Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women by Geraldine Brooks

Geraldine Brooks spent six years in the Middle East as a foreign correspondent for The Wall Street Journal. As she traveled around the region, she talked to Muslim women about their lives, their struggles, and their faith. From the first page, I found it fascinating.

Brooks spent a great deal of time in Iran, which has seen a resurgence of Fundamentalism since 1979, when supporters of Ayatollah Khomeini overthrew the Shah's oppressive, secular government and seized control of the country. She explored Palestinian culture. She went to Jordan, where she chronicled the life and achievements of Queen Noor. She delved into life in Egypt. She studied life in Saudi Arabia, where women are forbidden to drive and have no role in public life, and United Arab Emirates, where women serve in the military. She also touched on Lebanon, Iraq, and other places.
She studied the varied, complex roles of women throughout the Islamic Middle East. She discussed hijab (traditional Muslim dress), marriage, including child marriage and polygamy, "honor killings" of women suspected of being unchaste, the role of women in politics and in the workforce, and other topics.

She also studied the history of the Prophet Mohammad, including God's revelations to him, his teachings, and his relationships with his many wives. She analyzed the way his teachings are reflected in -- or have been distorted to justify -- treatment of women.

Brooks is Australian, raised Catholic and a convert to Judaism. Her values are thoroughly Western, and she was shocked by the widespread oppression of women she saw. Nevertheless, although I have little knowledge of Islamic culture to draw on, I found her discussion to be respectful and balanced, trying to understand the faith and lives of Muslim women within the context of their own cultures.
I certainly found her work to be more balanced and complex than other things I have read or heard.

For example, after the revolution in Iran, Fundamentalist Muslims came out of hiding, establishing single-sex schools and workplaces designed to adhere to strict Islamic principles. Women were losing freedom at an alarming rate, facing violence and repression from their new government. They were discouraged from leaving their homes, severely punished for small transgressions in the strict dress code, and forbidden to travel without the permission of a male relative. For more insight into this, I recommend Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi.

Yet ironically, women were also gaining freedom. Fundamentalist families who had never let their daughters leave the house began allowing them to attend school, since single sex, religious education was available, and some women were afforded the opportunity to leave their homes for the first time. Now in spite of oppressive rules they face, Iranian women have a vital role in public life.

I gleaned a wealth of knowledge from this book, and I felt I gained some insight into religious freedom and Fundamentalist Islam -- from both angles. As frightening as a Fundamentalist Theocracy is, I was also saddened by the way Fundamentalist Muslims were repressed and kept in hiding under the Shah's regime. Restricting religious freedom is a double edged sword, and those who are oppressed are predisposed to become oppressors.

One thing Brooks didn't explore, perhaps because it was simply beyond the scope of her book, was the role the other major monotheistic religions -- Christianity and Judiasm -- play in the lives of women. Christian and Jewish Fundamentalism also places strict rules of females. Exploring this might put her study of women and Fundamentalist Islam in perspective.

Another drawback, though this isn't a criticism of the book, is that all the works I've read on Islam, including Nine Parts of Desire and A History of God by Karen Armstrong have been written by Westerners. Even Reading Lolita in Tehran, which I mentioned earlier, is written largely from a Western perspective. Although she is Iranian, Azar Nafisi was raised in a family that had been heavily influenced by Western thought and has lived in the United States for many years. It would be interesting to look at these issues through the eyes of faithful Muslim women, many of whom have embraced a strictly observant religious life by choice. Geraldine Brooks addressed this by talking to religious Muslim women, including some American converts, but it still left me with questions.

I believe this book is unique, and it combines the author's work as an experienced journalist with the gorgeous writing that shines in her novels, including March and Year of Wonders. Any reader interested in this subject will find it thought provoking and richly rewarding.

Read More Reviews:
Islam for Today
Jannah.org Islam Peace
Invitation to Truth: Islam Explained
Daniel Pipes
Hey Lady! Watcha Readin'?


Rating: 4

5- Cherished Favorite	4 - Keep in My Library	3 - Good Read	2 - Meh	1 - Definitely Not For Me

Rooftops of Tehran by Mahbod Seraji

Seventeen-year-old Pasha Shahed has had a comfortable middle-class childhood in Tehran. In the summer of 1973, as he struggles with the ups and downs of becoming a man, he spends his nights on the rooftop with his best friend, Ahmed. Pasha is serious and bookish, and Ahmed is rebellious and funny. They share a deep bond of loyalty. Pasha also nurses a guilty secret -- he has fallen in love with his beautiful neighbor, Zari, who is betrothed to his good friend "Doctor." He and Zari form a special friendship, and along with Ahmed and his beloved, Faheemeh, they share a wonderful summer.

Woven into this story are glimpses of Pasha, the following year, confined to a psychiatric hospital. He is confused, frightened, and trying to remember what happened. As readers follow the summer of 1973, watching Pasha savor his time with his friends and struggle with being in love for the first time, we are brought closer and closer to the devastating events that led to Pasha's hospitalization.

This is an engaging love story that flows smoothly, despite the shifts in time, with a well-developed cast of characters. Funny, brave, rebellious Ahmed is my favorite. On another level, this novel reflects the courage of people who worked against the last Shah, kept in power by the U.S., and the terror wrought by his CIA-trained secret service agency, SAVAK. At the same time, it offers a broad view of Iranian history and culture. It is also rich with literary allusions, including references to Emile Zola, Fydor Dostoyevsky, and some of the great Iranian poets.

At times sad, and at other times laugh-out-loud funny, this book held my interest from beginning to end, and I thoroughly enjoyed the company of its characters.

One thing that might have detracted from the story was the surprise ending. I normally dislike unexpected twists at the end of books -- but I liked this one. If others have read the book, I'm interested in hearing what you think.

I am looking forward to reading future books by this first-time novelist. I understand he has two books in the works, including a sequel to The Rooftops of Tehran.

I recommend this book to fiction lovers, especially those who enjoy getting glimpses of other places and cultures through fiction.

There is another review at Five Minutes for Books and one at Hey Lady Watcha Readin'?


Rating: 3.5

5- Cherished Favorite	4 - Keep in My Library	3 - Good Read	2 - Meh	1 - Definitely Not For Me

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

This is only the second graphic novel I've picked up, and I fell in love with it. I read it all in one sitting; I laughed, I cried, and at moments, I was speechless with rage. The events in this book were not new to me, but I felt I was looking at them from a fresh perspective, in a way that was more immediate and personal.

The stark black and white drawings seemed deceptively simple at first glance, but they are actually richly detailed and expressive, and the images wedged themselves in my mind more sharply than words could. Is it possible that at my advanced age, I'm about to become a convert to graphic novels? Hmm...


Marjane Satrapi's graphic memoir guides us through the events surrounding the Islamic Revolution in Iran, starting in 1979. She was about 10 years old when the Shah was overthrown, an event that, after years of harsh oppression, her family celebrated with other Iranians. Marjane Satrapi is of my generation, but I witnessed these events from a great distance, as if I saw them through the wrong end of a telescope. I remember our sadness and anger over the capture of American hostages in the U.S. Embassy -- fellow citizens wrenched from their families by shadowy evil-doers. I knew nothing about the fate of Iranians at that time, and I wouldn't understand until years later why they blamed the U.S. for the actions of their deposed Shah -- that simply wasn't part of our history curriculum. I hope children today are being educated through a wider lens.

Ten-year-old Marjane's parents are intellectual Marxists -- Marxists who drive a Cadillac and have a maid who takes her meals alone in the kitchen. Marjane is beginning to question these inconsistencies, but this is overshadowed by the turmoil all around her. Friends and relatives are escaping the clutches of the Shah's regime, only to be ensnared by the Islamic Revolution, and the war with Iraq begins.
This book has amazing depth. We are guided through this part of Iran's history and tutored in the politics and philosophy surrounding these events in a way that's simple but thought provoking. We're absorbing these things through the mind of a young girl who's struggling to understand what's happening in her world.

Dark images of violence and death blend seamlessly with the story of Marjane's coming of age, which includes scenes from the schoolyard and her relationship with God; it also offers glimpses of her adolescent rebellion and her love of Western music and clothes. With few words needing to be said, we intensely feel the love among her family members and friends. We experience the constant fear and paranoia, as the vise of the new regime closes around them. Yet there are moments that are surprisingly funny. All this combines to create a story that is heart-wrenching, humorous, and rich in food for thought.

As soon as I finished this, I immediately reserved Persepolis II and the movie adaptation of Persepolis at the library. I am hoping I can involve my family in reading the books or watching the film with me. I am salivating over the potential for discussion -- about contemporary history, our country's role in Mideast history, and life in a theocracy. Religious freedom is something we blessedly take for granted, though there are ripples in the U.S. urging us to replace secular law with "God's law." This book also offers potential for discussion about how childhood can be shaped by fear and violence and also by courage and love.

Read More Reviews: Eclectic/Eccentric; Caribousmom; Small World Reads; Good Books and Wine


Rating: 4.5

5- Cherished Favorite	4 - Keep in My Library	3 - Good Read	2 - Meh	1 - Definitely Not For Me

Persepolis 2 by Marjane Satrapi

This autobiographical graphic novel picks up where Persepolis left off, bringing Marjane into young womanhood. As the novel opens, she is living in Austria. Wanting their beloved only child to leave Iran, where the vise of the Fundamentalist Muslim government continues to tighten, her parents arranged for her to live with an Austrian friend. The new family does not embrace her, however, and Marjane goes to live in a boarding house run by nuns, contemplating the irony of having escaped one staunchly religious environment only to end up in another.

Living and going to school in a Western society is a radically different experience for her. There is the language barrier -- Marjane doesn't speak German. And she is surrounded by teens who dabble in nihilistic philosophy, babbling about the meaninglessness of life without ever having experienced war or death firsthand. Marjane desperately wants to fit in with her Austrian peers and find her niche. But when she does, she feels she's betraying her Iranian identity, turning her back on on her war-torn homeland and the beloved relatives who died standing up for freedom. She struggles through isolation, academic failure, drug abuse, and first love. Then she eventually returns to Iran. There she is surrounded by loving relatives and friends, but she finds that her return to her own culture, after the freedom she enjoyed in Western Europe, is wrenching. And her conflicts about her identity don't fade away.

I loved this book just as much as Persepolis. Again a short book with simple, almost stark illustrations camouflages an incredibly rich story which weaves together Iranian history and politics, a bit of dry humor, and a painfully honest story of growing up and early adulthood. This author isn't afraid to reveal moments when she was cowardly or cruel, including one passage that actually kept me awake part of the night. The result is a fully developed, flesh and blood character I'll never forget.

As I was reading Persepolis II, I kept remembering Ana's post on literature being either a homecoming or a journey to a foreign land. If you haven't read that post and the discussion thread under it, I highly recommend it. :-) Ana quoted Alberto Manguel:

What is this homecoming? It can be argued that we perceive the world in one of two ways—as a foreign land or as home—and that our libraries reflect both these opposing views. As we wander among our books, picking at random a volume from the shelves and leafing through it, the pages either astound us by their difference from our own experience or comfort us with their similitude. The greed of Agamemnon or the meekness of Kim’s lama are to me utterly foreign; Alice’s bewilderment or Sinbad’s curiosity reflect again and again my own emotions. Every reader is either a pausing wanderer or a traveller returned.

Persepolis II is literally a tale of a journey to a foreign land and a homecoming. And for me it offered some of the best of both experiences -- reading Marjane's story, I felt like both a wanderer and a traveler returned. Many of her experiences were unfamiliar to me. I know little about Iranian culture. I have never lived through war or political oppression. I have spent my entire life in blissful ignorance of what it's like to be deprived of religious freedom or to lose over a million countrymen to war. And I've never been viewed as a "third world" person by Westerners.

At the same time many of the experiences she described were poignantly familiar: feeling adrift in adolescence and early adulthood, struggling to make a disastrous relationship work, and being horrified at what one has become and scrambling to begin anew. In this story, I saw reflections of myself at 14, 17, and 19 and I loved the author's honesty and humor in delving into her own youth.
There is something about this combined experience -- already knowing what it's like to travel a certain path, yet following it through a completely new landscape -- that is so enriching. Instead of feeling I'm reading about another life and another culture, I feel I'm there, and I absorb a bit of it into myself. I think that is one of the best things multicultural literature accomplishes.

Read More Reviews: Zen Leaf; Caribousmom; Book Nut


Rating: 4.5

5- Cherished Favorite	4 - Keep in My Library	3 - Good Read	2 - Meh	1 - Definitely Not For Me

Chicken With Plums by Marjane Satrapi

This graphic novel by the author of Persepolis was inspired by the life of Marjane Satrapi's great-uncle. Nasser Ali Khan has been passionate about two things in his life: a young woman he once courted, whose father wouldn't allow them to marry, and his music. He's spent his life playing his tar and has become one of Iran's most revered musicians. When his instrument is broken, under circumstances you will discover, he searches in vain for the perfect tar to replace it. When he can't, he takes to his bed and decides to give up on life.

Nasser Ali Khan is surrounded by his four children and his devoted but bitter wife, exhausted from years of  supporting the family, managing the household, and caring for the kids while her husband devotes his life to his music. Nasser is also visited by his brother. But he is disconnected from everyone around him, waiting to die. During the last days of his life, he is visited by odd visions, including the angel of death and Sophia Loren. We also get glimpses of Nassar's life through flashbacks and glimpses of the distant future. Many threads run through this deceptively simple story, revealing Iranian history, folklore, religion and philosophy.

I didn't like Nasser Ali Khan much -- he is intelligent, talented, and passionate about his art, but he is not a kind man. Nevertheless, through brief, artfully crafted flashbacks, the author revealed hidden layers to his humanity.

This is a sad, moving story about yearning and the fundamental things we believe make our lives worth living. It is also a tale about being oblivious to the feelings of the people who love us most. I highly recommend it, and I am in awe of Satrapi's gift for storytelling and her ability to weave a handful of words and images into a tale rich with cultural, spiritual, and emotional experience. This is a book which I read quickly but am unlikely to forget.

Read More Reviews: Reading and Rooibus; Things Mean a Lot; The Zen Leaf; Read About Comics

Rating: 4.5

5- Cherished Favorite	4 - Keep in My Library	3 - Good Read	2 - Meh	1 - Definitely Not For Me