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This book is the autobiography of an idealistic young Persian woman who was born to a rich family before the fall of the Shah. Raised and educated in England, Cherry Mosteshar longed to return to the Iranian homeland where she was born. When she did, she learned firsthand that women had no rights in post-revolution Iran. Here you'll find an insider's look at one family of women living in Iran: Cherry, her mother, grandmother, aunts, and cousins, set against the backdrop of the revolution that overthrew the Shah, followed by the rise to power of the Islamic rulers. At the same time, it exposes the oppression that women have suffered under the patriarchal Islamic rule that seized power after the fall of the Shah. The stories of several of Cherry's female friends and relatives reveal the state of virtual slavery that many women have suffered under the new regime. For example, a woman cannot leave the country without her husband's permission--even if she is divorced, and she can be beaten if even a wisp of hair slips out from under her head scarf. |
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This book puts a human face on the stories that have appeared in the international news media about Iran since the 1970's. It demonstrates the impact that events there have had on the lives of everyday people. The story is filled with drama--corrupt government, marital infidelities, rich people being humbled by the rebellion of the common people, etc. I found it to be very enlightening about the 20th-century history of Iran. The book paints Iranian society as being much more complex than the usual image portrayed in the U.S. media of screaming Islamic extremists who despise the West and everything connected with it. For someone like me who knew very little about the culture of pre-revolution Iran, it offered some helpful glimpses into what the country was once like. Cherry's story was interesting to read because of all the drama, even if I did find her naivete exasperating at times. |
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I could have wished that the book had revealed more about the things that caused such overwhelming public support for the overthrow of the Shah. While it did talk about some of the corruption of the Shah's regime, the information given wasn't compelling enough to help me, as a reader, understand just why the Iranian people felt it was so unbearable that the upheaval to society caused by a revolution was the only answer. Although the family dramas were interesting, I felt like I needed a scorecard to keep track of who was who. Family members entered and exited the story line in droves, and it was difficult to remember who was an uncle, a cousin, or just a friend. The book portrays a very negative view of what it is like to live in modern-day Iran. It left me, as a reader, wondering whether it was unfairly one-sided, or whether Iran today really is that bad. An American friend of mine visited Iran with her husband in the late 1990's. When she returned to the U.S., she spoke highly of his warm, loving family. Cherry herself clearly had a lot of emotional issues that led her to place herself unnecessarily in a situation that was bad for her. She acknowledged those in the book, but there were times when I wanted to shake her and say, "Don't do it, silly--don't you know better?" For example, after portraying a man who was courting her as a very un-appealing idiot, she then proceeded to marry him. I couldn't help but find myself thinking that her troubles were due to her own poor choices rather than being caused by her society. |
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