The Septembers of Shiraz: A Novel (P.S.) | 
| Author: Dalia Sofer
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
Buy New: $8.12
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Avg. Customer Rating:  41 reviews
Sales Rank: 1325
Media: Paperback
Edition: Reprint
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.2 x 1
ISBN: 0061130419
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780061130410
ASIN: 0061130419
Publication Date: May 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW
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Product Description
In the aftermath of the Iranian revolution, rare-gem dealer Isaac Amin is arrested, wrongly accused of being a spy. Terrified by his disappearance, his family must reconcile a new world of cruelty and chaos with the collapse of everything they have known. As Isaac navigates the terrors of prison, and his wife feverishly searches for him, his children struggle with the realization that their family may soon be forced to embark on a journey of incalculable danger.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 36 more reviews...
 Another version of the same story May 27, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
It's good, but many versions of this story have been told before. If you have never read anything about what happened in Iran during the first years after the revolution, then this book tells you something new. Otherwise, it's just another version of the same story. A big difference though, is that the author has not experienced these things personally, and many things are creations of her imagination, back by research. When you read the same things from someone who has lived them, you can feel the real touch, and therefore get a more realistic picture.
 The September of Shiraz April 14, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Remarkable reading! How sad that women are so badly abused by the so-called "Holy Men". I wish the women of Iran could stand up for themselves.
 Wonderful, horrifying, and gripping February 24, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book grabbed me with its emotional honesty and penchant for describing horrific events without pandering to shock value that is common today. I normally read non-fiction. I was initially turned off by the title because I was concerned that it was a cheap ploy on the words September and Shiraz (not knowing that Shiraz was actually a place, not a reference to the popular class of wine); additionally the size of the font and number of chapters led me to wonder whether I really was, in essence, selecting a pulp novel (not a choice I would normally make). However, I became interested in the characters immediately, and remained interested in them throughout the entire book. I do have a lingering doubt as to how a 9 year old could pull off some of the derring-do that Shirin was able to accomplish without being caught; it almost seems like an adult author was identifying with that character and has imbued certain attributes of an older person's recollection on that character's personality and abilities; a recollection that, perhaps, has grown rosier over time (Note: I have an 11 year old daughter who wouldn't have been able to do what Shirin did; perhaps one grows up earlier in other countries). I am not from the Middle East, nor am I Jewish. The book touched me in such a way that I still think about each of the members of the Amin family, as if I had known them personally. I highly recommend this book, and await, with high anticipation, Sofer's next literary effort.
story of our lives January 22, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I bought eight copies of this book for all the family members who claim this is the story of our lives. Born in Egypt, we left in 1966 (I was 8). The alienation, the humiliation and the isolation we felt not only in Egypt, but in the lands where we ended up are so clearly expressed in this book that it is if the author had written our story. My mom cried as she read the book twice, and wished she did not have to read the last page. It is heart breaking but true. I am in the process of writing our story, our exodus from Egypt and this is a sister story that justified our feelings and shared memories. Thank you so much for a masterpiece of precision and love.
One Of The Most Impressive Literary Debuts of 2007 January 13, 2008
9 out of 11 found this review helpful
Young Iranian-American writer Dalia Sofer is one whose ample literary talents offer much promise of a bright career awaiting her, if her literary debut "The Septembers of Shiraz" is any indication. Her debut novel is one of the most fascinating recent literary debuts I've come across, almost rivaling Eugene Drucker's "The Savior" for both its intriguing characters, harsh subject matter, and emotional intensity. "The Septembers of Shiraz" could be seen as an Iranian-American version of Tolstoy's "War and Peace", as the novel's leading protagonists, Tehran Jewish jeweler Isaac Amin and his wife Farnaz, learn to cope with his inexplicable, six month-long internment as a political prisoner of Ayatollah Khomeini's theocratic totalitarian dictatorship, during the early, bloody years of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Indeed, among the most powerful, most emotionally visceral prose depicts isaac's harsh imprisonment in Teheran's worst, most notorious, political prison, subjected daily to unspeakable acts of brutality by the regime's Revolutionary Guards. Meanwhile, in distant New York City, their son Parviz finds some tranquil solace, and the glimmerings of a romance, within the Crown Heights, Brooklyn Hasidic Jewish community, while studying architecture. But the most remarkable character of all might be his nine year-old sister Shirin, who, unknowingly, becomes a successful dissenter against the Islamic Republic's bloodthirsty revolutionary fervor. Sofer's novel is one I found almost impossible to put down, easily compelled by the Amins' tragic tales of woe; it is unquestionably among the finest novels published in 2007.
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