Reading Lolita in Tehran
by Melanie Bettinelli on February 01, 2005
I was mildly intrigued by this book, but probably would never have bought it. Then Diane gave it to me for Christmas. I wanted to read it, but maybe because it has been so popular was a little afraid it would be a disappointment. One of those books you read a bit of and never seem to get around to finishing.
But instead it’s captivating. Hard to put down. Thank goodness it has short little chapters so that I can read just a little nibble at a time—though even that takes a measure of self control.
Of course, it’s a book in part about teaching literature by a professor of literature. That is a big pull. But also her style is beguiling. And it is set against an intriguing background of political turmoil. I want to know more about her. I want to find out what happens next. And yet it is not primarily a political book. It is a book about the power of the imagination, how it can be twisted by totalitarian regimes. In a way it reminds me a bit of Tigana.
I think if it were a book by a westerner about Iran it wouldn’t be nearly so powerful. But Azar Nafisi is Iranian, not a bystander. She loves her country and she praises its beauty as well as lamenting what it becomes under the Islamic Revolution. She views all of the events through the lenses of literature, of novels. (Gee, I wonder why that would appeal to me.)
One thing I like is that it is not that tired Hollywood cliche: a triumph of the human spirit.
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