In Rooftops of Tehran, Mahbod Seraji masterfully weaves Pasha’s coming of age story into the instability of Iran’s political climate. Seraji’s language and vivid descriptions immediately transport his reader to Tehran as it was in the early 1970s. He allows the reader to understand how politics, culture, education, and religion interplay in the decisions young adults make, while focusing on the constants in their lives: family, friendship, and school.

Seraji holds no punches in describing the prevalence of Iranian hostility toward and suspicion of the United States. At the same time, Pasha’s parents are encouraging him to study engineering in the US to bring change and advancement to Iran upon completion of his studies. Further, Pasha relates incidents in his life to those in American movies and gives much thought to western attitudes toward romance and marriage.

Rooftops of Tehran is a beautiful coming of age story with a good balance of philosophy, religion, and politics. This novel is an ideal work to discuss in book groups or a liberal studies curriculum. ( )

Mahbod Seraji's debut novel Rooftops of Tehran is a beautifully crafted journey set in Tehran, Iran, during the tumultuous 1970s. Pasha Shahed is a teenage boy who in the summer before his last year of high school faces the reality of his homeland, the despair of irrevocable change, and his first love.

"'And your star guides you when you're in trouble, right?'

'Your star and the stars of the people you love.'

Ahmed closes one eye and lifts his thumb to block out one of the brighter stars. 'I'm tired of looking at your big fat face.'" (Page 4)

Pasha and his friend Ahmed spend many nights on the rooftops discussing school, love, and life, but their simple lives soon become complicated. Ahmed declares his love for Faheemeh even though she is betrothed to another, and Pasha holds his secret love for his neighbor and friend's fiancee, Zari, close to his heart. "Doctor" and Pasha have a genuine intellectual relationship, but the underlying tension stemming from Pasha's secret love for Doctor's fiancee Zari, lingers behind the surface.

"In order to cure my introversion, she insists I drink a dusky concoction that looks and smells like used motor oil. I complain that her remedy tastes horrible, and she tells me to be quiet and stop whining." (Page 9)

"We'll have chelo Kebob--a skewer of ground beef mixed with onions and domestic Persian herbs, and a skewer of filet, served over basmati rice that has been prepared with butter, the savory Persian herb somagh, and baked tomatoes." (Page 244)

Seraji paints a clear picture of Iran's people and the culture that dictates its people survive even the worst situations possible. Pasha is a strong character in spite of his doubt, but like any young person feels personally responsible for the major events in his life even if he was powerless to stop them. From the Iranian dishes to the crowded neighborhoods, readers will fall into Tehran and walk the streets with Pasha and his friends. The tyrannical government's actions and dispensation of justice are infuriating and crushing, but in the midst of these heartaches, readers will laugh as Pasha and Ahmed poke fun at one another and Pasha regains hope.

"'Deep in each knot of a Persian rug is a statement of the hands that patiently drove the needle and the thread,' I once heard my father say." (Page 165)

Seraji deftly creates memorable characters whose lives become fraught with tension and possible death. Readers are likely to become heavily invested emotionally in Pasha's life, cheering him on, crying alongside him in his grief, and hoping that he will regain his center. Rooftops of Tehran is witty and emotionally charged; a novel that will leave readers wanting more of Pasha and his family and friends. This debut novel reads like a well-polished epic.

Rooftops of Tehran has made it to my growing list of top books for 2009; I was so emotionally involved that I found myself weeping on more than one occasion. ( )

I thoroughly enjoy a good read about teen characters in another culture--this one is Iran in the 1970s. Pasha spends a lot of time on the rooftop and his world revolves around his neighborhood. He's in love with a girl who is engaged to someone else and the government won't stop interfering with everyone he knows. The Shah's secret police is after so many people he loves, and Pasha has to learn when to keep his radical (at least in Iran) ideas in check. I wasn't too thrilled with the ending, but think the first 3/4 of the book is well worth a read if you enjoyed Kite-Runner or Finding Nouf. ( )

Kudos to the author who writes a book in an adopted language.

What can I say about this book? What to say, what to say? First, that I give it a thumbs up. There's that. It's in the higher levels of YA. But what can I say without turning it into a history lesson? Because many of my countrymen and women -- I'm American -- could use the lesson. Even those who were alive in the years that swung Iran's fate seem to have forgotten a lot. But then, too, we should not make another country's history a story instead about us.

Put simple, we have here a story about love and politics. Boy loves girl, but girl is intended for another. Boy has an 'oh, fuck!' moment, bad things happen, boy feels bad about his unwitting role in it. Girl can't take it, does something brave and terrible. Everything goes to hell. End of story suggests an ok future, at least for these characters.

Behind all this we have the gathering storm of Iran's Islamic Revolution. Promise for some, dread for others. Our characters mostly get the dread.

But is this a story about young love, or is it a story about the Revolution? The easy answer is both. I guess a better question is, which is the vehicle for the other? Are we using a love story to tell about the Revolution, or the other way around? I can't tell. Go read the book and figure it out yourself.

A beautiful coming of age story set in Tehran during the 1970s. Pasha spends one unforgettable summer playing football (soccer) with the kids in the alley, talking politics and philosophy with his best friend Ahmed, and falling in love with his beautiful neighbor, a girl promised in marriage to Pasha's friend and mentor. ( )