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The Septembers of Shiraz: A Novel (P.S.) | 
| Author: Dalia Sofer
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
Buy New: $8.22
You Save: $5.73 (41%)
New (36) Used (13) from $6.17
Avg. Customer Rating:  47 reviews
Sales Rank: 4226
Media: Paperback
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 42 more reviews...
 A great, poignant story August 4, 2008
The story of a jewish man and his family caught in the aftermath of the "departure" of the Shah of Iran in the 1980's. This is the kind of book you can't let go of and you need to keep reading. You feel for the characters as the chapters unfold.
 I enjoyed Dalia Sofer's debut; try 'In the Country of Men' next August 1, 2008
I enjoyed Dalia Sofer's debut novel, though I'm having a bit of a difficult time aligning my reading experience with the notable NYT book review where they comment "it's impossible to predict whether Sofer's novel will become a classic, but it certainly stands a chance." That's quite a statement.
The tale is loosely based on Ms. Sofer's own experiences of a Jewish Persian upbringing. That Ms. Sofer's own father, Simon, was also imprisoned in the early days of the Islamic Republic of Iran surely brings added resonance to the novel. It's not hard to see Dalia Sofer as Shirin, daughter of the book's protagonist, Issac Amin. Her work 'lifts the veil' (as reviewers have deftly said about it) on what things were like in Iran circa 1979 - 1982. [Sofer and her family fled Iran when she was 10. She was born in 1972.]
A similar work to try out is Hisham Matar's excellent In the Country of Men. Replace Iran with Libya, but the idea's the same: a quasi-autobiographical work by a talented debut novelist who, as a child, watched a beloved father be snatched up and imprisoned by the new regime.
The Septembers of Shiraz July 24, 2008
Moving and poetic first novel that carries the reader back to Iran in the days after the overthrow of the Shah and the terror that claimed those who benefited from his largesse. Each character was brought to life as layers were pulled away revealing heroic but very human and and fallible individuals. Althought this was from the perspective of a Jewish Family the author did try to represent the disparity between the classes while under the rule of the Shah. Greed and gluttony is acknowledged and even those that benefit from his largesse are uncomfortable with the excessiveness of his rule. I found myself intrigued by the history and swept away with each character and their internal conflicts how to move forward and leave their home. The author does a fine job of introducing a main plot with several subpots rotating around the center of this family crisis. Greed, betrayal, love, and loyalty give dimension to a unique story of a family in crisis. I would have liked to see the plight of the brother woven into the family a little more carefully. Excellent work I highly recommend to anyone.
Life turned upside down July 22, 2008
Imagine this: you are at the breakfast table, drinking your morning coffee, and there is a knock on the door...armed soldiers waiting to enter your house to search for incriminating items. They ransack your house, steal your valuables....Dalia Sofer writes of a charmed life gone bad in 1980s Iran. The Septembers of Shiraz is a fictionalized memoir, taking place when the author was a child. It is a well written, gripping novel of a Jewish family in Iran. I don't want to reveal any of the details, but it was hard to put down because I kept wanting to see what would happen next. I would love to read a sequel about how the family fares after everything that happens in the book.
Our resilience is always being tested. A price will be paid if we ignore the signs of unrest in our neighborhoods. July 20, 2008
In her first novel, The Septembers of Shiraz, Dalia Sofer has written a page turner.The story is important to all of us who are concerned about extremism worldwide. The Iranian family represented here could be any one of us. Their desire to remain invisible to the forces that were taking over their country and the outcome of their efforts to gain security makes for very good reading with lots to think about.
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