Desolation

by Hossein Asgari (Other)

‘It is a work preoccupied with love, truth and the cruelty of fate. This, by implication, is the kind of inquiry that can only be undertaken by storytellers and, as such, Desolation is an accomplished affirmation of the necessity of the novelist’s craft.’— The Guardian ‘This powerful work cements Asgari as a vital voice in Australian literature’— Books + Publishing ‘Hossein Asgari’s Desolation speaks powerfully of the destructiveness of war and the hope that lies in fiction.’— The Conversation
‘You are a writer, aren’t you? I have a story for you.’‘I’m working on my own story, and—’‘It’s a true story, not one of those made-up, pointless whatever it is that you people write.’‘It’s called fiction, and though I appreciate that you want to—’‘Appreciate?’ He smirks. You don’t have to appreciate anything or talk as if you’re being interviewed by CNN. I’ll tell you my story, then it’s up to you whether to write it or not.’

This is the story of Amin as he falls in and out of love and the choices he makes in the shadow of his brother’s death, lost in the tragic downing of Flight 655.

Amid the chaos of 1980s Iran, he witnesses the senselessness of violence and the enduring power of sorrow. As he grapples with the trauma, Amin discovers a profound  stories can both heal and deceive. Through the lens of literature and the harsh realities of politics, he questions the blurred lines between truth and lies. 

A tale of disillusionment and the human spirit, Desolation explores the enduring power of storytelling in the face of tragedy.

PRAISE FOR DESOLATION :

‘a grave and gripping portrait of a man whose hopelessness and loneliness turned him towards belief but who, even in his despair, could not find God.’— The Saturday Paper ‘At the heart of this novel, though, lies the power of story.’— Sydney Morning Herald

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction

195 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 26, 2025

About the author

Hossein Asgari studied physics and creative writing. He lives in Adelaide.

Reviews

[Suz · Rating 3 out of 5]

A thoughtful and important fictional account reflecting on an event I had previously been unaware of. Amin loses his brother in Flight 655 in the 1980s—a civilian passenger plane shot down by an American naval warship. The novel offers a close look into this young man’s grief as he grows into himself, searching for love and answers within the heightened cultural landscape of Iran at the time.

Amin’s character is well drawn as he engages with his closely knit family, finds his one real love that he’s required to hide, and enters mandatory military service. When he becomes entangled with the radicalisation movement in ways he never imagined, I found myself drawn into an unexpected and serious thread—one of the most intense parts of the political unrest of the time, and one that continues to this day.

I felt both scared and confronted for this man, and deeply invested in his desperate need to have a wife, to experience true love, and to understand what he would do to claim that for himself. A serious literary fiction title from which I learned a great deal, Amin’s story is told via quality and uniqueness of writing.

Thank you as always Ultimo Press for my review copy, always learning from your titles.

[ariana · Rating 3 out of 5]

found it a bit simplistic until the terrorism

[Nikita T Khan · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow wow wow, a simple story...Amin, according to me is brave. Brave enough to not succumb to radicalisation when the people he loved were pushing him towards it.

[Novel_lovers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Desolation hooks you from its first crackling exchange; someone insists, “I have a story for you,” and the book becomes a confession you can’t look away from. We follow Amin through love, loss, and the uneasy knowledge that stories can heal even as they mislead. I really loved the story and enjoyed reading it so much. I highly recommend this book.

[Crazycatlady885 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I devoured this book in 2 days. I have read Asgari’s first book, only sound remains, and this is similar in its melancholic haunting style. We follow a nameless author who is harassed by a strange middle aged Iranian man in a cafe and is asked to write his life story. What follows is a a story within a story and an uneasy exploration of loss, grief and apathy.

[Marles Henry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hossein Asgari’s Desolation is a novel haunted by the power of stories. The book begins in an Adelaide cafe, where an author struggling to write and is approached by a stranger who insists his life story must be recorded. Amin I this stranger. He carries the ghost of the past, marked with a single number: 655. This was the flight number of a passenger plane wrongly identified it as a fighter jet, shot down over the Persian Gulf in 1988 by two surface-to-air missiles fired by a US Navy warship, during the ongoing Iran-Iraq War. This flight was carrying Amin’s beloved brother. This was the moment where the history of the past created Amin’s story. Desolation explores how war devastates lives and fractures the social and emotional bonds that hold them together. As fact and fiction slip uneasily into one another, Asgari reminds us that both writer and reader carry a shared responsibility: to listen closely, and to remain vigilant in recognising truth.
Amin’s tale begins in his teenage years in Iran, surrounded by a caring family and captivated by a first love who lived across the street. Yet even those tender moments unfolded under the looming atmosphere of political extremism. Youthful innocence was shadowed by propaganda, half-truths, and the confusion between reality and illusion, what we currently call fake news As the story progresses into adulthood, the weight of his brother’s death leaves Amin adrift: disillusioned with the world, trapped in regret, paralysed by the knowledge that there is no right time to be informed about the risk of losing your soul.
At its heart, this story uses the art of storytelling as Amin’s means to survive. Amin’s own narrative does not redeem him; it cannot bring back what was lost or free him from guilt. It does not allow him to live on, or to confess the mistakes of his life: they are a means to make sure that his story, and the story of the lives he interacted with matter for their own sake. Amin is a storyteller himself; he speaks through cracked rose-coloured glasses where he is forced to see the truth for what it is. Selfishly he offloads his story because once it is told, it no longer belongs to him, but to the writer who records it and the reader who bears witness.

Asgari’s prose is blunt, direct, and unflinching. As a reader, we’re aware of the inevitable downfall of Amin, so its momentum becomes grimmer and bleaker. Amin remains empty, unhappy and alone. Nothing changes this. What he has experienced is horrible and has left him speechless because he passes all of his words to someone else to carry them forward. Telling his own story cannot save Amin.

Sometimes only through fiction shines a glimmer of truth.

[Amy Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

.....📚 𝑩𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝑹𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘 📚.....

SEP - Desolation by Hossein Agari is a haunting novel that explores grief, memory, and the lingering impact of war. Asgari’s layered storytelling invites you to reflect on the nature of truth, memory, and the stories we tell ourselves.

Set in Adelaide, the story follows a writer who is approached by a mysterious man named Amin, offering only a cryptic number, 655, and a request: tell my story.
Amin’s tale centres on the 1988 downing of Iran Air Flight 655, which killed his brother Hamid, a gifted mathematician. This tragedy becomes the emotional core of the novel, shaping Amin’s life and relationships. Amin’s narrative blurs truth and fiction, challenging the reader to question what’s real and what’s imagined.

Rather than offering redemption, it presents a quiet reckoning with history. It’s a philosophical work that asks how we carry trauma and whether telling our stories can ever truly set us free. The writing weaves a story within a story, a clever way to introduce the power of storytelling. The novel meditates on the power of stories—how they can heal, distort, or radicalize. If you’re drawn to emotionally intense fiction that wrestles with history and identity, this one delivers a powerful, lingering experience.
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Thank you to @ultimopress for a gifted copy in exchange for my honest review.
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[Natasha (jouljet) · Rating 3 out of 5]

A struggling writer is approached in the cafe he is working by a stranger, who proceeds to tell him a story to write. This story is complex, from a world most Australians have rarely considered, and weaves must intrigue, romance, risk and grief.

Iran in the 1980, Amin is the youngest of a large family, he being one of only three siblings remaining at home. He has his focus set on the girl next door, and a cute, secret romance begins. The customs and restrictions of the country, relations between the opposite sex, and the political and religious governance of the day are at play.

Amin's world is shattered, not by the discovery of his clandestine visits with his beloved, but by the sudden and tragic death of his brother.

As his grief ripples through his life, he loses so much, until compulsory military service leads him on a new, unexpected path.

An embedded narrative, the story being told is so absorbing, the regular jolt of return is often as disconcerting as the turns in story itself. A reminder of the future for Amin, and a deep curiosity about how he gets to be in thst cafe at all.

The turns in this story take us to some dark, unsettling places. A story about grief, the search for love, and ultimately safety.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A unique novel grounded in the real-life tragedy of Flight 655. I wasn’t aware of this event, and it was compelling to encounter it through an Iranian perspective — one that didn’t rely on hatred toward America, but still held them culpable. The writing flowed smoothly, and the plot often surprised me, though the ending felt abrupt. That said, I sense this was deliberate: leaving Amin’s story unresolved forces the reader to reflect and question. A powerful, unpredictable, and thought-provoking work that opened my eyes to a history I had overlooked.

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Desolation is a haunting, beautifully written novel that blends history, grief, and the power of storytelling. Hossein Asgari captures both the intimate pain of loss and the wider destructiveness of war, reminding us how stories can heal, deceive, and ultimately keep us alive. Unforgettable and essential reading.

[Alib · Rating 3 out of 5]

A strange and relatively short book - the story of Amin who grows up in Iran, his brother dies on flight 655 which is somehow shot down by the US. He heads off for military service and almost become a jihadist. Nicely written but I did not fully grasp the point of the story nor why Amin wants his story to be written by a random person he meets in Australia?

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5*

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating hard-to-put down book by an Iranian author. Love, death, Osama bin Ladin even - what a surprise that was. A man who has been through a lot tells his story. Definitely worth reading.

[Bec · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*

[Dorothy Kennedy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reality captured in a very readable simplicity of style that achieves its purpose well

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really topical book re life in Iran. Excellent story telling.

[Anahid · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fiction book based on the reality of life in Iran. I enjoyed reading this book, the coming of age is simple yet interesting. It takes a turn towards the end. It felt a bit unfinished so thats why I dropped a star.

[lils · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was bleak and tragic with simple prose and a deeply flawed and unreliable narrator. Brilliant. Started reading this morning and couldn’t put it down.