I recommend ARIA to any person experiencing major grief, especially parents

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	• Aria Nassim Assefi Harcourt, 2007 - 272 pages average customer review:based on 8 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

exotic, touching, insightful

Whether you are a parent, a traveler, a child, a partner or from a family that comes from elsewhere you will appreciate this book. It's sensual, moving, insightful and sometimes even humorous. Totally 5 star plus.

I recommend ARIA to any person experiencing major grief, especially parents

From Mountain Mama, Seattle, WA (5 stars, highest rec)

I thought I had grieved as much as possible when my daughter died 6 years ago (for we had known for some years that she had AIDS), however earlier in this year, a friend gave me ARIA. Though it was a book that was difficult to put down, I could only read the first few chapters, because it was too sad for me. When finally I was able to finish it, I found myself at my pc writing a long letter to my daughter, inspired by the main character's correspondence with her dead daughter. Many of my thoughts and feelings of the past 6 years, as well as from my daughter's childhood, came flooding out on those pages. When I finished writing, I realized I had said some of the things to her that I had not told her before. I felt as if a silent burden had been lifted from my shoulders. I now feel that I have connected with her in a deeper way than I had all these years.

I recommend ARIA to any person experiencing major grief, especially bereaved parents. The story is beautiful, the loss is universal, and the impact (at least for me) is potent and therapeutic. Of note, the author, Nassim Assefi, is donating a portion of her royalties to the Compassionate Friends Organization, a nationwide parental bereavement charity.

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Coming Home

Nassim Assefi's novel is compelling, haunting and infinitely believable as she deftly weaves an intricate story through letters from various narrators. Throughout this first novel,the reader is able to witness Jasmine's personal anguish and ultimate transformation as she attemps to come to terms with the untimely death of her partner; her 5-year old daughter Aria's accidental and tragic death; the evolution of a deeper friendship with her loyal best friend, Dottie; the steady, slightly puzzled, devastated devotion of her abandoned lover, Alexander, and Jasmine's parents rejection of all that she has created and all that she has loved. Ms. Assefi takes the reader on an armchair voyage of Jasmine's self-discovery around the world, from maize fields in Guatemala to a silent cave in Nepal and ultimately to Iran, where Jasmine is able to face the transformation of grief through the sprit selves of her daughter and her beloved grandmother, and find an uneasy but necessary reconciliation with her mother and father. A reminder to hold those we love close and cherish our memories.

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Lyrical and passionate writing awaits

In Nassim Assefi's debut novel, Aria, Iranian-American oncologist Jasmine Talahi sets out on an emotional journey around the world to seek solace after her 5-year-old daughter's sudden death. While pregnant with her daughter, Aria, Jasmine's boyfriend Justin passes away suddenly. Estranged from her disapproving Iranian parents, Jasmine finds herself alone until best friend and "little person" Dottie takes her in. Together, these fiercely independent women rear Aria. But when a teenager in a car cuts the little girl's life short, Jasmine is faced with the stark reality that she has been orphaned from her family.

Still reeling from the shock, Jasmine treks across the world--working in Guatemala and meditating in Tibet. Eventually, she finds herself in Iran visiting the parents who turned their backs to her a number of years ago. There, she discovers her family history and finds true inner strength.

Aria is written as a series of letters to Dottie, Aria, Justin and Jasmine's deceased grandmother. Several letters and essays from Dottie and the teen driver who took Aria's life are included in the novel to fill in background information. Though these expository pieces are essential to the novel's plot, the letters at times sound forced and the flow of the letters make the novel choppy. Despite this, though, Jasmine's outpouring of grief shines through as only a mother's loss can.

Like an operatic aria, Assefi's expose' of Jasmine's relationships are lyrical and passionate. But also like an aria--an elaborate melody sung solo with accompaniment--Jasmine realizes she has a strong backbone of friends and family she can turn to.

Armchair Interviews says: This is a promising first novel for Assefi, a health specialist-cum-writer.

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A tour de force first novel!

A truly engaging story, unsettling despite its lyricism. Before I realized, I was drawn into the life of the main character, her conflicted heart over her lover, and her unabashed devotion to, desolution from, and ultimate reintegration of the memories that arose from her pain in coming to terms with her child's loss. I especially liked the best friend character, a classic foil, with quirky grit and self-effacing humor. A tour de force for a first novel!

reviews: page 1, 2

Jasmine is a cancer specialist and single mother in Seattle, long estranged from her Iranian parents and heritage. When faced with the sudden accidental death of Aria, her five-year-old daughter, she finds little solace in the healing advice she?s prescribed to her patients and their families. Lacking spiritual scaffolding or comforting rituals to cope, Jasmine buys a one-way ticket around the world. Along the way she writes letters: to her three greatest loves, all now dead, and to her devoted friends who encourage her to return home.

This deeply spiritual novel is the record of Jasmine?s journey inward and a moving celebration of the fundamental elements of life: of planting maize in Guatemala, of silent meditation in the mountains of Tibet, and of the rituals of grieving in Iran. It is only when Jasmine, this modern American woman, connects with her ancient heritage that she can finally heal.

(20070401)

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2007: Pacific NW ( list # 5 of fine NW books)
October 2007 from the mighty Northwest

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