Out of Iran: One Woman's Escape from the Ayatollahs |
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Sousan Azadi, Angela Ferrante
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Pages: 328 (Paperback)
ISBN: 0751509108
Pub: Time Warner Paperbacks
Pub date: 1988-08-04
Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 108238
Reader Reviews:
Fact or Fiction?.. Definitely Fascinating (4/7 people found this helpful)
As a Muslim woman married to an Iranian man, I was intigued by the accounts given in the book. I have yet to visit Iran and am assured that the Iran of now is much less strict and oppressive. Sousan Azadi writes captivatingly and pulls the reader into her story beautifully, doing so without attacking the Islamic faith - only the regime under which she lived. Whether this story is fact interspersed with fiction or simply a true account is besides the point - this is a recommended read for anyone who wishes to delve into a world and existence outside their own, a world that is real enough to make you question, wonder and feel grateful.
Out of Iran (3/3 people found this helpful)
This is one of the best books I have read in the last couple of years. It took me 3 days to finish.
Highly recommend this book
I Disagree One Hundred Percent with the Other Reviewer (50/55 people found this helpful)
I am an American woman who has lived in Morocco for the past ten years. I have also lived in Egypt, and spent time in several Moslem countries, although I have never been to Iran. I do not doubt the authenticity of this story at all. The author has had to protect her identity due to assassins sent by her former in-laws. Names of places and persons have CERTAINLY had to have been changed to protect certain persons. Clearly the person who wrote the other review has no knowlege of what life in most Muslim countries is really like, and no life experience to compare the story against--therefore, she believes it to be a novel.
The book started out to be interesting, but got more and more fascinating as it went along. I couldn't put it down, and finished it in two days. Her story became more and more suspenseful, clear until the very last page. I have read a lot in this genre, and this is one of the most gripping books of this type that I have come across.
In addition to the story of Sousan's life and escape, I learned some important things I had not been aware of before. For example, while reading another book about another woman's escape from Afghanistan, I learned that Afghani society was somewhat like the Taliban in terms of their ideas and morals imposed on women, even before the Soviet occupation. In this book, I was able to see that Iranian society was NOT so much like that before the Revolution. I also learned that the Shah and his father made a big mistake--they had tried to modernize the country far too quickly. My personal conclusion after reading this book was that the Iranian Revolution was, in a way, a backlash against this too-quick leap forward into modernity, and also an explosion of the jealously of the lower classes being given free reign. Society was literally turned upside down.
The book's brief epilogue does not disappoint with letting the reader briefly know what has since happened with the author and other persons appearing throughout the book. One caution--to anyone looking for a "recent" story, this book was written in 1987. But it is still just as relevant today.
Was she there? (12/40 people found this helpful)
I've just finished 'Out of Iran' and felt it was a passable novel. As a factual account it left me wondering if the author was in Iran at all during the relevant time. There will always be difficulties in transcribing Farsi words into English but spelling the locally produced Peykan car as Peycan was what first made me uneasy. Where is this 'Royal Club' the author was so fond of? Could she mean the Imperial Country Club? Orange taxis ply the streets for trade and cannot be summoned to one's 'mansion' - for that you needed a private hire company or a radio-taxi. Perhaps the author's recollections are faulty as a result of the trauma she suffered or perhaps this is simply a re-hash of stories she has heard......
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Categories
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Books -> Subjects -> Biography -> Women
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