Honeymoon in Purdah: An Iranian Journey
by Alison Wearing
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Book Summary Information
Author: Alison WearingEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2001-12-07
ISBN: 0312263449
Number of pages: 336
Publisher: Picador
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780312263447
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Honeymoon in Purdah: An Iranian Journey
Book Review: Touching Portrait of the People of Iran
Summary: 5 Stars
Traveling to Iran with her roommate Ian in the guise of a couple on their honeymoon, Canadian writer Alison Wearing paints a touching and often humorous portrait of a country frequently misunderstood by the West. Although she touches lightly on the country's history, geography, and religion, this is first and foremost a book about her encounters with the Iranian people, whose hospitality and generosity are stunning from a Western point of view. It seems that she can barely step outside without being welcomed into a stranger's home and lavished with food and kindness.
Some of Wearing's experiences show the painful history and religious fervor with which Westerners are so familiar. She witnesses the grim Ashura procession marking the martyrdom of Shiites' revered Imam Hussein and meets a man scarred by the torture he suffered at the hands of the Shah. She struggles with the chaador, sweating under the blazing sun and trying to keep the garment from ending up on the ground, yet finds a certain measure of comfort in wearing it. Most of her encounters, however, reveal a multi-faceted Iran invisible to most Westerners, full of complexity and warmth. There is a bubbly Mexican expat devoted to her Christian faith; an impish twentysomething who spent 12 years in California and works a $3 a day job while selling opium in hopes of returning (and who shows off the empty box of condoms above his bed); and a couple who insists on driving Wearing to a desert oasis to cool off, leaving Ian the message: "Mister Canada, we take your wife. We make her cold."
I couldn't put this book down. Wearing's humor, adventurous spirit, and openness to whatever her travels may bring make "Honeymoon in Purdah" a joy to read.
Summary of Honeymoon in Purdah: An Iranian Journey
With a love of travel, Alison Wearing invites us to journey with her to Iran--a country that few Westerners have a chance to see. Traveling with a male friend, in the guise of a couple on their honeymoon, Wearing set out on her own at every available opportunity. She went looking for what lay beneath the media's representation of Iran and found a country made up of welcoming, curious, warmhearted, ambitious men and women. With humor and compassion, Wearing gives Iranians the chance to wander beyond headlines and stereotypes, and in doing so, reveals the poetry of their lives--those whose lives extend beyond Western news stories of kidnapping, terrorism, veiled women, and Islamic fundamentalism.
Twenty years after the Iranian revolution, most westerners still imagine Iran to be a warren of anti-American rhetoric, terrorism, and fanatical repression, especially of women. Not surprisingly, only an unusual woman would choose to travel there, and Alison Wearing is certainly that. "I refused to believe that such a place of unalloyed evil truly existed," she writes. "I like to look for saints where there are said to be demons." Since it is the only country the world traveler could not imagine going to alone, she takes her fussy, gay roommate Ian, along with a fake wedding certificate and a story that they're on their honeymoon. Then she dons a black cloak, scarf, and chador (the full body covering required by Shiite Islam) for a five-month journey from the Caspian Sea (breaking into the Shah's ramshackle summer palace) to the holy city of Qom (and Khomeini's shrine) to a hidden Zoroastrian prayer site (where she faints from heat stroke). From the moment she steps into the country, she's surrounded by Iranians touched by her eagerness to learn about their country. There is the housewife who challenges her to a game of Ping-Pong in her long robe and scarf, offering food to her guests in between killer serves, and the Anglican minister who is "wholly enthralled by the art of living." There is the couple who spirit her away to a mountain oasis when she complains of the heat (leaving a message for Ian, "Mister Canada, we take your wife. We make her cold"), and the mother who tries to marry off her doctor son, joking that Wearing can't leave "not without my doctor" (a reference to the American film Not Without My Daughter).
Wearing has a gift for connecting with others and the humility to let them tell their own stories. She also sees the hilarity in the most absurd situations. As it turns out, so do the Iranians, which makes for some wonderful laughs. Wearing is also a poet, and she unveils the Iranians with innocence and grace--their hospitality, their quick acceptance and easy intimacy, and the real life of women beneath the veil. And while there are strict defenders of the revolution, most are philosophical: "Friends, please forgive us, but our country is not perfect.... it will make us very happy if you enjoy. Keep your hearts in our people, my friends. We are strangers, but we try to be kind." This is a gem of a debut. --Lesley Reed
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