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Crowd of Sorrows
Zora, just separated from her American husband, with a six-year old daughter, Anar, has had a highly unsettled life so far. After her marriage falls apart, she moves with Anar to a row-house in Cambridge, MA, that shares a backyard with several young families. She hopes to develop friendships with the other mothers, but soon finds that this is not a big happy family she has moved into. Anxiety over the children and threats to their wellbeing hang in the air; marital problems surface among the couples. In spite of the transparency of the tenants’ activities, as seen through the sliding glass doors opening on the common backyard, hidden and ambiguous aspects permeate the air. One day Anar disappears; with this shock and its resolution Zora comes to realize that her search for a place in the world might not yet be over.
Nahid Rachlin went to Columbia University Writing Program on a Doubleday-Columbia Fellowship and then 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). Her individual short stories have appeared in more than fifty magazines and one of her stories was adopted by Symphony Space, “Selected Shorts,” and was aired on NPR’s around the country.
Cover design by Evan Twohy.
Nahid Rachlin went to Columbia University Writing Program on a Doubleday-Columbia Fellowship and then 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). Her individual short stories have appeared in more than fifty magazines and one of her stories was adopted by Symphony Space, “Selected Shorts,” and was aired on NPR’s around the country.
Cover design by Evan Twohy.
76 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 3, 2015
14 people are currently reading
70 people want to read
About the author
Nahid Rachlin
19 books481 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 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 18, 2015
Crowd of Sorrows is a gorgeously written new novel by Nahid Rachlin. I became a fan of Rachlin's work years ago and my love for her style of writing and her women-centered stories has remained constant over the years. From page one of Crowd of Sorrows, I was immersed in Zora's struggle for a sense of place and belonging. Just one of the many strengths of Rachlin's writing is that wherever her novels are set, they are entirely credible, unlike some works I've read by other accomplished writers who experiment with setting. Don't be fooled by her simple, direct style; this beautifully crafted novel explores the complexity of human existence. Highly recommended.
July 18, 2015
This is a sweet little blip of a book. Rachlin writes about the everyday. It's a locket-sized portrait of a woman rebuilding her life after a divorce. I kept thinking that this was sort of a less exciting version of Rear Window. That isn't meant to be a bad thing, I just mean it as a factual statement. This isn't my first choice kind of book, but this is beautifully written and deals with mundanities in a charming way.
November 8, 2016
Short and incisive. Enjoyed Zora’s inner dialogue and processing as she tries to navigate her world post-separation from her husband. The stark realism may be off-putting to some readers wanting more emotion from Zora, especially later in the book, but I appreciated the steady hand guiding me through the story without unwanted artifice.
July 27, 2015
Not bad but..
Story goes no where, no one evolves, nothing happens. Not sure what the point was at all. Odd ending place too
Story goes no where, no one evolves, nothing happens. Not sure what the point was at all. Odd ending place too
December 31, 2016
Good short read
It was a nice short read, I enjoyed the characters. Wish there was a bit more substance to the story, but good nonetheless.
It was a nice short read, I enjoyed the characters. Wish there was a bit more substance to the story, but good nonetheless.
December 2, 2018
Crowd of Sorrows was a very interesting novella. I only learned about it from the author's twitter. After reading Persian Girls (which was absolutely amazing), I was excited to read more from the author, and a short novella was perfect for me.
Crowd of Sorrows was great, but it was definitely not Persian Girls. The story is extremely American - it takes place in a Quincy suburb, with all very American characters with extremely American names. The story features a bit about Turkish culture, but it is not as rich as Persian Girls in terms of the depth of it all. This is of course fine, but again, it is not Persian Girls.
The story is about a mother and daughter after the mother initiates a separation between her and her husband. It features stories and vignettes about the lives of different families in the Quincy community, and the different hardships they all face. It is a short novella, so everything gets resolved fairly quickly, but there are points where you are genuinely worried as to what will happen next.
In the end, I enjoyed reading it. It was definitely worth the $2.99 on Amazon, and I hope y'all pick it up as well :)
Crowd of Sorrows was great, but it was definitely not Persian Girls. The story is extremely American - it takes place in a Quincy suburb, with all very American characters with extremely American names. The story features a bit about Turkish culture, but it is not as rich as Persian Girls in terms of the depth of it all. This is of course fine, but again, it is not Persian Girls.
The story is about a mother and daughter after the mother initiates a separation between her and her husband. It features stories and vignettes about the lives of different families in the Quincy community, and the different hardships they all face. It is a short novella, so everything gets resolved fairly quickly, but there are points where you are genuinely worried as to what will happen next.
In the end, I enjoyed reading it. It was definitely worth the $2.99 on Amazon, and I hope y'all pick it up as well :)
January 28, 2018
Crowd of Sorrows is a perfect novella, beautifully crafted with not one wasted word. The epigraph from Rumi’s “The Guest House” is wondrously appropriate for this story embracing the complexity of what it is to be human. From the epigraph: “This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all!”
February 15, 2018
My review
A lovely very intimate book. A close up on a young woman and her daughters life. I really enjoyed reading it and was sorry it ended.
A lovely very intimate book. A close up on a young woman and her daughters life. I really enjoyed reading it and was sorry it ended.
May 16, 2017
Good novella.
Enjoyed this story, reminded me the beautiful city Izmir. But don't read romance books or love stories. Zora character wasn't developed much.
"O benim hayatimin aski" means "love of my life."
Enjoyed this story, reminded me the beautiful city Izmir. But don't read romance books or love stories. Zora character wasn't developed much.
"O benim hayatimin aski" means "love of my life."
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews