A Teaspoon of Earth and Sea: A Novel (original 2013; edition 2013)

http://www.cozylittlebookjournal.com/2013/04/a-teaspoon-of-earth-and-sea-by-dina...
I loved this book but I wish I hadn't read some other reader reviews before I read it. There were several in the "it's not a spoiler if I figured it out early" camp (See? Even that feels like I'm saying too much.) that irritated me as I was reading the book (Why did I read the reviews first? My rule is that I'm NEVER supposed to read other people's reviews before I finish a book. I'm always mad at myself when I break that rule.). Anyway...

Here's my (hopefully) spoiler-free review:

Eleven-year-old Saba Hafezi and her twin sister Mahtab, growing up in Iran in the 1980s, dream of America. They pore over Life magazines with its pictures of glamourous Tricia Nixon. They are enamoured with the life of an American woman, particularly in contrast to their own post-revolutionary Iranian reality. So when Mahtab and their mother disappear under mysterious circumstances, Saba is certain it's because they've gone to the United States without her. She imagines her sister living a life parallel to her own, but with all the opportunity and glamour of life in modern America.

A Teaspoon of Earth and Sea is about a life divided. Without her sister and mother, Saba cannot feel whole. But as long as she carries them in her heart they live on with her, even is she must imagine the details of their lives. (I made that sound hokey, but the book is actually quite beautiful.) Other reviewers are correct in saying that Saba's interpretation of events is flawed and obviously inaccurate at times--so perhaps it isn't a "spoiler" for them to point that out--but I personally liked how the author handled that. I liked that, as a reader, I went from knowing less about the situation than Saba did, to knowing more than she did, to questioning what it was she knew at all. It wasn't a mystery novel. It was a heart-breaking one.

I guess I would say that Dina Nayeri is the anti-Jodi Picoult. Her story of family and tragedy is sincere and moving without being contrived or glib. The real action goes on in the characters' hearts and minds, rather than a courtroom. The writing leaves room for the reader's interpretation, instead of just handing over the story and saying, "Here. Feel sad now, please." In short, Dina Nayeri is the writer that Jodi Picoult thinks she is, but isn't.

Disclaimer: I received a free advanced copy of this title from the publisher, Penguin Canada, for promotional purposes. I was asked to write and share an honest review, though it was not required to be positive or favourable. The opinions expressed are strictly my own. ( )

In many books, what is written on the book jacket or the online description gives away what happens in the first few chapters. In a Teaspoon of Earth and Sea, that description makes up the entirety of its plot. Not an action driven novel, this is primarily a story of what it feels like to be a woman in Iran after the Revolution. Though the writing is beautiful and evocative, the story itself seems to drag. I found the tone of the book and its main characters to be largely self-pitying. I might be whiney too in their circumstances, but I like to have a worthy protagonist to root for when I read, like I did in The Taliban Cricket Club or All Woman and Springtime. I will recommend this novel to friends for its beautiful writing and sense of atmosphere, but it won’t be at the top of my list. ( )

From the very beginning I didn't want to put this book down, but it's somehow still hard for me to describe how I felt about it. I'm finding it particularly hard to do so without giving away too much of what happens.

Dina Nayeri's writing is beautiful, and the people and places she describes become visible and vibrant on the page, no matter their foreignness. Foreignness, culture shock, and convention are running themes throughout the book and they're used to great effect in the hands of Nayeri's multiple narrators.

The action is driven primarily by two pressing questions: What has happened to the main character's twin sister, and what has happened to the girls' mother? There's a risk in choosing to drive a book this way that the payoff won't be there in the end, that the answers will feel insufficient. In think in this case the writing is so wonderful that it outweighs the sort of flat feeling one is left with when one gets, third-hand, the answers the main character is after, but it is a bit of a let-down nonetheless. It's not, in my opinion, a reason not to bother with the book - the pleasure of reading the writing here is exquisite - but more and more lately I read these books with gorgeous stories and gorgeous writing that feel, in the end, as if they needed another fifteen minutes in the oven, so to speak. But I did really love this book, and I would definitely recommend it. ( )

I love the storytelling of Persians and Nayeri is no exception. A Teaspoon tells the story of Saba Hafezi, a wealthy Iranian girl growing up in the Iranian revolution after having just lost her mother and twin sister. Her story is moving and once I started reading her story, I couldn't stop. It was slightly predictable, but I didn't even care, because I liked Saba so much. ( )

A Teaspoon of Earth and Sea by Dina Nayeri Narrated by, Sneha Mathan

I received this book from the Librarything Early Reviewers Program but was having a hard time with the names so I bought it on audio and I’m very glad I did!

When Saba is 11 years old she remembers her twin sister Mahtab and her mother getting on a plane to America and leaving her and her father in Iran…This is what she remembers but is this what happened?

I felt Saba was an unreliable narrator she makes up this whole life for her twin sister Mahtab and her mother they go to America and she has this free American life and goes to Harvard and becomes a journalist which is Saba’s dream. As a reader you will have an inkling in the back of your head as to what really happened where they really are but until it is actually revealed you want to believe Saba. Also the reveal for me wasn’t what I expected but I don’t want to say too much more about that!

Saba is not always likable but yet you feel for her. Saba always felt like she was missing out so she made up these wondrous stories of what her sister was accomplishing in the US even though she had a pretty normal upbringing considering it is Iran in the 80’s it isn’t till she is older ,well marrying age, that this doesn’t quite hold true anymore. I kind of felt bad for her father at times, I felt like she treated him like a second class citizen when he was all she had and was trying his best, and I was glad to see that as she got older she realized this.

This is a really good story though at times a little hard to follow, it was nice to read a story about Iran that didn’t have so much violence , yes there is some but it comes from something/someone different than you will expect it to. This is the story of a family and a young girl’s life without her twin and mother and how that affects her entire life and who she becomes.

Sneha Mathan narration is well done her accent is not to strong; I think it's just the right amount to convey they are in Iran. She has a great voice and I thought she really helped convey the emotions of everyone she narrated. This was my first book narrated by Sneha Mathan but I don’t think it will be my last as I really enjoyed her voice.

4 Stars ( )