Marina Nemat

Sådan historia! Marina Nemat är en kvinna man ska beundra, hon är modig, god och ärlig, och så har hon skrivit en jätte bra bok om sitt liv under en tid när hon var 16 år och sätts i fängele av den islamiska regimen i Iran. Hon skriver jätte bra, många målande beskrivningar så man ser allt framför sig och känner all den smärta som finns. Jag älskar Fånge i Teheran som trots all ondska även innehåller godhet och kärlek. : Gripande historia, kvinnornas situation i Afganist

I found this to be a fascinating, well-written memoir, and highly recommend it. The author's story is certainly worth telling. Arrested as a political prisoner at age 16, she was sentenced to death for "crimes against the state" after Iran's Islamic Revolution. Marina's life was saved by a guard who fell in love with her; she was then forced to marry him on pain of her family being harmed. Marina's story made me feel grateful to live in a country where such things don't happen. I also found show more it very impressive that she did not paint everything in shades of black and white, and was even able to show the human, kind side of the guard who threatened her loved ones, married her against her will and raped her.

I would recommend this book for anyone interested in the Middle East. I think it would also be good for use in the college or high school classroom. show less

Marina Nemat was arrested as a teenager, tortured, forced into marriage and spent over two years in prison. Right from the beginning, you know the story ends well: she has re-married, this time to the man she loves, has two children and emigrates to Canada. After several years here, she and her husband are able to afford a nice home, the children are doing well in school, the neighbours have become friends. That's when he nightmares start. For the first time, Marina feels compelled to talk show more about what happened to her as a teenager.

Hers is an important story for what it teaches us about life in a totalitarian regime. Grown men torturning children for crimes such as writing a critical article for their school paper, or asking a math teacher to please teach math and not political or religious dogma. A world of fear and strong power imbalances. She also gives us a glimpse into how women supported each other in the prison.

I sensed, at times, that she downplayed the horror or fear she was likely feeling. She was a young girl forced to marry and sleep with a prison guard, yet she speaks more of his kindness to her than of her pain in being forced into this situation. There are depths of feeling she hasn't shared, or perhaps has yet to come to terms with herself.

Ms. Nemat says she needed to tell her story; I think we need to hear it and think about what she is saying. show less

In a truth is stranger than fiction memoir, Marina Nemat writes about how speaking her mind in 1980 Tehran, Iraq got her arrested and sent to the political prison, Evin. All she wanted to do was actually learn calculus in her class, not Islamic doctrine. But speaking up, peacefully protesting and leading others to walk out of class, go her name on a list of troublemakers.

During her 2 years, 2 months and 12 days in prison, she is saved from certain execution by an interrogator who falls in show more love with her and has enough clout the Ayatollah Khomeini to get her sentence commuted to life in prison. This same interrogator threatens her with the death of her family if she doesn't marry him. Through a serendipitous series of events, she is released from prison and builds her life again.

Currently living in Toronto, Canada with her husband (not the interrogator) and children, Nemat wrote this memoir as a way to come to grips with the memories which kept intruding into her life.

Nemat brings to vivid life the horrid life many Iranians lived after Reza Shah Pahlavi was deposed in the revolution in 1979. She also illustrates how suspicion and totalitarianism create violence. This is a worthwhile book, one which gives a graphic view of life in prison and the oddities that made up her life and escape from execution. show less