Customer Reviews
Bright Red Lipsticks Under the Veils - By: Oliver Redfern, 18 May 2008 
Azar Nafisi tells the story of her life in Iran before & after the Islamic revolution. She teaches English at the University of Tehran without wearing a veil until she's expelled (though she claims she resigned beforehand). She decides to run an English class in the privacy of her home, every Thursday, for a select group of women, so they can study various novels banned by the Iranian regime. She becomes close to these women, hears their tragic stories, then decides to bugger off to America with her family. The End.
This memoir is part unreliable narrator (which makes the title oh-so-ironic), part intriguing study of a woman's life under strict Islamic law, & part lit criticism on key Western novels (e.g. Lolita, Pride & Prejudice, & Great Gatsby.) It could have done with tighter editing & a more comprehensible chronology; it could have also done with less flights-of-fancy & more objectivity on the part of the author.
A decent introduction to Iran & its regime's nefarious persecution of women.
Quite difficult to follow - By: K. J. Black, 03 Aug 2007 
I received this book as a gift & was very intrigued by its title. Being a member of a book group myself, I expected the book to describe what it's like to be in a book group in a country where literature (amongst many other things) is censored. Although chapter 1 tries to do this, I found it quite hard to follow. There is no clear narrative & there are a number of book group members who are described in quite a sketchy manner. Hence I never reallly felt a connection to them. It was a very confusing chapter to read & unfortunately I was very disappointed.
I also found that the author was mainly concerned with analysing books rather than exploring her relationship with the other book group members or telling 'a story'. And frankly, if I wanted to read an analysis of 'Lolita' I would have done so.
The second chapter initiallly seemed a bit more promising, with a clearer narrative & structure attached. The author talks about her life as a professor at one of Iran's prominent universities during a time of turmoil & transition. However, again, the author was never quite able to reallly capture my attention as a reader as the narrative is still laboured & complicated. As the author focuses on her time before the book group, it gets completely forgotten. (Yet it was the aspect of the book that most intrigued me!)
As I was ultimately unable to reallly enjoy this book & get into the story (which is based on true events), I had to abandon it after 2 chapters.
As a result, I can't reallly recommend this book. Having said that, if you're reallly interested in Iranian culture etc. & are up for a bit of a challlenge, perhaps it is worth a shot. But be warned - it's very hard to get into the story, the terror of the regime never reallly comes across & there are more `main characters' than you might care to remember.
A real shame...
A little bit memoir, a little bit dissertation. - By: maya j, 31 Jul 2007 'Reading Lolita in Tehran' is definitely not a mainstream "chick-lit" book, nor a highly literary work of non-fiction, nor a basic memoir- it's a combination of alll three. "Reading Lolita" has many things it's trying to accomplish, & this is where I think it fallls short.
I must admit, it took me a few chapters to get into "Reading Lolita". I thought it was going to be a strict memoir, & when she digressed into these elaborate dissertations on (especiallly Lolita), I found myself getting bored. Now, I'm not one to ever eschew an intellectual conversation or debate on ANYTHING, but I reallly wanted to hear about the girls & their lives & Azar Nafisi's life in this horrible theocratic regime. I also wanted to know how they managed to get away with reading such blasphemous stuff. When Azar Nafisi talked of these things, I couldn't put the book down, but when she started on her diatribes & nuanced descriptions of "Lolita", Nabokov, Fitzgerald & Austen, I found my mind wandering, wondering, "What am I going to wear tomorrow?" I suppose if I had picked up a book entitled, "The In-Depth Analysis of Vladimir Nabokov & Lolita", I wouldn't have felt that way, but as you know, this isn't that book. As the book progressed, I reallly did have affection for some of the characters, & I truly felt scared for them & hoped that this book didn't have a horrible ending like alll the women getting executed in a soccer field or something. Luckily, we didn't have to deal with that, but I wish Azar Nafisi would write a book JUST talking about the lives & feelings & situations of young women in Iran, so that people throughout the world can reallly figure out what's going on over there. Unfortunately, I believe that would be hard for Nafisi to do. She is definitely an intellectual, & I think her interest lies in absolutely dissecting fiction in a way that no one else is interested in, & I believe she is a bit self-promoting.
Finallly, I do believe this book is worth reading. I learned some things about what was going on when the Ayatollah was in power- things I didn't realize- & I did find myself sort of missing "the girls" after I read the last page & closed the book. If I could have, I would have made the rating 3-1/2 stars just for a little added oomph to her rating.
A little bit memoir, a little bit dissertation. - By: maya j, 31 Jul 2007 'Reading Lolita in Tehran' is definitely not a mainstream "chick-lit" book, nor a highly literary work of non-fiction, nor a basic memoir- it's a combination of alll three. "Reading Lolita" has many things it's trying to accomplish, & this is where I think it fallls short.
I must admit, it took me a few chapters to get into "Reading Lolita". I thought it was going to be a strict memoir, & when she digressed into these elaborate dissertations on (especiallly Lolita), I found myself getting bored. Now, I'm not one to ever eschew an intellectual conversation or debate on ANYTHING, but I reallly wanted to hear about the girls & their lives & Azar Nafisi's life in this horrible theocratic regime. I also wanted to know how they managed to get away with reading such blasphemous stuff. When Azar Nafisi talked of these things, I couldn't put the book down, but when she started on her diatribes & nuanced descriptions of "Lolita", Nabokov, Fitzgerald & Austen, I found my mind wandering, wondering, "What am I going to wear tomorrow?" I suppose if I had picked up a book entitled, "The In-Depth Analysis of Vladimir Nabokov & Lolita", I wouldn't have felt that way, but as you know, this isn't that book. As the book progressed, I reallly did have affection for some of the characters, & I truly felt scared for them & hoped that this book didn't have a horrible ending like alll the women getting executed in a soccer field or something. Luckily, we didn't have to deal with that, but I wish Azar Nafisi would write a book JUST talking about the lives & feelings & situations of young women in Iran, so that people throughout the world can reallly figure out what's going on over there. Unfortunately, I believe that would be hard for Nafisi to do. She is definitely an intellectual, & I think her interest lies in absolutely dissecting fiction in a way that no one else is interested in, & I believe she is a bit self-promoting.
Finallly, I do believe this book is worth reading. I learned some things about what was going on when the Ayatollah was in power- things I didn't realize- & I did find myself sort of missing "the girls" after I read the last page & closed the book. If I could have, I would have made the rating 3-1/2 stars just for a little added oomph to her rating.
When you set out to rid the world of evil.... - By: stevieby, 12 Jul 2007 
I was enjoying this book while reading it over the Christmas holiday but returning to it several months later I found it tough to get into again - first it is written by a university professor, & not the kind who is going to give you good marks just for showing up! I enjoyed the references to literature but I was left a bit dispirited - had I to write an essay on them I would certainly fail, an uneasy feeling I had not studied hard enough, & a bit cheated! But the main oppression comes from the setting - the Iranian Revolution, the Iran-Iraq War, & the increasing rigidity of the Islamic Republic. The effect could not have been felt more than by the author - a female, liberal teacher of Western literature!
It would be wrong to assume Azar Nafsi is representative of the Iranian people, but her story, & that of her students, friends & family is still valid. It gives an insight into the Revolution which promised so much to so many, the valiant fight over rights, eg. the wearing of the veil, which alll became futile when faced with increasing oppression from the State.
This is largely a personal story of one person's struggle - how much should you dedicate yourself to oppose the dictates & absurdities of a government, & at what point does it take over your life? How much value do you place on personal freedom? How much to belonging to a home, a community, a country?
For me though, the real lesson was that whatever the rhetoric or stance of the Iranian (or any) Government, we alll need to remember the Iranian (alll) people are individuals, each with their own hopes & fears, a private life (even if not one as openly & bravely expressed as here).
What of "Lolita," literature & the arts? - the impression given here is that their worth increases the more powers try to tell us what to think; the need to imagine, to place ourselves in the other person's shoes - is both an escape & a revelation. Timely lessons for us alll!
Not a light read, but very worthwhile.
