Amazon.co.uk Review
Neither East Nor West joins
Honeymoon in Purdah by Alison Wearing and
Persian Mirrors by Elaine Sciolino in its humane examination of Iran and its willingness to lay aside the received orthodoxies of other nations and listen with a receptive (if not always open) mind. Once again, Iranians reveal themselves to be a generous, literate and fun-loving people, and their nation far more complex, multi-layered and Westernised than news stories have revealed over the last three decades.
As a young child, Christiane Bird spent three years in the north-western town of Tabriz where her father served as a doctor for the Presbyterian ministry. She returned in 1998 to see the effects of the Islamic Revolution for herself. One of her first acts was to look for the infamous DEATH TO AMERICA sign which hung at the Laleh International Hotel.
Two hotel employees with grizzled cheeks gave me a half-flirtatious, half-interrogatory stare. Taking a deep breath, I asked them about the sign. "Gone! Gone!" they said, laughing as if I were asking about ancient history. "You are American?"
This could be the theme of Bird's travels, where everyone--from security police to government officials to men yelling "Welcome to Iran!" as they whiz by on their scooters--are practically ecstatic to meet an American. In the privacy of their homes they watch the Flintstones and CNN, listen to Michael Jackson and Metallica, drink alcohol and complain, mostly about the economy. In the end, Iranians start to seem not so unlike Americans in many ways--criticising their government while loving their country all the same.
The fact that Bird, like Sciolino and Wearing before her, is a woman makes her story even more interesting, as she looks behind the veil and finds both the power and the constrictions that it represents. Her biggest strength is in asking direct questions about such ticklish issues as women's rights but at times her heavy handedness is enough to make you squirm. Wearing, with her lovely sense of humour and openness, did a superb job befriending and capturing the people. Bird, on the other hand, seems to have no sense of humour and has an irritating habit of getting irritated. Nevertheless, she fills in the essential historical and political background omitted by Wearing. Together, the two paint a penetrating portrait of a rich and evocative land. --Lesley Reed
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
This text is a fusion of travelogue, historical inquiry, portraits of people and interviews with Iranians from all walks of life. Christiane Bird, who spent several years of her early childhood in Iran, sets out to write a safarnameh - the Persian word for travelogue or, literally, travel letter - but soon delivers more. In describing the sights, sounds and overall tenor of life in Iran today, she helps to break through the silence that has surrounded the country's culture. Bird's travels take her from the sacred pilgrimage site of Mashhad, visited by more than 12 million Shi'ites every year, to the haunting, isolated valley of Alamut, once home to the legendary cult of Assassins. She visits mosques, public baths, Khomeini's former home and a Caspian sea resort; she attends prayer meetings and a horse-racing meet. Along the way she talks to everyone from muleteers to ayatollahs, Kurds to Turkomans, Westernized Iranians to traditional Iranians - many of whom invite her home for dinner or a cup of tea. The result is an insightful look at a complex nation that has long been obscured by unfortunate stereotypes and misunderstandings.
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