Remembering Memories

by Dana Mehdipour-Haidari

1974, Iran. Houri Taqkhan is 18 years old when the opportunity arises to marry her family friend’s son, Raz Yaakhi, the heir to the North Banks. She accepts, knowing it's her best economic and social choice to pull herself out of poverty. Sounds perfect but there’s one catch, Houri and Raz have despised each other since childhood and have spent their lives concealing their hatred during yearly dinner parties, as their families’ friendship runs generations deep. Remembering Memories follows decades of Houri’s life, as she and Raz navigate being a married couple hiding their dislike from the world while tackling issues of class difference, gender, and an uprising revolution.

934 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 20, 2025

Reviews

[Sadiyah · Rating 1 out of 5]

The writing in this book is genuinely difficult to get through. The dialogue feels unnatural, repetitive, and lacks any real depth or personality. Instead of sounding like real conversations, the characters all seem to have the same voice.

What frustrated me most was the relentless use of the f-word. Swearing can be effective when it’s used purposefully, but here it felt like every other sentence contained it. After a while, it became distracting rather than impactful, making the dialogue feel immature and repetitive. It was as if the author relied on profanity to replace meaningful or well-written conversations.

It felt like every page had the f-word at least 5 times which was completely unnecessary

Unfortunately, the excessive swearing, combined with the weak dialogue, made it hard to stay immersed in the story. I kept hoping the writing would improve, but it never did. If you’re someone who values strong prose and believable dialogue, this book will likely be a disappointing read.

[Nari · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5 ⭐️
Wow this was the slowest of slow burns ever. I think I would have enjoyed it more if we had more depth to their relationship.
Also took points off cause fmc was swearing every 2 words. Like can we please stop saying “fuck” or “fucking” 20 times in one page

[Irum · Rating 1 out of 5]

The writing in this book is horrendous it feels like it’s been written by a 12 year old. Scratch that I’ve read books written on wattpad written by a 12 year old that’s been written better.

The only vocabulary the characters seem to have is fuck🫩🫩🫩I checked the amount of times that’s word been used in this book and it’s 1000+ 💀💀💀

The way the characters talk to each other was unnatural. Sounded like nobody even edited the book. Another weird scenario was they were at a bar but apparently she was drinking Zamzam 😐😐😐in what world does a bar have Zamzam water. What kind of crack is the author smoking. I really tried to push through this book but it was genuinely horrendous and unbearable to read 🫩

This genuinely breaks me heart as I was excited to read about Iranian representation 🥲🥲

[cheato · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible

[Lianne Mckeown · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent read. I became so attached to the characters and cried along with them.

[Luna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really don't even know where to start.
I finished it in days, even though I have tons of other books waiting for me on my shelf.
When I first saw this book, I didn't have high expectations. I thought it would be another simple BookTok romance, with a love story written carelessly just for the hype.
But this book was SO far from being just a simple romance.
It felt like a summer breeze, warm, emotional, and somehow comforting, while also breaking my heart.
If you liked A Thousand Splendid Suns, I am so certain you will love this book too.
It was incredibly unpredictable, and God knows how much I cried during some chapters. There were moments when I genuinely had to put the book down and just process what I had read.
The author did such an amazing job of mixing politics with everyday life and showing how deeply political events can affect people, families, and especially women.
This book deserves so much more popularity and hype.
I genuinely cannot stop thinking about it.

[Shreya Anand · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dana Mehdipour-Haidari's debut novel is a stunningly heartbreaking and yet simultaneously heartwarming narrative focused on two cunningly lovable characters. Get ready to immerse yourself in Houri and Raz's world. You find yourself clinging to the words of the characters, flipping the pages, and feasting for more. An epic novel written by an incredible new author. Everyone should read this. I cannot wait for more.

[Mayzoon Alhadabi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very pointlessly long couldn’t even finish it!