The Septembers of Shiraz
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The Septembers of Shiraz
by
Dalia Sofer
In the aftermath of the Iranian revolution, rare-gem dealer Isaac Amin is arrested, wrongly accused of being a spy. In the wake of his terrifying disappearance, his family must reconcile a new world of cruelty and chaos with the collapse of everything they had known.
As Isaac navigates the tedium and terrors of prison, forging tenuous trusts, his wife feverishly searches
...moreHardcover, 320 pages
Published
by Picador USA
(first published January 1st 2007)
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A can't-put-it-down-even-though-I'm-also-reading-Harry Potter book. Author's debut novel, and I can't believe how well she can write. It's about the Iranian revolution in the early 80s, and a Jewish family...father gets arrested by the Revolutionary Guard in the first paragraph. The story holds your interest from then on. Gives insights into Iranian cultural, class conflicts, women's plight, what it's like to wear the scarf all of the time [like little elves crunching paper in your ear]....
i had high hopes after reading all the reviews, but was disappointed. it's a well-organized and thought-out novel in terms of structure and plot, but the characters didn't do it for me. i felt i was skimming along the surface of their feelings, and the writing also didn't particularly stand out. i'd still be interested to see what sofer does with her second work though, primarily because her background as a persian jewish american interests me.
This debut-novel from Iranian-born Dalia Sofer has received great critical acclaim. I was hoping to like it as much as The Kite Runner or Reading Lolita In Tehran, but I didn't. The story-line and plot were compelling, but the author hardly explored the depths of her interesting characters. They felt more like caricatures.
Sofer has great promise as a writer. This novel reminds me a lot of Julia Glass's Three Junes: good, not great, and followed by an outstanding second novel. I loo...more
Sofer has great promise as a writer. This novel reminds me a lot of Julia Glass's Three Junes: good, not great, and followed by an outstanding second novel. I loo...more
This book is both less and more than I expected. From a pure entertainment standpoint, I was disappointed; not so much because of the pacing (which is on the slow side, although the book is a quick read overall), but because I was hoping for a book that read like historical fiction, while this one read more like a contemporary family story--with the twist that the father is a political prisoner. Nothing objectively wrong with that, and if you like modern-day stories about families you'll probabl...more
This is a really beautiful novel about a Jewish family in Iran; the father is imprisoned, accused of being a "Zionist spy" after the fall of the Shah, and his wife, teenaged son, and nine-year-old daughter must cope with his sudden absence and their fears about his fate. A couple of reviewers have used the word "delicate" to describe this novel. That seems apt to me, because of the gentleness and compassion offered to every single character (even, astonishingly, the sadistic ...more
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This story is of a very wealthy Jewish family in post shah iran. It centers around Isaac, a gemologist, who turned a blind eye to all that went on under the shah's regime as his family and friends prospered. After the Shah's fall, and as society changes around him and his friends either leave or are imprisoned, he closes his eyes and waits. And is finally imprisoned.
The book is shallow to this point but really gets under the skin of the men in prison. It's engrossing and unforgettable and ...more
The book is shallow to this point but really gets under the skin of the men in prison. It's engrossing and unforgettable and ...more
A bittersweet story of an Iranian Jewish family during the early eighties after the Shah was deposed.
Poignantly written, this semi autobiographical memoir-like novel comes up a little short for me.I have read enough of the Holocaust to know how life can change when we least expect it and with such force as to destroy relationships, break up families and yield tales of stark horror. This is one more such book, albeit in a different setting. It has the requisite grimness but at the en...more
Poignantly written, this semi autobiographical memoir-like novel comes up a little short for me.I have read enough of the Holocaust to know how life can change when we least expect it and with such force as to destroy relationships, break up families and yield tales of stark horror. This is one more such book, albeit in a different setting. It has the requisite grimness but at the en...more
Betsy
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
adults with an interest in the Middle East, Iran
Another fictional memoir of life after the fall of the Shah in Iran, this is a well-written account told from multiple perspectives of the various family members of an imprisoned
Jewish businessman and how each of them finds the inner strength to cope with the effects of his imprisonment. I think it's, in some ways unfortunate that there has been such a slew of books about Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan this year as they tend to dilute one another. I'm thinking specifically of A Thousand Splend...more
Jewish businessman and how each of them finds the inner strength to cope with the effects of his imprisonment. I think it's, in some ways unfortunate that there has been such a slew of books about Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan this year as they tend to dilute one another. I'm thinking specifically of A Thousand Splend...more
I really enjoyed the different voices in this book. The story is interesting and really puts in perspective what it is like to live under and ever shifting government as a child, businessman, and a mother in Iran. What if your values don't conform with those of the ruling elite? How do you come to terms with that? Or even survive? What can a child do?
My one complaint is that the book didn't go on long enough. There were a few issues that I wanted to hear more about. I especial...more
My one complaint is that the book didn't go on long enough. There were a few issues that I wanted to hear more about. I especial...more
I could not put this book down. (It cost me some sleep.) The Septembers of Shiraz takes place in Iran after the revolution. The Iranian-American author is a very gifted young writer who beautifully captures the characters of 4 Jewish family members after the father has been thrown in prison. He has done nothing except be wealthy and maginally connected to the Shah. It is a frightening time, as those in prison are tortured and killed with very little provocation. The short chapters switch betwee...more
eloise
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
HY! haha... i seriously think Hy would like this book (among others)... ;)
really liked this book, although it's difficult to read at parts. beautiful perspective from the young girl. i like books that take different perspectives and this one switches between 4 family points of view as the father is thrown into prison during the 1979 iranian revolution. pretty scary stuff and for another twist on the whole situation, the family is jewish. it's a book about love, but not the typical romantic love between 2 people (although there is some of that and it's mostly a difficu...more
Read this for one of my book clubs and I’m glad I did. I had not heard about this book and it was not on any of my “lists.” This book generated a lot of discussion in our book club and presented each of us with much to think on.
Amazon’s description: In the aftermath of the Iranian revolution, rare-gem dealer Isaac Amin is arrested, wrongly accused of being a spy. Terrified by his disappearance, his family must reconcile a new world of cruelty and chaos with the collapse of everything they...more
Amazon’s description: In the aftermath of the Iranian revolution, rare-gem dealer Isaac Amin is arrested, wrongly accused of being a spy. Terrified by his disappearance, his family must reconcile a new world of cruelty and chaos with the collapse of everything they...more
This book was a good way for an outsider to everything Iran-related to become acquainted with some of the realities people experienced in the years following the Revolution. Some small and sweet moments spring from Sofer's recollection of her own childhood in Iran, some painful and brutal scenes are taken from the real experiences of her father and others who were imprisoned and tortured. Despite the variety of material the tone of the writing is strikingly even, the prose is clean, gentle, a...more
Really beautiful book. I loved being immersed in Iran: scents, smells, places, sounds, culture, history... I REALLY need to read more about Iranian history and the Iranian Revolution.
Sofer takes a sort of relativist position in regards to the Revolution. She states that she set out to understand people's motivations and to not judge them. This proves to be really illuminating but also disquieting. The novel is from the perspective of wealthy Iranians who lost practically all during the Rev...more
Sofer takes a sort of relativist position in regards to the Revolution. She states that she set out to understand people's motivations and to not judge them. This proves to be really illuminating but also disquieting. The novel is from the perspective of wealthy Iranians who lost practically all during the Rev...more
I enjoyed it but I didn't love it. It was a lazy read because I took a long time to finish it, which indicates it is a book that can put down. Thought provoking. Sometimes the story was slow. I liked that the main character evaluated himself outloud, both religously and morally, but he never seemed to make any determinations either way. The authors description of place and culture was excellant and I felt transported. I was fond of all the characters, but I was annoyed with the son's narrat...more
Septembers of Shiraz caught my attention because it is a new addition to the Books on Disc collection. Dalia Sofer is an Iranian writer who emigrated to the United States in 1982 when she was 10. Sofer’s story is set in post-revolutionary Iran and alternates between the four members of the Amin family and their experiences after the arrest of Isaac, the family patriarch, who is accused of being a Zionist spy.
Isaac Amin is a poet-turned-gems dealer who built a comfortable life in Tehr...more
Isaac Amin is a poet-turned-gems dealer who built a comfortable life in Tehr...more
This is about a middle class Iranian Jewish family man during the time of the Iranisan revolution who is arrested and interrogated. It describes how his world collapses, from the luxury of satin sheets and fine meals, to the squalor of imprisonment. I was taken with the desciptions of details of how his family copes; his son in America feeling adrift in hies thoughs, his daughter senses the dangers around her, and the desciption of how her friendships with schoolmates crumble due to fear and sus...more
This is a lyrical poignant novel about a Jewish family in the aftermath of the Iranian revolution. Isaac, the father, is imprisoned by the Revolutionary Guards on the first page, and the story captures your attention instantly. The book then alternates perspectives between Isaac, his wife Farnaz and young daughter in Tehran, and his son attending college in New York City. Each struggles and copes differently with their fears about where Isaac is being held and when or if he will ever come hom...more
This book tells you about the Iranian revolution through the eyes of one family. The father gets taken away to prison. The mother and young daughter are left at home to live without him, not knowing if he's alive or dead. And a son in his early twenties has been sent abroad and is living in Brooklyn and dealing with starting his own life, bereft of his family, dealing with loneliness. This book does a good job of giving you all of those perspectives. I of course liked the class analysis, or lack...more
We read to go other places, to sample other lives. Reading, for me, at times lets me escape into lives I’d never want to lead, into places I’d never want to go.
The Septembers of Shiraz takes me deep into these lives I’d never lead, places I’d never go. Isaac Amin, along with his wife, his young daughter, and even his son in distant America, suffer the changes revolution in Iran creates. The persecuted become the persecutors. There is no safe place. Fear and anger breed m...more
The Septembers of Shiraz takes me deep into these lives I’d never lead, places I’d never go. Isaac Amin, along with his wife, his young daughter, and even his son in distant America, suffer the changes revolution in Iran creates. The persecuted become the persecutors. There is no safe place. Fear and anger breed m...more
Why do I bother to read about the Middle East? Nothing joyful ever seems to come from there. You can bet there won't be any chic lit from that region as England seems to have the market on that. But, just once, I would love to see a novel come from the Middle East that has an independent female journalist who works for a fashion magazine (Jezeera Style) where she pines daily for her boss but falls in love, in the end, for an unassuming delivery boy who cycles the streets of Tabriz.
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This is some sort of a fictionalized memoir, a novel based on the author's life, and the lives of her family. It takes place in Iran in 1981-1982, right after the deposition of the Shah of Iran. Isaac is a Jew, born and raised in Iran, he is a jeweler and gemologist, he has accumulated a certain degree of wealth, has a beautiful home and a summer house, has traveled abroad and has rubbed elbows with the old regime. He knew his days were numbered in the new Tehran, and one morning he meets his fa...more
Pretty tough subject matter but beautifully written. Some of my favorite quotes:
"Standing on the stoop, he tucks his gloveless hands in his pockets and looks out onto the dark street. How unyielding is that space between connection and interruption - one false move, one misspoken word, and you find yourself on the wrong side of things." (page 146)
"Walking back to the cell, Isaac wonders whether he could, in fact, repent. Since he is innocent of any crime...more
"Standing on the stoop, he tucks his gloveless hands in his pockets and looks out onto the dark street. How unyielding is that space between connection and interruption - one false move, one misspoken word, and you find yourself on the wrong side of things." (page 146)
"Walking back to the cell, Isaac wonders whether he could, in fact, repent. Since he is innocent of any crime...more
At first I thought the book was fine, but it didn't strike me. But by the end I rather liked it. It's about the revolution in Iran in the early 80s. I liked how each chapter took turns being from the perspective of a family member. The story rotates between the husband, who is in prison, the wife and tweenage daughter at home, and the son at college in New York. They are such different perspectives that the author is able to explore many different themes. And while it is certainly one of t...more
Set in the Post Revolutionary Iran of 1981, Sofer gives us a gripping, elegant tale, of a Jewish gem trader Isaac Amin who is arrested one day and accused of being a Zionist spy. From four enlightening perspectives: Isaac’s, his daughter Shirin, his son Parviz and his wife, Farnaz a tale of hope, betrayal, possible friendship and the legacy of Post Revolutionary Iran, unfolds.
Although the story sounds bleak in synopsis, I found Sofer had magic in her touch. From the very first pa...more
Although the story sounds bleak in synopsis, I found Sofer had magic in her touch. From the very first pa...more
Dalia Sofer, who was forced to flee postrevolutionary Iran at the age of ten after her own father was unjustly imprisoned, captures her family's experiences in this moving, semiautobiographical tale. Citing Sofer's evocative prose, sensitive characterizations, and suspenseful plot, reviewers called Sofer's debut novel persuasive and memorable. Though she ruminates on themes of faith, love, and the heavy toll of political and religious oppression, Sofer's honesty and balanced outlook prevent the
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I would have given this 3 1/2 stars but I don't know how to halve a star so I am giving it a three. The book was recommended by my sister. I don't usually listen to her but this time, I did. And I am glad I did. The writing was fluid and it was indeed a page-turner. It's impressive for a first book by the author. The story reminds me of my own country, where a huge gap between the very rich and the very poor still exists. The huge difference is majority of our people don't have the temper...more
The Septembers of Shiraz was an okay book.. that's all I can say about it, it was okay!
It's set in Iran during the Revolution which is a time and country I admit I know little about despite it being quite prominent in the world's media right now. As I know very little of this time, I was a little confused throughout the book, a little more background information would have been better but I think Dalia Sofer assumed people knew about the Revolution before starting reading it.
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It's set in Iran during the Revolution which is a time and country I admit I know little about despite it being quite prominent in the world's media right now. As I know very little of this time, I was a little confused throughout the book, a little more background information would have been better but I think Dalia Sofer assumed people knew about the Revolution before starting reading it.
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This is a fascinating look into the Iranian side of the 1981 Khomeini revolution that Americans know about primarily because of the 53 Americans held incommunicado for 444 days. This book looks at an Iranian Jew who has had a very successful life as a jeweler -- multiple houses and cars, world travel, fashion, art, etc., etc. --that leads to his near-destruction when he is imprisoned by the revolutionaries and accused of association with the shah's regime and of being a zionist spy. In the cours...more
I hunger to go to Iran. What a pity that such a lovely country is on the outs - there is so much beauty, so many fabulous sights to see. And such refined and educated people.
Septembers of Shiraz follow an educated and successful Jewish family through the Islamic revolution. As many of the books about Iran, you get both sides, the excesses and atrocities of the Shah as well as those of the Revolutionary Guard, a much more rounded picture than we used to get. It is a painful book, as ...more
Septembers of Shiraz follow an educated and successful Jewish family through the Islamic revolution. As many of the books about Iran, you get both sides, the excesses and atrocities of the Shah as well as those of the Revolutionary Guard, a much more rounded picture than we used to get. It is a painful book, as ...more
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The Septembers of Shiraz is Dalia Sofer's first novel. She was born in 1972 in Tehran, Iran and fled at the age of ten to the United States with her family. She received her MFA in Fiction from Sarah Lawrence College in 2002 and has been a resident at Yaddo. She currently resides in New York City.
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“If something must be said, it will say itself. The writer's task is to listen.”
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“And since when is stealing people's possessions the call of God? you are all hypocrites who have suddenly come into power, and you don't know how to handle it”
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