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لیورا
رمان پر از خرده روایتهای نو و خواندنی برای خواننده است و خصوصا چون راوی با یک اقلیت مذهبی حرکت میکند که از فضای خیلی سنتی به تدریج به فضای مدرن میرود، تجارب جالبی دارد. خواننده تک تک لحظات را حس میکند و آدمها را زندگی میکند و با آنها اخت میشود. یک روایت کاملا زنانه که با وجود فضای زندگی خاص و کلیمی بودن شخصیتها، پر از جذابیتهای پنهان و آشکار است. در حین خواندن رمان، مخاطب کاملا با جادوی «قصه» درگیر است و این خاصیتیست که باعث میشود فراموش کنی، داستان میخوانی. خواننده جزیی از داستان میشود. با آنها توی خانهها، کوچهها و حیاطها راه میرود. درد میکشد، شاد میشود، غمگین میشود، کشف میکند و نو میشود.
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دانلود رایگان کتاب:
http://www.nogaam.com/book/2107/
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Published July 1, 2016
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January 16, 2025
برای آشنایی با فرهنگ یهودیان ایرانی منبع جالبی است اما پایان بندی شتاب زده دارد و همچنین سرنوشت بعضی کاراکترها بسیار مبهم و گنگ است.
August 12, 2017
I received a copy of this book in December 2016 from the author, whom I got to know (virtually) through a friend’s introduction. I also learned a bit more about Ms. Sedighim as well as her books and writing style from a segment of the radio program “Breakfast with Homa Sarshar” (in Persian, aired on December 17, 2016, and available on-line at http://youtu.be/eoI-X1H7SB8?t=3650).
Let me preface my review by mentioning that Liora is the first Persian-language book I have read in many years. It is also the first fiction book in quite a while. In recent years, my focus has been English-language nonfiction. I mention these facts to warn the readers that my skills in judging Persian books and works of fiction are quite rusty.
This well-written book, organized in three uneven chapters, comprising 249, 93, and 14 pages, is the story of Liora (a Hebrew name and term of endearment meaning “my light” and related to the English name “Laura”), a Jewish woman born within a dysfunctional family in Tehran and raised in Nahavand (a city in the western Iranian province of Hamadan) and, later, in the capital city of Tehran.
Influenced by an authoritarian mother, incapable of emotional engagement, and a weak, mostly-absent father, who disappears for a year with another woman, Liora suffers from inner conflicts that make it difficult for her to lead a fulfilling life. Her life story is riddled with instances of indecision and emotional paralysis, unable to make a decision even after all the pertinent information is available to her.
Despite the dysfunction at the top of her family, there are characters who nurture and support Liora or strengthen her resolve, preventing her from going completely berserk. These include her grandmother, older sister Edna (the target of her mother’s undeserved wrath, because she had Edna when she was only 14), and her brother Yousef, who is an imaginary companion during Liora’s frequent daydreams. One can’t help but think that Liora’s adventurism, including dangerous political activism and her craving for attention (particularly from men, perhaps as a substitute for her emotionally-distant father and physically-distant brother) are nothing but covers for her inner conflicts and self-doubts.
In her early 20s, Liora is torn between two men, the decent and reliable Homayoun (4 years her senior, a Jew, a soulmate, an easier choice from the family-approval standpoint) and the artful, adventurous, and cunning Kian (a Muslim she meets at work during Homayoun’s absence for two years of graduate studies in the UK). She and Homayoun had decided to wait for each other. And it is quite evident from the story that Homayoun intended to keep his end of the deal (but there is a twist, of course). Much of the fictional tale, happening in Iran and, later, in Los Angeles, pertains to Liora’s relationship with these two men and her eventual regrets for choosing Kian over Homayoun.
The story, told in first-person, begins on a cloudy autumn day in Los Angeles, where Liora, sitting on a park bench, daydreams about her birth city of Nahavand. This flashback style of story-telling continues throughout the book, until the figurative concluding scene at her father’s grave, where Liora seems to finally be able to bury the ghosts of her past insecurities and cheating husband.
The conflicts experienced by Liora and their effects on her paralysis and inability to pursue meaningful attachments, are not atypical among Iranian women (and men). The conflict between marrying within the faith or outside of it are also quite common for Iranian Jewish women and, to a lesser degree, men. One suspects that at least some elements of the story (including those pertaining to the lifestyles of Jewish families in Iran) are autobiographical. In the words of P. D. James, “All fiction is largely autobiographical and much autobiography is, of course, fiction.”
Liora is a fun-loving and sensitive woman. She needs a purpose in life, is mildly suicidal, and feels incomplete without a man. Her marriage to Kian goes south after they emigrate to Los Angeles. She is almost sure that her husband is seeing another woman, based on his coldness, frequent late returns from work, and a couple of pieces of physical evidence, but she has never met or run into the other women. He has a habit of belittling Liora and dismissing her opinions, which she tolerates for some reason and even interprets it as affection, in a typical instance of dependency. At the end, Liora decides to leave the unfaithful Kian, having lost hope in rekindling their intimacy and romance. We are led to believe that Liora will follow through on her resolve, but the author does not totally slam shut the door to a possible reconciliation with him.
It appears that Liora’s relationship with Kian arose from sexual attraction and her youthful infatuation with the unknown and the mysterious. At one juncture, just before Liora goes to meet Kian after office hours, when he would be alone at his workplace (presumably to start an intimate relationship with him), Liora characterizes her feelings towards Homayoun as love and her attraction to Kian as a compulsion, a viral ailment, a brain-eating cancer, a madness. Near the book’s end, thinking of her dead father, Liora pours out her bitterness over his absence and weakness toward women, which is ironic, given her own feebleness towards men.
I happened to be listening to the audiobook version of Gloria Steinem’s "My Life on the Move" in parallel with reading this hard-copy book. One of Steinem’s observations, pertaining to the relationship between Bill and Hillary Clinton, struck me as relevant to Liora’s predicament. Steinem states that if the relationship of a woman to a man is primarily sexual, then infidelity may be unbearable, because the woman thinks that she may be replaceable at any time. This feeling of temporariness and replaceability may be at the heart of Liora’s troubles.
Having been born and raised as a Jew (though a non-practicing one) in Iran, I can identify with many elements of Liora’s story. There are major differences between life in Tehran, where I was born, and life in Nahavand, and between the experiences of a man versus a woman, but there are also many commonalities. This familiarity made the story more absorbing to me. On the other hand, the part of the story happening in Los Angeles is rather shallow, devoid of details and insights, other than what goes on between Liora, her husband, and, to some extent, her ailing parents.
Because of the flashback story-telling style, reading this book feels like detective work, an activity that Liora herself seems to enjoy. The reasons for behaviors and decisions come to light many pages later, when the pertinent pieces of the story have been told. This is why it would be easier to read the book in a small number of sittings within a few days, rather than as a longer-term perusal.
Let me preface my review by mentioning that Liora is the first Persian-language book I have read in many years. It is also the first fiction book in quite a while. In recent years, my focus has been English-language nonfiction. I mention these facts to warn the readers that my skills in judging Persian books and works of fiction are quite rusty.
This well-written book, organized in three uneven chapters, comprising 249, 93, and 14 pages, is the story of Liora (a Hebrew name and term of endearment meaning “my light” and related to the English name “Laura”), a Jewish woman born within a dysfunctional family in Tehran and raised in Nahavand (a city in the western Iranian province of Hamadan) and, later, in the capital city of Tehran.
Influenced by an authoritarian mother, incapable of emotional engagement, and a weak, mostly-absent father, who disappears for a year with another woman, Liora suffers from inner conflicts that make it difficult for her to lead a fulfilling life. Her life story is riddled with instances of indecision and emotional paralysis, unable to make a decision even after all the pertinent information is available to her.
Despite the dysfunction at the top of her family, there are characters who nurture and support Liora or strengthen her resolve, preventing her from going completely berserk. These include her grandmother, older sister Edna (the target of her mother’s undeserved wrath, because she had Edna when she was only 14), and her brother Yousef, who is an imaginary companion during Liora’s frequent daydreams. One can’t help but think that Liora’s adventurism, including dangerous political activism and her craving for attention (particularly from men, perhaps as a substitute for her emotionally-distant father and physically-distant brother) are nothing but covers for her inner conflicts and self-doubts.
In her early 20s, Liora is torn between two men, the decent and reliable Homayoun (4 years her senior, a Jew, a soulmate, an easier choice from the family-approval standpoint) and the artful, adventurous, and cunning Kian (a Muslim she meets at work during Homayoun’s absence for two years of graduate studies in the UK). She and Homayoun had decided to wait for each other. And it is quite evident from the story that Homayoun intended to keep his end of the deal (but there is a twist, of course). Much of the fictional tale, happening in Iran and, later, in Los Angeles, pertains to Liora’s relationship with these two men and her eventual regrets for choosing Kian over Homayoun.
The story, told in first-person, begins on a cloudy autumn day in Los Angeles, where Liora, sitting on a park bench, daydreams about her birth city of Nahavand. This flashback style of story-telling continues throughout the book, until the figurative concluding scene at her father’s grave, where Liora seems to finally be able to bury the ghosts of her past insecurities and cheating husband.
The conflicts experienced by Liora and their effects on her paralysis and inability to pursue meaningful attachments, are not atypical among Iranian women (and men). The conflict between marrying within the faith or outside of it are also quite common for Iranian Jewish women and, to a lesser degree, men. One suspects that at least some elements of the story (including those pertaining to the lifestyles of Jewish families in Iran) are autobiographical. In the words of P. D. James, “All fiction is largely autobiographical and much autobiography is, of course, fiction.”
Liora is a fun-loving and sensitive woman. She needs a purpose in life, is mildly suicidal, and feels incomplete without a man. Her marriage to Kian goes south after they emigrate to Los Angeles. She is almost sure that her husband is seeing another woman, based on his coldness, frequent late returns from work, and a couple of pieces of physical evidence, but she has never met or run into the other women. He has a habit of belittling Liora and dismissing her opinions, which she tolerates for some reason and even interprets it as affection, in a typical instance of dependency. At the end, Liora decides to leave the unfaithful Kian, having lost hope in rekindling their intimacy and romance. We are led to believe that Liora will follow through on her resolve, but the author does not totally slam shut the door to a possible reconciliation with him.
It appears that Liora’s relationship with Kian arose from sexual attraction and her youthful infatuation with the unknown and the mysterious. At one juncture, just before Liora goes to meet Kian after office hours, when he would be alone at his workplace (presumably to start an intimate relationship with him), Liora characterizes her feelings towards Homayoun as love and her attraction to Kian as a compulsion, a viral ailment, a brain-eating cancer, a madness. Near the book’s end, thinking of her dead father, Liora pours out her bitterness over his absence and weakness toward women, which is ironic, given her own feebleness towards men.
I happened to be listening to the audiobook version of Gloria Steinem’s "My Life on the Move" in parallel with reading this hard-copy book. One of Steinem’s observations, pertaining to the relationship between Bill and Hillary Clinton, struck me as relevant to Liora’s predicament. Steinem states that if the relationship of a woman to a man is primarily sexual, then infidelity may be unbearable, because the woman thinks that she may be replaceable at any time. This feeling of temporariness and replaceability may be at the heart of Liora’s troubles.
Having been born and raised as a Jew (though a non-practicing one) in Iran, I can identify with many elements of Liora’s story. There are major differences between life in Tehran, where I was born, and life in Nahavand, and between the experiences of a man versus a woman, but there are also many commonalities. This familiarity made the story more absorbing to me. On the other hand, the part of the story happening in Los Angeles is rather shallow, devoid of details and insights, other than what goes on between Liora, her husband, and, to some extent, her ailing parents.
Because of the flashback story-telling style, reading this book feels like detective work, an activity that Liora herself seems to enjoy. The reasons for behaviors and decisions come to light many pages later, when the pertinent pieces of the story have been told. This is why it would be easier to read the book in a small number of sittings within a few days, rather than as a longer-term perusal.
August 20, 2017
Enchanting book, I very much enjoyed reading it. The main character, Liora, is a woman from my generation who lived through Islamic revolution and closing of universities for three years under cultural revolution in Iran. She was born and raised in a Jewish family in Nahavand and later moved to Tehran. Therefore, I was able to deeply relate to her story. Although I was born and raised in Tehran, I am very intimate with the feeling of being part of a minority community in a small town in Iran due to my parents reflection of their bring up in Saghez, Kurdinstan on me.
Liora's memories were all very enchanting and nostalgic and the author's ability to depict them so vividly is admirable. Description of her childhood home, the unintentional life of a community and the relationship between its members, her mother's hard work to keep the house running and preparing food, her family's get together on a rug in the yard where stories were told and family interactions took place are all so familiar. The relationship between neighbors, کوچه باغها, even Lia چل, the weird woman in the neighborhood who was not quiet normal, bring back so many memories.
However, the story left me perplexed in some ways. In general Liora came across as an indisposed woman in her life with her husband in Los Angeles. It remains a mystery to the reader as how a strong politically active woman, who had the guts to join the anti revolutionary resistance groups in Iran, and was brave enough to break out of her tradition and call off her engagement with her jewish fiancé and marry a non-jewish man, became a codependent woman who was constantly suspicious of her husband in his professional setting in LA, whom despite the evidence of cheating on her was not entirely at fault. Liora herself seems to be a professional woman but what does she do, did she ever finish university in Tehran? Iranian families, specially jewish ones, don't just break up and disappear from each other's lives, how come her sister and brother all of sudden disappeared and let Liora handle her parents old age all by herself. Well, I can understand that her sister left them to marry a non-jewish man and her uneducated family rejected her all together. But that was in Iran, you would expect things to change after they left Iran and emigrated to US. Plus her sister was destined to her choice as a consequence of her father's running away with another woman for a year back in Nahavand that left damaging marks on the family's reputation. Adding to that, how come Liora herself found love with a highly educated jewish man despite the shadow of her father and sister's stories. And what about the brother, Yousef, what was the reason he disappeared? So I have to say, as much as I enjoyed and understood this book deeply, it left me with many unanswered questions.
Liora's memories were all very enchanting and nostalgic and the author's ability to depict them so vividly is admirable. Description of her childhood home, the unintentional life of a community and the relationship between its members, her mother's hard work to keep the house running and preparing food, her family's get together on a rug in the yard where stories were told and family interactions took place are all so familiar. The relationship between neighbors, کوچه باغها, even Lia چل, the weird woman in the neighborhood who was not quiet normal, bring back so many memories.
However, the story left me perplexed in some ways. In general Liora came across as an indisposed woman in her life with her husband in Los Angeles. It remains a mystery to the reader as how a strong politically active woman, who had the guts to join the anti revolutionary resistance groups in Iran, and was brave enough to break out of her tradition and call off her engagement with her jewish fiancé and marry a non-jewish man, became a codependent woman who was constantly suspicious of her husband in his professional setting in LA, whom despite the evidence of cheating on her was not entirely at fault. Liora herself seems to be a professional woman but what does she do, did she ever finish university in Tehran? Iranian families, specially jewish ones, don't just break up and disappear from each other's lives, how come her sister and brother all of sudden disappeared and let Liora handle her parents old age all by herself. Well, I can understand that her sister left them to marry a non-jewish man and her uneducated family rejected her all together. But that was in Iran, you would expect things to change after they left Iran and emigrated to US. Plus her sister was destined to her choice as a consequence of her father's running away with another woman for a year back in Nahavand that left damaging marks on the family's reputation. Adding to that, how come Liora herself found love with a highly educated jewish man despite the shadow of her father and sister's stories. And what about the brother, Yousef, what was the reason he disappeared? So I have to say, as much as I enjoyed and understood this book deeply, it left me with many unanswered questions.
July 10, 2017
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