Rooftops Of Tehran

So far every book review I’ve written gave glowing praise, but not all books deserve a five star rating. I would give Rooftops of Tehran by Mahbod Seraji 3 ½  stars. He wrote about two 17 year old boys in the Shah’s Iran in the 70’s.The story was moving, the characters believable and the plot interesting, but I felt the writing itself was immature. My sister and I once discussed how a talented author will paint a picture of what a character is feeling without TELLING you what he/she is feeling. Seraji needs to work on this. It was the Persian version of the Twilight series… “Oh I love Edward/Zari. I will die if I don’t see Edward/Zari today. Does Edward/Zari love me? Does he/she know how much I love him? My love hurt so much tears welled up in my eyes. If I can’t have him/her I might as well be dead.”  OMG enough already!

But Seraji had a great story to tell and made me care about what happened to the main characters. The plot had a few unexpected twists and was intensely gripping at points. He did a superb job of showing the cultural differences in how Western teens feel about their elders (not good) and how Persian teens love, admire, and respect their grandparents and the friends of their parents. He skillfully showed the frustration Iranians felt by not being to express critical ideas against their Shah and the government and their fear of retaliation by Savak, the Shah’s secret police. Many people during this time were imprisoned for no apparent reason, tortured, and some died. I felt the fear and paranoia myself as I read. And as most Persian stories do, this one reveals the hospitality that any guest will find if they enter a Persian home. They definitely enjoy the ‘pop-in’!

I wish I could give the book at least fours stars because it does so much so well, but those lengthy emotional laments did me in. After further reflection, however, it's very possible that the problem is the difference between the Western and Persian sensibilities. I've noticed that (most) Westerners express emotion in order to convey a message; there's a purpose with an endpoint. But (most) Persians like to linger, like to swim in their emotions for the pure enjoyment of it. Considering this cultural trait maybe I should give it three and a quarter stars. The book cover definitely gets five stars. It's like a beautiful painting; I keep gazing at it.