We, in America, often get so focused on our lives and our problems that we do not pay attention to the rest of the world. Perhaps that is also true for other countries, but it is definitely a problem here in the U. I lived through many of the actual events described in this book, but I never really gave it much thought as to what the people living through these events actually experienced. Kamali makes the reader feel as if they are observing the turmoil first-hand. While this is a fictional work, it reads as if it were truly autobiographical.
I actually went to information about the author to see if she was telling us the story of her life. Each character comes to life and each character grows and changes over the span of the 31 years covered by the events in the book. Some characters that I disliked at first changed over time and revealed a totally different person who I could really identify with and respect. However, friendship and love are the motivations behind all of the action. How the women of Iran have changed and yet how they have endured in spite of all that has happened in and to their country makes for spell-binding reading.
How they, as immigrants in America, have managed to fit in and to maintain their identity in a country that is vastly different from Iran adds knowledge to the reader of a strong, resilient people who refuse to be demeaned and denigrated. Fiction , political fiction. In these days of books on World War II and the holocaust being questioned and, in some cases, banned, I would like to suggest this novel.
Escobar has given us a view of the French Resistance that is very unique. Although there are instances of sex, and of violence, the reader is not bombarded by them.
We clearly see they exist, but the emphasis is on the growth of a young woman in spite of what she has to endure. We see the events of World War II through the eyes of a French librarian, Jocelyn, who is tasked with the job of protecting the library of her town.
