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New
Paperback
2010
$13.32
In Azar Nafisi's personal story of growing up in Iran, she shares her memories of a life lived in thrall to a powerful and complex mother, against the background of a country's political revolution. Nafisi's intelligent and complicated mother, disappointed in her dreams of leading an important and romantic life, created mesmerising fictions about herself, her family, and her past. But her daughter soon learned that these narratives of triumph hid as much as they revealed. When her father began to see other women, young Azar began to keep his secrets from her mother. Nafisi's complicity in these childhood dramas ultimately led her to resist remaining silent about other personal - as well as political, cultural, and social - injustices. Things I've Been Silent About is also a powerful historical picture of a family that spans the many periods of change leading up to the Islamic Revolution of 1978-79. This unforgettable portrait of a woman, a family, and a troubled homeland is a new triumph from a modern master of the memoir.
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Used
Paperback
2009
$3.44
In her bestselling memoir Reading Lolita in Tehran, Azar Nafisi opened her world to us, offering a vibrant portrait of women s lives in Iran and an eloquent brief on the transformative powers of fiction (the New York Times). In this stunning new book, Nafisi returns to Iran and her childhood to deliver an exquisite and moving portrait of a family s life, a life lived in thrall to Nafisi s powerful mother, and the mesmerizing fictions she created about herself, her past, and the family s life. Part detective story and part portrait of an exceptional marriage and mother-daughter struggle, the book is also a deeply personal reflection on women s choices, and on how Azar Nafisi found inspiration for a different kind of life in the stories of women in The Persian Book of Kings. Writing of the women who came to her mother s coffee salons, Nafisi explores the perverse effects of society s restrictions, in things everyone knew but were silent about.In this stunning book, a gifted storyteller once again masterfully uses her own life to transform the way we see the world, and reminds us why we read in the first place.
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Used
Hardcover
2009
$4.60
Azar Nafisi, author of the international bestseller Reading Lolita in Tehran , now gives us a stunning personal story of growing up in Iran, memories of her life lived in thrall to a powerful and complex mother, against the background of a country's political revolution. A girl's pain over family secrets; a young woman's discovery of the power of sensuality in literature; the price a family pays for freedom in a country beset by political upheaval - these and other threads are woven together in this beautiful memoir. Nafisi's intelligent and complicated mother, disappointed in her dreams of leading an important and romantic life, created mesmerising fictions about herself, her family, and her past. But her daughter soon learned that these narratives of triumph hid as much as they revealed. Nafisi's father escaped into narratives of another kind, enchanting his children with classic tales like the Shahnameh , the Persian Book of Kings . When her father began to see other women, young Azar began to keep his secrets from her mother.
Nafisi's complicity in these childhood dramas ultimately led her to resist remaining silent about other personal - as well as political, cultural, and social - injustices. Reaching back in time to reflect on other generations in the Nafisi family, Things I've Been Silent About is also a powerful historical portrait of a family that spans the many periods of change leading up to the Islamic Revolution of 1978-79. It is, finally, a deeply personal reflection on women's choices, and how Azar Nafisi found the inspiration for a different kind of life. This unforgettable portrait of a woman, a family, and a troubled homeland is a stunning book that readers will embrace, a new triumph from an author who is a modern master of the memoir.