Book Club

I thoroughly enjoyed the book club of the brown women authors. One woman dominated the discussion and I didn't find her quite as insightful enough to do that, seem more of a need on her part. The women who attend regularly didn't seem too put out by it, and were polite. I felt quite fond of these women. Another man joined late, younger, perhaps somewhere from the Asia minor may, couldn't exactly place his accent, he snuck out before I could ask him. 

The next book they chose was The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali. I don't really see Iran as brown colored people, but it's a brown women writer book club. I talked about it with my close Iranian friend, who I've talked to almost every day the past 3 years, except for the months when the Iranian government cut off internet access due to the war. He does see himself as brown. There's plenty of non-white women authored books and they deserve attention. The brilliant woman who leads the group is black, and I find that just as beautiful as any other color. 

I was a bit disappointed Kamali was born in Turkey, lived several years in Iran, moved to Germany, Kenya and USA. The book starts out in the USA. Her parents were strongly identified with Iran, so perhaps the culture of your home is more important than the culture of the country you currently live in, but I feel like she's a citizen of the world having lived all over the place. She starts the novel with a quote from Forough Farrokhzad. And the main character is spritzing perfume in a department store in NYC. How is she going to wrangle this back to Tehran? 

Many Americans will know this comedown as inflation skyrockets and the economy is crashing. Ellie's father dies, and the family has a comedown.

I talked to my Iranian friend, and I thought he wouldn't believe in the evil eye, but he believes in it. He has done a sort of ritual with an egg. He called it a superstition, and I asked why he used the word. He says it's a method or a tradition. 

He says "sheekamoo" is a cute way to a sort of intense Muslim concept.

The primary Farsi word for someone who "worships the stomach" is شکم‌پَرَسْت (shekam-parast).

It combines شکم (shekam, meaning "stomach" or "belly") and پرست (parast, a root meaning "worshipper" or "devotee").

The book is a kind of standard novel format with young to old heroine, who befriends a sweet girl, and their twists and turns through life. Elaheh “Ellie” Soltani and Homa Roozbeh are the female friends.

Links:

Essay by Marjan Kamali: Immigrant Worries: On the New World Novels of Dina Nayeri and Jessica Soffer (LA RB).

Encyclopedia Iranica on Forough Farrokhzad.

Words:

The Farsi word اندرون (andarun) translates directly to "interior," "inside," "within," or "the inner side" in English.

The Persian word چشم (cheshm) translates literally to "eye" in English.