Rating: 
Summary: Be Careful What You Wish For
Review: By Bill Marsano. Under the current low standards for political discourse, President Bush is a traitor to his country; he is also Hitler (a role he took over from former Fuhrer Rudolph Giuliani). Our Constitution has been shredded; our civil rights rendered null and void; dissent a grave risk and feminists are "feminazis." We are informed of all this by politically inflamed nitwits who ought to read this book: It will tell them what fascism really is.Child of privilege, daughter of an ancient family, Azar Nafisi grew up and was educated abroad, not at home under the oppressive Shah. At the University of Oklahoma, she (among other things) joined an Iranian revolutionary students' group. She admits to being only half-convinced; to being carried away by excitement and rhetoric, and she certainly missed the warning signs. Only now does she realize that her revolutionary group "exerted a strong hold over its members' lifestyles and social activities"; that the militants "came to dominate the group, ousting or isolating the more moderate." Chic for revolutionary women was cropped hair, Mao jackets, no makeup. And so in the fullness of time the Shah was deposed and Nafisi returned to Iran in time for the victory feast--the one in which the Revolution ate its young. This happens every time but rarely does it happen with such a vengeance. In the new Islamic Republic, the members of Islamic Jihad were mere moderates! And so began the endless oppressions of the innocent public. It was not enough that the war against women--that feared and hated sex--buried them in chadors and veils. No, even wearing nail polish under gloves was a crime. And this is what Nafisi brings us to: She, an intelligent woman, a professor, a lover of literature, is expelled from her university for not wearing the veil, and as she begins this narrative she is teaching a handful of her old students in her home. They gather once a week to discuss Nabokov, Fitzgerald, Henry James, Jane Austen. They use the last available paperbacks in Tehran--and copies run off on a Xerox machine. And what they are doing is a crime. A reader needn't go too many pages into this book before he begins to realize what phrases like "shredded Constitution" and "no civil rights" REALLY mean, and they don't mean anything like the inconvenient clauses of the Patriot Act. There's more than enough of literary criticism here, and the politically minded reader can resort to a little skimming to focus on what really counts. Which is this: When you can with a straight face tell a woman the the fate of the entire revolution depends on her wearing a veil(!), then of course you can expel her when she refuses. And such a person can also be abused and humiliated in the street, jumped by armed "morality squads." She can also be beaten. And arrested for long periods of time. Well, once we've gone that far, can she also be killed? Why, yes, she can. Several of Nafisi's other women friends and students met such a fate. And several more of those she left behind (she is now safely and sanely teaching in the U.S.) will certainly suffer similar the same. This is a sad book, and it is one that shows as well as tells. It's clear that the tyrants who currently run Iran, who simply declare ineligible all candidates who don't knuckle under, are utterly incurious, dangerously certain, homicidally smug. They have the Truth. They own the Truth. That's why there are no books to buy. No need for books when you've got the Guardian Council to tell you how to live, how to behave and what to believe.--Bill Marsano is a voracious reader and a professional writer.
Rating: 
Summary: Masterful and humanistic.
Review: Finding one's identity by juxtaposing life in a surreal world with those that exist in fictional ones. That is how Ms. Nafisi kept her sanity during and after the unheaval of the Islamic Revolution in Iran. Describing the courageous manner which she and her students lived everyday -- with a focus on learning from the characters painted by masters of Western literature -- is both inspiring and humbing. This is a book that artfully demonstrates the importance of philosophy and art in assisting us in maintaining our individuality, especially is totalitarian societies that reject the individual for the benefit of their dogma.
Rating:
Summary: a beautiful, lyrical story
Review: I picked this book up after having seen it around in various bookstores, and thinking that it looked interesting. It is difficult to know how to classify this one; is it biography, history or literary criticism? Whichever it is, Nafisi's passion for literature shines through on every page, and she provides a fascinating glimpse into the reaction of ordinary people in Iran to Ayatollah Khomeni's reign. Above all, this is a story that demonstrates that words have power; great books are those that teach us to think. A high recommendation for anyone who loves reading.
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Summary: The best read of 2003
Review: It was hard to know how to approach this unusual book, but it took only a few pages to be seduced by its insinuating threads. It's a book to become lost in, a book to wallow in. It's a book that led me to other books. Highest praise.
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Summary: An Important, Complex Work (wished for fiction, though!)
Review: This book was given to me for my birthday and it took me some months to get around to reading it because I couldn't give up my beloved novels to read a non-fiction work! And interestingly enough, I wished all the way through the book that Nafisi had chosen to write it as fiction--maybe intertwining a couple of her girls' lives to write about the same events fictionally as she writes about here. However, I did realize that the thread of literary criticism, which plays a strong part in the book, would have had to go, had the book been fictionalized. But the literary criticism, I think I could have done without--maybe. Only maybe. Because I've read some of the works Nafisi uses here, but alas, many years ago. And obviously I needed a really wonderful, gifted teacher like Nafisi to study these classics with--and then perhaps they would have stayed with me and I would have understood them better. I do agree with some who have said that if you've read these classics she uses (and remember them!) that your experience of reading this book will be enhanced. But not remembering much from Nabokov, Fitzgerald and James, who I had once-upon-a-time read, I still found I could follow the story, so don't let that stop you from reading this important and complex work. I'd also urge readers to take their time with this book; I probably read it too fast--wanting to get back to my beloved fiction, and yes, skipping even faster over the literary criticism parts. I learned a great deal about Iran from Nafisi's book--I had never really understood or known much about the Iran-Iraq war, and hadn't also understood how terrible daily life has been even in recent years in Iran. Nor about the complexities of the revolution there and how much, in the minutest ways, citizens' lives can be affected by a regime where political Islam takes over. I was very interested in how 'literal' the 'revolutionaries' and many Islamists were, and wonder why this seems to happen in all fundamental religions--why ambiguity or greyness can't be tolerated and is so feared (and how do we combat that?). One of the issues that I thought about a great deal while reading this book is the question of home, and whether to stay or leave a place that you love (this can be a city, as well as a country)--to stay because you love it and the place needs your help, your input and skills? Or to leave because it's just too hard to live there anymore or because maybe you love freedom more? I did so empathize with both views! It seemed like Iran was losing 'the cream of the crop,' with some of Nafisi's girls leaving too, just as she did, in the end. Could they have been of use, made any changes or impact if they had stayed? I don't know. But it intrigued me, as I think it's true, to a certain degree, of where any of us live and what choices we make about whether to stay or move on. I did find, as have some other reviewers, that the time line and the way the book was structured, was confusing. All of a sudden I'd realize that something had happened eight years ago, when I thought it had been just recently (this could have been because I read the book so fast, too, but enough others have mentioned this also). And I, too, didn't feel I got to know Nafisi's 'girls' well enough. But then this is a book that has many levels and would be hard to write anyway--to make them all work well. I'd certainly recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn about another part of the world--and an important part, as well as those who love reading about literature (never mind that this book isn't fiction itself!). But next time, Azar, might you try your hand at writing a novel, and particularly about Iran?
Rating:
Summary: Most memorable Book I've Read in Forever
Review: REading Lolita... gave me an acute sense of life and Tehran and enhanced my appreciation for literature and life in the United States. Truly a work of art
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Summary: True Life is much more interesting than fiction!
Review: I read "Reading Lolita in Tehran" and felt its power and important political and social message. I told other people about it and passed it on to friends, male and female. I think the females enjoyed it more, perhaps because it is a book about a group of women in Iran. I am not sure if men will have more trouble understanding some of the oppression these women went through. Not only did they have to worry about the books they were reading, but they faced constant persecution from police regarding their dress, the rules about head covering and make up. The women in the book have to deal with terrible stress over the most minor issues and they live in constant fear. I found it tragic, inspiring and extremely interesting. "Reading Lolita in Tehran" makes you appreciate the fact that in a free nation, one may read whatever book one chooses and wear whatever one chooses without fear of punishment. I think it is difficult for those of us who are fortunate enough to live in countries which have freedom of speech and expression to understand the kind of danger many people face in countries which do not have those freedoms. It is very surreal to imagine that you could be put into jail for reading or talking about certain books or even by looking at certain pictures in books.
It is important to know that there are countries in this world where women, especially, are oppressed, marginalized and kept as second class citizens. It is a terrible outrage and the author, who had to flee Iran, expresses these emotions with dignity and grace. She is truly a great writer and I hope she writes more books in the future. This would be a great book for a book club to read. I hope more people become aware of the struggle of Iranian women.
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Summary: fascinating memoir in a turbulent time and place
Review: This fascinating book succeeds as a biography, as a political memoir and, for brief segments, as literary criticism. Structured into four sections labelled Lolita, Gatsby, James and Austen, the author discusses her life and the lives of others in Iran while drawing parallels and distinctions to these authors/books and their characters. The author was a literature professor at a major Iranian university though she eventually quit rather than wear the required veil. Much of the book discusses her conversations with students while at university, including the "trial" of The Great Gatsby, which many students found deplorable for its glorification of adultery, cheating and murder. After leaving the university, Nafisi began meeting at her home with a small group of female students. She describes them unveiling when they entered and again donning the clothes of oppression before leaving, and the conversations in between. Several of these women spent time in jail, not because of the book group, but for various infractions that we would find laughable if it didn't mean that these young women were incarcerated for years and abused in jail because of them. Everyone at these meetings knows people who have been killed or jailed by the regime, including early supporters, who lost control of the rebellion against the Shah and watched as the imams took over and became increasingly oppressive. The atmosphere seems very similar to the Russian Revolution except instead of being hijacked by a secular Stalin, the populist movement was hijacked by the fundamentalist Khomeini, and the author several times addresses her shift from activism to irrelevance. The point is also repeatedly made by the women that it is men's obsession with sexuality that imprisons them, though women pay the price, and that even men who disagree with the radicals often go along without defending their mothers and sisters, sometimes even taking additional wives. People not only struggle with living under a regime based on punishment and fear, but then are uncertain about whether or not to leave -- to stay and try to make a difference or to get out while they can. In addition to these heavy issues, we are treated to the author's observations about life in a very different culture, and we get her very insightful comments on several Western authors. If you are interested in politics, the Middle East, women's issues, literature or biography, you should read this fascinating memoir.
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Summary: Iranian women dont' give up!
Review: I read Ms. Nafisis novel in 4 days. At times I had to take a break and lay it down and just sit and think.... As an adult who spent 14 years from age 4-18 in Tehran and has a educated mother who like Ms. Nafisi, finally gave up her job working in the Bank, due to high level pressures to make her life miserable, I related and better understood the the dynamics of everyday life and how it affected my nuclear family. One better understands the necessity for freedom, and as always that Iranian women are some of the most courageous women in the world. I too remembered all the freedoms that were gradually taken away and more and more frequently, the oppression that surrounded society, when finally making it from from "healthy". Men, even men who are considered educated and fair, slowly had their internal compass reset into believing they had more say so than women. Some of these men, consider themselves to be quite "westernized" too. This type of behavior, eventually eats at the fabric of the Iranian society to make it unbalanced and hard to live in. The Iran-Iraq was in and of itself, was a war that has left a legacy of loss and bitterness that will take a generation to heal from. The daily reminders of the reasons(none of which were good) of why Iran was in war, the rations, the constant fear of bombings, and etc. has permanently scarred the Iranian people. Ms. Nafisi does a remarkable and "silky" job of weaving in and out of different classics. In the end, we are left feeling validated, when even a longtime Islamic student, who appeared not to agree with Ms. Nafisi's teaching methods, discloses that she has named her 11 month old, Daisy. I hope Ms. Nafisi keeps in touch with her students, and does a "Sequel" to this wonderful novel. I will re-read it sometime soon.
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Summary: Why we read
Review: Azar Nafisi was a professor of English and American literature at the university of Tehran during the Islamic Revolution in Iran, when a secular and increasingly egalitarian state became a religious theocracy. Ultimately forced out of her position in protest of new policies censoring teachers and students, especially restrictions placed on women, she formed a private study group with a few of her best women students. This memoir, divided into four parts named after English books or authors, interweaves the classes' reflections on the books with accounts of daily life for women in the new Iran. Why were these books so important to the mullahs that they had to be banned? she asks, and why were they so important to the readers that they were read anyway? Because they create a private space for readers, she argues. Because they declare that forbidden, that old-fashioned, that dangerous thing--that there is an independent and private self separate from but also shaped by the dictates of politics, religion, culture, and country. Because whether they seem to comply with the black-and-white morality of the religious zealots or not, whether they judge their characters or leave the judgments to the readers, what novels truly teach is not judgment but empathy. The lack of this empathy, Nafisi came to believe, was what created monsters, zealots, and dictators. The novels that were her escape from this world simultaneously provided a critique of it.
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