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Censoring an Iranian Love Story – Book Review
Censoring an Iranian Love Story by Shahriar Mandanipour, translated by Sara Khalili
“Censoring an Iranian Love Story” is unlike any other book I’ve read. I suppose it could be compared to the movie within a movie aspect of “The Princess Bride,” if “The Princess Bride” was, at its heart, about the difficulty of literature in Iran.
The main character of “Censoring an Iranian Love Story” is actually a fictionalized verion of the author himself. If I am not mistaken, he was living in the US by the time he wrote this novel (written in Farsi and translated to English), but it is written as himself still in Iran trying to make his living as an author. The story itself is composed of Shahriar attempting to write not just an Iranian love story, but one that will actually get published and distributed, one that will get past the government censors.
We actually read Shahriar’s story as he writes it, that of two lovers named Sara and Dara and their attempts to meet under the oppressive regime. Large portions of their story are crossed through and rewritten as Shahriar attempts to write what will be deemed an ‘acceptable’ love story. In many places Shahriar explains why he has crossed out passages, often venturing into Iranian history, politics, and historic literature and culture.
I found “Censoring an Iranian Love Story” absolutely fascinating, providing a look at Iranian society such as I’ve never seen before. It was by no means a fast read, but definitely a worthwhile one, and particularly timely given the recent Iranian election.
Buy this book from:
Powells.
A local independent bookstore via Indiebound.
Amazon.
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What a timely book and an interesting concept. It sounds like a reminder that we take our freedom of the press for granted.
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Thanks for the review, I was curious about this one!
.-= Amy @ My Friend Amy´s last blog ..Nothing but Ghosts Book Party! =-.
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I’m glad you reviewed this book. Sounds like a fascinating read and like you said such a timely book for what is currently happening in Iran.
.-= Staci´s last blog ..Teaser Tuesdays and It’s Tuesday Where Are You? =-.
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The cover keeps attracting me to this book. Glad to hear that it’s a good one!
.-= Julie P.´s last blog ..I Got to Meet Susan Gregg Gilmore =-.
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Wonderful review! This does sound good!
.-= Teddy´s last blog ..What an Animal II Challenge =-.
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I don’t know a lot about Iran and this sounds like a good place to start and very timely.
.-= Beth F´s last blog ..Thursday Tea (July 2): A Kiss of Shadows by Laurell K. Hamilton =-.
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Join Shahriar Mandanipour’s group on Facebook and get to know this distinguished writer better.
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