Reading Lolita in Tehran
by Azar Nafisi
Our Price: $10.27
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $2.75 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Azar NafisiEdition: Paperback
ISBN: N/A
Publisher: RANDOM HOUSE
Book Reviews of Reading Lolita in Tehran
Book Review: Everyday Life - A Battleground
Summary: 5 Stars
Imagine...Having to hide a satellite dish for fear of being arrested and thrown in prison,having to hide your face with a veil,your body with a robe,your head with a scarf,and God help you if a couple of loose strands of hair are sticking out. Imagine living under such a strict regime that a woman can not walk down the street with a man who is not her husband,father or brother,of having to scramble to different tables in a restaurant where a raid is going on, if you are sitting with a man who is just a friend. Imagine being subjected to body searches for no reason, of being jailed and quite possibly executed for having an opinion not accepted by that regime.Imagine the books you love, great and classic literature by Nabokov,Austen,James,and Fitzgerald, hard to come by and considered evil propaganda. And if fearing what your own countrymen can do to you is not enough, now imagine all that, with bombs going off constantly for years, landing so close they flatten your neighbors house and kill everyone in it. This was everyday life, a battleground of fear from all sides, for professor and intellectual Azar Nafisi. She only wanted to read, teach and discuss her favorite works of fiction.
Those are just a few of the injustices and life threatening situations, described in "Reading Lolita In Tehran".
After refusing to wear a veil to her job as a teacher of Literature, sticking to her own agenda of books considered controversial, Nafisi formed her own little group of women to study the great books mentioned above. She considered them "her girls", like an Iranian Miss Jean Brodie. They discussed the great works of Lolita, The Great Gatsby(this one was put on trial by her class at the University - imagine putting Gatsby on trial!), Pride and Prejudice among others, as they met in secret at Nafisi's home sans the robes and veils revealing their jeans and bright colored T-shirts, along with their inner most thoughts. They saw themselves as the heroines of the fiction they read. They discussed their sometimes unimaginable situations,their deep faith,the deaths of their friends, and the political times they lived in.
Azar Nafisi writes of how this group came to be, how these young women defied authority by studying unacceptable fiction. The girls themselves each have quite a background and stories of chilling experiences. Considering themselves lucky for only getting 5 years in prison for expressing their opinions instead of death in some cases.You can't help but feel a bond with each one of them. Nafisi also takes us back to the years before the group. She writes of life of in the "Islamic Republic of Iran",of teaching at the University of Tehran, and the extreme authoritative figures that ruled. Her writing seems to go off on tangents and some times it is a while before we are brought back full circle to the point, but I have to say, that every word she writes seems important to this story, and well worth reading through. She brilliantly interweaves the theme and characters of the books with the way of life in Iran.
This book left me deep in thought about the things I read in it. It was an up close and personal look at life we've heard about, but always seemed so far away. It not only touched me deeply and emotionally but I learned so much about the history and politics of the country as well. It certainly made me appreciate my own life much more.
Highly recommended read for everyone, and may be an especially deep discussion for book club groups.This edition has questions for discussion included.
It is quite a bit to absorb, but one that I will read again someday...Enjoy the read...Laurie
History & Criticism Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in History & Criticism Books
An Introduction to Literatureby Sylvan Barnet, William E. Burto, William E Cain
Longman; Published: 2007-11-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $20.00
Price in other shops:
Arielby José Enrique Rodó
University of Texas Press; Published: 1988; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.50
Price in other shops:
The Priapus Poems: EROTIC EPIGRAMS FROM ANCIENT ROMEby Richard W. Hooper
University of Illinois Press; Published: 1999-04-01; Hardcover; Book
Price in other shops:
Theodor Fontane: Literature and History in the Bismarck Reichby Gordon A. Craig
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1999-11-04; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $94.71
Price in other shops:
The Annotated Anne of Green Gablesby L. M. Montgomery
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1997-08-28; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $26.45
Price in other shops:
Christmas in America: A Historyby Penne L. Restad
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1995-12-07; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $44.71
Antigone (Greek Tragedy in New Translations)by Sophocles
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1990-02-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.00
Price in other shops:
Lysistrata and Other Plays (Penguin Classics)by Aristophane
Addison Wesley; Published: 2008-09-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.48
Price in other shops:
Death of a Salesman (Viking Critical Library)by Arthur Miller
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1996-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.99
Price in other shops:
Brush Up Your Shakespeare!by Michael Macrone, Tom Lulevitch
Harpercollins; Published: 1994-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.50
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress: A Novelby Dai Sijie
Anchor; Published: 2002-10-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.44
Price in other shops:
The Jewish State (Jewish, Judaism)by Theodor Herzl
Dover Publications; Published: 1989-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.00
Price in other shops:
On the Bus with Rosa Parks: Poemsby Rita Dove
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 2000-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.90
Price in other shops:
The Story of Avis by Elizabeth Stuart PhelpsRutgers University Press; Published: 1985-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $21.95
Price in other shops:
Carnival Evening: New and Selected Poems 1968-1998by Linda Pastan
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 1999-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.99
Price in other shops:
A Practical Handbook for Writing in the Humanitiesby Michael C. Milam
Wadsworth Publishing; Published: 2002-07-17; Spiral-bound; Book
Best price: $27.50
Price in other shops:
The Blue Valleys: A Collection Of Storiesby Robert Morgan
Touchstone; Published: 2000-10-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.09
Price in other shops:
The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces (Expanded Edition) (Vol. One-Volume)W.W. Norton & Co.; Published: 1997-01-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $65.00
Pedro Paramoby Juan Rulfo
Grove Press; Published: 1994-03-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.27
Price in other shops:
Lolita, 50th Anniversary Editionby Vladimir Nabokov
Vintage; Published: 1989-03-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.48
Price in other shops: