Shokoofeh Azar

This is a remarkable novel about a family during and after the Iranian Revolution, but told in a magical realism style that often makes it difficult to know exactly what is happening. One has to suspend logic, and instead ride the waves of myth, magic, and metaphor. The story is narrated by the ghost of thirteen-year-old Bahar, who has the ability to make herself visible to her family and intervene on their behalf.

When the Revolution begins, Bahar and her family were wealthy intellectuals show more who lived in a beautiful home. After a tragic attack, the family moves to a very remote village where the mullahs have little sway at first. But even here they cannot escape the effects of fundamentalism, war, and sorrow. Ghosts, mermaids, black snows, jinns, and wildly growing plants symbolize various emotional tolls that the Revolution has taken. Only at the very end of the book do we learn what really happened to the mother and sister, Beeta.

I found the author's ruminations on death to be interesting. At one point Bahar says,

...I'd made a mistake. I had been wrong to think that death only marked the end of some things. No! Death was the end of everything. The end of my body, my identity, my credibility. The end of everything that had meant something to me in life: family, love, trust, friendship. Yes...death was the end of all these things.

A fellow ghost comments, "Death hasn't made humans any happier."

I also enjoyed the passages about the importance of books. Although the Revolutionary Guards had burned most of their books, they slowly collect more, and later Bahar's father returns to his family home which still has a large collection.

Every book he touched was more than a book. It was a memory. His entire destiny. It was longing.

Another interesting metaphor is the River of Oblivion. An entire village falls into a deep sleep, because "sorrow brings oblivion." The being responsible for the stupor says, "I'm not the one who goes after people, it is always the people who come after me." When reality becomes too overwhelming, oblivion is the escape, but resolves nothing. When Bahar's father eventually returns to Tehran, he is forced to confront reality and to analyze his own role in allowing the mullahs to take over the country.

He bought the newspaper every day, and though he knew that much of it was devoid of truth, he wanted to know what had become of the rest of the population while he had been away—after the war, after the mass executions, after the flight of the educated and wealthy from the country. He still didn't have the courage to leave the house, to walk among people in the streets who, either through their silence of their ignorance, had practically killed others to take their places. He still couldn't forgive: not others, and not himself.

Although not always an easy book to read, [The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree] is an interesting way to look at the Iranian Revolution and its effects. When the world goes crazy, magic realism doesn't seem so farfetched. show less

Shortlisted for the Booker International Prize 2020

Azar is an Iranian (or Persian) exile living in Australia - which gives her a degree of license to describe her country's problems that would not be available to anyone still living there - indeed the translator chose to remain anonymous for his/her own safety.

This is an enjoyable magic realist fable, which is very loosely based on the experience of living through Iran's Islamic revolution, but owes much more to Persian and Arabic myths and show more legends. I don't think it is much of a spoiler to reveal something that is explained early in the book, i.e. that the narrator of the book is a ghost, who watches over what remains of her family. The story is populated by jinns, mermaids and other fantastic creatures. I am not normally a big fan of such fantasy stories, but in this case it works very well as a way of making the story more palatable to a casual reader, without lessening its outspoken criticism of the excesses of the regime.

This quote seems appropriate: "It's life's failures and deficiencies that make someone a daydreamer. I don't understand why prophets and philosophers didn't see the significance of that. I think imagination is at the heart of reality, or at least, is the immediate meaning and interpretation of life" show less

It’s a stunning novel. It’s written in a lyrical magical realism style, which seems bizarre at first – until the author’s purpose becomes clear. This style is both a tribute to classical Persian storytelling and an appropriate response to the madness of the world she is describing. The novel tells the story of a family living through the turbulent period of Iranian history when the Islamic Revolution and the Iran-Iraq war brought them overwhelming grief. While there is no solace to show more be had in the real world, the mystical world conjures it instead. When the eldest son Sobrah is arbitrarily arrested and executed along with thousands of others, the child narrator who was immolated when the Revolutionary Guards came to burn her father’s library, is there as a witness. She is there to tell the strange story of her mother Roza’s disappearance, the attacks on her sister Beeta, and the destruction of everything her father Hushang holds dear. The presence of ghosts everywhere seems almost realistic when the entire country is plunged into mourning by the Islamic regime. It is the regime which seems unrealistic because it was responsible for the execution of thousands and thousands of its own people: dissidents and conscripts in the senseless eight-year war…

The regime orders book burnings, the destruction of ancient Persian cultural artefacts, and arbitrary arrests and executions without trial. Roza will not set foot outside the house because she refuses to cover herself in accordance with the new rules, rigidly enforced by the Morality Police. Music is banned; any manifestations of pro-Western attitudes brings brutal punishment. The family leaves Tehran for the small village of Razan, hoping that its isolation will allow them some freedom. But sorrow follows them there too, along with all kinds of strange fantastical beings: fireflies that live in Roza’s hair; Jinns who avenge themselves on Beeta’s lover; and dragonflies which portend the future. The more I read, the more strange it seemed, and yet it made sense when the all powerful Ayatollah Khomeini goes mad in a mansion of mirrors and dies alone, haunted by the spirits of the dead. This is the magical world delivering the justice that this evil man evaded in the real world.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2017/08/01/the-enlightenment-of-the-greengage-tree-by-s... show less

The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree follows the Bayat family in the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution. The story is told through the eyes of thirteen-year-old Bahar. The family faces increasing persecution due to the new regime's religious orthodoxy and violent methods of enforcement. They flee from Tehran to a smaller village to the north. Tragedy befalls the family members one by one. Azar incorporates Persian mysticism, which suggest that the dead continue to bear witness to show more injustice. The writing style blends lyrical prose with harsh realism. It is filled with literary references. It serves as a critique of Iran’s authoritarian regime, where this book is banned. The author thanks the Australians, who provided her asylum. The author employs a fragmented narrative structure that frequently shifts between characters and places. I admire the concept, but it is very bleak. show less