At the age of twenty, Zarah Ghahramani was swept off the streets of Tehran and taken to the notorious Evin prison, where criminals and political d...
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Sep 03, 2010
Jessica
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This book left me feeling ashamed. Ashamed of my American upbringing, of the liberties that I have, the freedoms that I take for granted every day of my life. And yet, I was also left feeling extremely grateful. I don't live in a land that's governed by fear, where women are treated as inferior, where ideas are dangerous and dreams are dismissed. I'm guaranteed my rights, I'm allowed to create my world based on our laws.
Zahara was only twenty when she was snatched off the streets out More...
Zahara was only twenty when she was snatched off the streets out More...
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Jan 29, 2012
Perey's Books
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I enjoyed reading it. It gives a good idea of what life is for Iran's uni students who fight for freedom of speech. The level of repression and the way political prisoners are treated in prison is worse than in many other countries and it is important to be aware of this. However, there are still many people all over the world, young and old, fighting for freedom and against discrimination, even in countries that call themselves democratic. The author, Zarah, now living in Australia, seems to gi
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Nov 12, 2010
Amanda
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Dec 15, 2011
Negar
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In My life as a Traitor, Zarah Ghahramani is a young woman striving for freedom in a country that permits none to its citizens. While studying at Tehran University in the year of 2001, Ghahramani fights for justice in a political group that consistently gets arrested and prosecuted for their protests. Due to the fight for freedom, the Iranian government arrests her and her friends and enrolls them into Evin Prison. In prison, Ghahramani faces fellow prisoners, experiences excruciating abuse from
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Oct 20, 2008
Chris
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Courtesy of The Literary Snob
*May Contain Minor Spoilers*
From the beginning, I wanted to hate this book. Essentially promoted as “a young girl is tortured by Iranian zealots,” I suspected nothing more than page after page of anti-Iranian propaganda. I hear enough about how evil every other political state is, I don’t more.
It didn’t take long into this memoir, however, to realize that this author was not going to take this angle. Yes, there was the occassional condemnation of th
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Mar 14, 2010
Eastofoz
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Not quite what I was expecting from this memoir. The book summary leads you to believe that it’s going to be a horrific kind of story, which it is but not quite to the degree that you’re initially led to believe compared to similar style memoirs. The story is about how Zarah Ghahramani was taken from the streets of Tehran by the police and interrogated for speaking out against the regime, participating in student rallies and other offences. She intersperses these nightmarish recollections wit
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Feb 17, 2008
Peggy
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I highly recommend this book !!
This is an extraordinary book
I took my time reading this.. mostly because there is so much here.. And I didn't know a lot of what she was writing about.. (In chapter 13, Zarah, recalls grudgingly having to learn Arabic, feeling disdain for the Arabs who brought Persia to its knees fourteen hundred years ago.. How do such ancient history manifest itself in current events? Why do western audiences often lack knowledge of the history beyond western civili More...
This is an extraordinary book
I took my time reading this.. mostly because there is so much here.. And I didn't know a lot of what she was writing about.. (In chapter 13, Zarah, recalls grudgingly having to learn Arabic, feeling disdain for the Arabs who brought Persia to its knees fourteen hundred years ago.. How do such ancient history manifest itself in current events? Why do western audiences often lack knowledge of the history beyond western civili More...
Nov 06, 2011
Amina
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I have just read a few pages of this. A young lady is taken off the streets of Iran. She is a university student and is protesting against the governement. She is being interogated by a horrid man. This sounds like it will be a difficult read for the heart.
This is a heart wrenching tale that really makes you evaluate the liberties and freedom we have in the west. I got to the end and I cared for Zahra and wanted to know more. Although this has many sad parts, i really did enjoy
Sep 29, 2010
Jeniwren
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A very powerful and moving account of the harsh realities of living as a young woman in Iran. Gharahmani was snatched off the street whilst participating in a student protest and then locked up in Elvin prison.
Each chapter alternates between her period of incarceration and that of her happy childhood with loving parents and gives an insight into a country where women suffer greatly under repressive regimes. Well written and although it can be harrowing at times ... a must read.
Each chapter alternates between her period of incarceration and that of her happy childhood with loving parents and gives an insight into a country where women suffer greatly under repressive regimes. Well written and although it can be harrowing at times ... a must read.
Apr 09, 2010
Hyrum
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I was so irritable while reading this that I was glad when the end came, and my kids were glad too. It always makes me so angry when I hear of torture. It makes me sick to know that our country tortures people like the Iranian government. It's making me angry all over again just writing about it.
A good and sobering book about the evils in the world. I wish the author would have elaborated more at the end when she was reunited with her parents. Very good book.
A good and sobering book about the evils in the world. I wish the author would have elaborated more at the end when she was reunited with her parents. Very good book.
Mar 29, 2010
Stefan
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A haunting account of the authors experience being questioned and tortured in an Iranian jail. She does a great job of interspersing the experience of her interrogation with memories of her life. The story frightfully illustrates the dark side of the Iranian regime, but the author urges the reader throughout the book to look beyond the heads of state so that we can see the great traditions and customs of the people of Iran. Very interesting read.
Mar 15, 2009
Kate
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Couldn't put it down...I jammed through My Life as Traitor, a memoir by Zarah Ghaharamani about her imprisonment and torture in an Iranian prison when she was 20 years old. She was arrested (more like abducted) for being involved in protests at her university. I found it very powerful the way her loving home life and rich portrayal of Iranian society was juxtaposed against the insanity and brutality of religious zealotry and totalitarinism.
Dec 10, 2007
Dayna
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We had people over the other night for drinks and I started talking about this book and realized that I liked it more than I thought I did. Ghahramani's narrative alternates between her torturous month in Tehran's Evin prison and what got her there. The chapters of her family and university life flesh out how a mind develops in the dichotomy that is Iran after the 1979 revolution. She very clearly delineates a private life (with her family where she did not have to cover herself and could speak
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Jun 05, 2008
Birgitta
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This book has sat on my bookshelf for months but I wasn't sure I was "ready" to read a story about the torture of a young woman. But, Farah Ghahramani's story is so much more. Not only is it an eloquent account of 30 terrible days as a political prisoner of Elin Prison, it's a history lesson of Iran, Persia, and the Kurds. It is also a story of the influence of Islam in changing a culture.
Farah's insights and thoughtful writing is very compelling. While the topic of tortur More...
Farah's insights and thoughtful writing is very compelling. While the topic of tortur More...
Jul 01, 2010
Alicia
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I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Although there were some parts that were hard to get through, I had a hard time setting My Life As A Traitor down. I didn't want to read anymore sometimes, but not because the book itself was bad.. just the forms of torture made me cringe with disgust.
It was wonderfully written, and I felt like I got some sort of a history lesson out of it.. I like that.
It was wonderfully written, and I felt like I got some sort of a history lesson out of it.. I like that.
May 17, 2009
Sandra
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OK, I'm on an Islamic kick right now. I read _Infidel_ because my daughter recommended it. This one's somewhat similar. Zarah is a college student in Iran from a good family--a good Kurdish family. Because of her flirting with college protests against the government and because she is going with a college student/businessman, she is picked up and imprisoned, with the torture and beatings that entails in Iran. Her story is gripping, almost painful to read. The book does end positively (obv
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Apr 24, 2009
Brittany
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I really enjoyed this book, however it was a lot more political than I had expected. It is a young girls story about speaking out against justice and being arrested for it in Iran. She spends a total of 30 days in prison, and it's fascinating to see what one can endure with the hope for survival.
Feb 25, 2009
Joanna
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Zarah Ghahramani was arrested on the streets of Tehran and taken to Evin Prison for protesting against the fundamentalist regime running her country. After having read this book, I was all the more thankful for living as a woman in the USA in this time, in this day.
Dec 28, 2008
Emily
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I really enjoyed this book. It was not an easy one to read, as it was brutal like the author's time in prison, but it was good to read. She is a great writer.
It's not the best non-fiction book I have read this year, but it was certainly powerful.
It's not the best non-fiction book I have read this year, but it was certainly powerful.
Dec 05, 2009
Malou
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I was probably expecting more from this memoir than I initially thought. Although the factual references are an interesting and alarming subject, the writing -- or should I say the narrative voice? - was quite disappointing. I might reread it again when I am in a different frame of mind.
Jan 29, 2012
LG
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What a harrowing account. It starts “in medias res,” in the middle of things, placing us in a tiny room with Ghahramani during an interrogation. Blindfolded, the university student struggles to understand why she is there, inside Iran's infamous Evin Prison. Her book pieces together the ostensible reasons: her childhood, her Persian identity, her political awakening, her romanticism. Interspersed are scenes from her life as a prisoner: windowless days, brutal guards, and a moving friendship with
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Sep 13, 2009
Trisha
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Gripping memoir of a female student activist arrested and tortured in Iran, interspersed with chapters detailing what it was like to grow up in Iran in the 90s. Brave, honest, and enraging.
May 06, 2008
Kim
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I wanted to read this book after reading a review in People Magazine. I really liked this book. I feel like it helped me better understand the people of Iran, which I felt I wanted after all that has been said about them recently. It amazed me how such a normal college girl's life could instantly change. She is a protestor of the government (not technically illegal, but of course the government punishes the main leaders). The book is about her capture and time in jail...she is tortured so b
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Mar 03, 2011
Rachel
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I was expecting a more in depth look of Zarah's capture and stay at Evin Prison, but instead got more of her philosophical outlook on her country's political standing and what led up to her capture. She is a very insightful person and clearly a strong woman who endured something that I consider unimaginable. A very interesting read.
May 09, 2010
Andrea
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Powerful and sad. When you pick up this book prepare to be at the edge of your seat with each turn of the page.
Jun 26, 2011
Bonnygainley
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This book, like "A Thousand Splendid Suns" and other middle eastern books, is all the richer when you listen to the audio version read by a native speaker who pronounces all the names correctly. Made me very grateful to be an American.
Sep 11, 2009
Krissy
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a painful glimpse into the repercussions of having a different opinion in a country where there is only one acceptable way to think.
Sep 25, 2009
Michelleapril
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So far I have learned that Arabs took over the country of Iran, who were Persians and not Islamists. It certainly puts more light on the comments we would get in Logan in the early '80's when the Iranians would say they were Persians, not Arabs. This book is very interesting and shed's light on life in Iran.
