Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.
Loading... Im düstern Wald werden unsre Leiber hängenby Ava Farmehri
None Loading...
Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Engaging and well written, fans of 'Alias Grace' will absolutely love this book. The title alone is an eye-catcher, and the tale is at times poignant. A look inside the mind of a girl who begins to lose touch with reality, and told as she sees everything - from childhood to her current imprisonment, awaiting her faith. Brilliant writing. no reviews | add a review
At the age of twenty, Sheyda Porrouya's life is almost over. She was born in Iran on the day staunchly orthodox mullas declared the birth of the Islamic Republic and set about summarily purging the country of all things Western and un-Islamic. To make matters worse, as she matured, Sheyda seemed increasingly unable to distinguish between fairy tale and reality. She began to exhibit disturbing behavior. When Sheyda is accused of killing her mother, she is immediately jailed and sentenced to death by hanging. The narrative jumps back and forth from Sheyda's childhood to her current life in one of Iran's most notorious prisons, where she awaits either release or execution. No library descriptions found. |
Current DiscussionsNone
Google Books — Loading... GenresLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. |
In a concept similar to that of Midnight's Children, Sheyda is a young Iranian girl born on the day that the mullahs came to power. She is a rebellious fantasist with an unerring ability to drive others away, and the despair of her parents. Theft and self-harm are just some of the frustrations that she poses for them.
It becomes clear that Sheyda is to die, executed by the regime. Farmehri takes a long time to develop this side of Sheyda's story (with echoes of Laurence Sterne, it takes 50% of the book for Sheyda to be born) but it is far stronger and better when she gets to the scenes of Sheyda's adulthood and her life during incarceration.
This book was a bit hit-and-miss for me. I found Sheyda as a child to be a tiresome and annoying character that I did not warm to, and the writing in those early chapters was trite. The latter half was much better, with elegiac prose, and heart-rending plot developments. I did not think that the author did much with her Rushdie-like concept of Sheyda's birth date, and that seemed little more than contrivance. I'm torn about this book; I did not personally enjoy it a whole lot, but I could definitely see others getting a lot more out of it. ( )