🚀 The Book in 3 Sentences

This graphic novels shares some stories of a girl living in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. The protagonist grapples with the discordant political realities of the time. The author does a great job of inhabiting the perspective of a child, complete with a child’s confusions and a child’s answers to problems.

👀 How I Discovered It

Liz was reading this book for class this semester, while I was independently reading about Iranian history! Given that the subject matter matched, and that it was a graphic novel (another kick I’ve been on lately), it felt like kismet!

🎨 Impressions

Iranian culture today seems so different from how we live our lives in the US; it’s very interesting to see the point in time where their customs “branched off” in the fundamentalist islamic direction.

This book picked up right where All The Shah’s Men, the last book I read, left off. It was great to get continuity that way, and expand my picture of the very interesting history of this country.

☘️ How the Book Affected Me

It’s been great to learn about Iran from a variety of perspectives: All The Shah’s Men gives a historical account of midcentury Iran, this book gives a first-person perspective of Iran from within the Islamic Revolution, and the show I’ve been watching, Tehran, tells modern stories built upon all of this context. I’ve also been listening to the King of Kings Hardcore History podcast, which talks about Cyrus the Great in ancient Iran.

As I said in my blog post for All The Shah’s Men, learning in depth about foreign cultures is a new experience for me, but one that I’ve enjoyed greatly. And a habit I’m excited to continue!