives. Now the reason why I gave this book a 3/5 is firstly because it mainly focused on the negatives, and also because at certain points I felt out of place and didn't feel like I was captivated enough by what I was reading.
June 26, 2015
Field anthropology in Tehran. This book can provide a good view of the contemporary Iranian society. Navai used to be a reporter for The Times in Tehran. The book is a collection of real-life stories based on the lives of an assortment of people that she met in Tehran: an opposition operative on an assassination mission, a young girl from a religious and working-class background, a young activist whose parents were executed by the regime, a crude street thug, a prostitute turned a porn actress, a gay member of the regime's paramilitary, an old and old-fashioned gangster, and an old wealthy lady. Some of the character are a composite. The common theme is how everyone needs to lie and live a double life in order to survive.
did-not-finish
June 3, 2022DNF at 30%
From the beginning it felt like the author took a lot of liberties to interlard the thoughts and feelings of the people she wrote about. To me it read like she interviewed a bunch of people from the same background and merged their stories to give some sort of generalized account of whatever the theme of the chapter was about. That's why I turned to the Sources in the back of the book and I was right:
Chapter One: Dariush
Dariush's story is mostly based on my interviews with an ex-MEK member, who has spoken publicly of his MEK mission to Tehran to kill a former Tehran police chief. I have also used details provided by two other former MEK members living in Tehran and merged them with this man's story. Interviews with these former members also provided the details of the arrival in the country, family background, the MEK handler and the gun-runner. I have changed a few details of Dariush's assassination attempt. [...]
Chapter Two: Somayeh
Somayeh's story is based on that of a woman who wishes to remain anonymous; [...] Conversations between Somayeh and her friends are conversations heard between girls of the same age group and from the same conservative families as Somayeh, or they are conversations recounted by Somayeh. Political conversations between the men were conversations I listened to in her area [...]. I also interviewed several women in their fifties from conservative families for a full picture of Somayeh's mother and friends. [...]
That's just not what I expected and wanted from this book.
content notes so far:
◦ explicit: infidelity, misogyny, sexism
◦ moderate: fatphobiam sexual content
◦ minor: car accident, domestic abuse, drug abuse, gun violence, homophobia, incest, kidnapping, sexual violence, torture
January 14, 2023
La prémisse semblait être totalement dans mes cordes, mais j'ai trouvé l'exécution trop scolaire. La quantité d'information faisait en sorte qu'on était constamment sortis des histoires, et chaque nouvelle aurait pu constituer un roman complet, avec sa galerie de personnage et son évolution à travers les années et les générations. Ça demeure super intéressant, j'ai appris plein de choses, et j'en ai gardé quelques petits éléments de trivia qui sont le fun à sortir de façon random dans une conversation. Mais c'était beaucoup trop long..!
June 9, 2017
Nicht so gut wie erwartet. Ich bin ein Fan des Irans. Möchte unbedingt mal nach Teheran reisen.
August 15, 2020
A moving book on the different lives of Tehranis. It’s a tribute to the resilience and strength of this city’s inhabitants. Told carefully and with great insight, it gave me such an appreciation for the Iranian people and how they live their extraordinary lives and live their truth.
November 26, 2022
Simply incredible!
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