Jennifer Sahary, an American artist, and her husband Karim, a professor and Iranian immigrant, make an extended visit to Teheran shortly after the Iran-Iraq war, encountering unforeseen dangers and sexual temptations that change the course of their lives.
When their young son is taken by his grandmother to the holy city of Qom without Jennifer's knowledge, she sets out to find him, learning much about Iran, and about herself, along the way. And as Karim renews contact with his family and surveys the misery and needs of his war-torn country, he begins to question where he can best achieve his ideals.
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Nahid Rachlin is the Iranian-American author of four novels, short stories, and essays. She teaches at New School University and the Unterberg Poetry Center at the 92nd Street Y, New York City.
Rachlin (Veils) tries not to judge anyone in this story of an American woman married to an Iranian man?tact that may be admirable in life but that makes for a somewhat bland novel. Artist Jennifer and professor Karim leave their comfortable home in Athens, Ohio, with their six-year-old son, Darius, to visit Karim's family shortly after the end of the Iran-Iraq war. An accomplished Farsi speaker, Jennifer remains intrigued by Teheran on her second visit but finds it much changed, with an anti-Americanism that makes her uncomfortable. At the same time, Karim's recollections of growing anti-Iranian feeling in the United States are weighing on him. Jennifer's and Karim's relationship has been strained of late anyway, as after 12 years together, he seems to be rediscovering his ethnicity. While in Iran he gets word that his department head back home has given away one of his courses, and he begins to toy with the idea of remaining in Iran. Trouble erupts when Karim leaves on a short trip with his uncle and Karim's mother kidnaps Darius in order to enroll him in religious school. One can learn a lot from this novel, but while these observations are interesting, many (particularly on Jennifer's part) have the feel of pedagogical exposition rather than narrative necessity.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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