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• Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books
Azar Nafisi

Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2003 - 384 pages

average customer review:based on 354 reviews
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Reading Lolita in Tehran...

This is a great read, all women (and men) should read this and find out what really exists in the mid-east. This is written by a woman that lived there before and after the revolution.


Reading Lolita in Tehran

This book is remarkable, intense and thought provoking. I had to read it slowly to digest every chapter. Very well written.









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Reading 'Reading Lolita in Tehran' in Hawaii


The main "character" of the book is Azar Nafisi. She teaches American literature to young Iranians at the University of Tehran, but when she gets dismissed for refusing to wear a veil, Nafisi decides to teach a select group of students at her house. I read the controversy and love they had towards books they read, which include Jane Austen and Vladimir Nabokov. Reading Lolita in Tehran is filled with Nafisi's explanations of how these books relate to the 20th century lives of her and her students.

The things these women go through are unlike anything I've ever heard of before. I was astounded by the oppression they had such as, always having short nails, being in public with only their brothers or husbands, and not being able to read Western classics since they were taken away from book stores. I was depressed to learn about the lives of these women but it was good to know that they keep persevering. What seemed to keep them going was having weekly readings discussing fiction and becoming engrossed in stories and lives of characters that they knew they could never have. "Works of imagination that did not carry a political message were deemed dangerous." (Nafisi 277) Unfortunately, reading fiction was highly frowned upon in Iran because books that did not have politics in it were censored by the government. Not only did they discuss books, this was mainly a time for them to escape their lives and comfortably sit together and tell stories of the past, present and future. Although I enjoy non-fiction once in awhile, fiction is a great way of stepping out of your own life and becoming involved in someone else's. I don't know how I could live without having a good piece of creative literature and not being afraid of being punished because of it.

Religion for these women play a huge part in their lives, it may even be the only thing they know. "The worst fear you can have is losing your faith. Because then you're not accepted by anyone--not by those who consider themselves secular or by people of your own faith." (Nafisi 327) Being attached to faith as much as these women are made me wonder if they somewhat became dependant on it. After all, religion was all they know and all they did. One of Nafisi's students, Yassi is worried if she ever were to lose it she probably wouldn't be able to sufficiently go on.

Everything about their lives were powered by government and faith. Hardly ever did they get to things, at least publicly, that their heart desires. "She walked freely, hand in hand with Hamid, wearing a T-shirt and jeans. She described the feel of the wind and the sun on her hair and her skin." (Nafisi 326) This is a description of one's student trip to Damascus when she was able to walk on the street freely without being scared of going to jail. Reading this quote made me take for granted the fact that I'm able to walk outside in an outfit I wear because I want to not because I have to. There was so much emotion in one experience that it gave me the impression that she would probably not forget being free.

"Peppering my account with justified and unjustified accusations against the root cause of all our woes: the Islamic Republic of Iran." (Nafisi 278) This quote sums up how these women were simply unhappy with the situation they had in Tehran. Reading this memoir gave me a better understanding of how lucky I am to live in America at a time when there is more women teaching, learning, working then any other time before. I have opportunities of traveling, marrying who I want, and even wearing a t-shirt instead of a veil. All of which these women couldn't freely do because of the Iranian revolution. It was a challenging book because it bounced back and forth between times and places. Also, I didn't have much of understanding of Iran's revolution and unfortunately the classic books, but I'm glad to say that reading "Lolita in Tehran" only makes me anxious to learn more about the two. The author now lives in America and a couple of other girls moved away from Iran to start a new life, but could they really leave it? "I left Iran, but Iran did not leave me." (Nafisi 341)




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