Disoriental
Books | Fiction / Literary
4.3
Négar Djavadi
WINNER 2019 Albertine Prize 2019 Lambda Literary Award Prix du Style Prix de la Porte Dorée 2016 Lire Best Debut Novel Le Prix du Roman News Now in B-format Paperback Kimiâ Sadr fled Iran at the age of ten in the company of her mother and sisters to join her father in France. Now twenty-five, with a new life and the prospect of a child, Kimiâ is inundated by her own memories and the stories of her ancestors, which reach her in unstoppable, uncontainable waves. In the waiting room of a Parisian fertility clinic, generations of flamboyant Sadrs return to her, including her formidable great-grandfather Montazemolmolk, with his harem of fifty-two wives, and her parents, Darius and Sara, stalwart opponents of each regime that befalls them. In this high-spirited, kaleidoscopic story, key moments of Iranian history, politics, and culture punctuate stories of family drama and triumph. Yet it is Kimiâ herself—punk-rock aficionado, storyteller extraordinaire, a Scheherazade of our time, and above all a modern woman divided between family traditions and her own "disorientalization"—who forms the heart of this bestselling and beloved novel. "In her remarkable novel, Negar Djavadi beautifully captures the "disorientation" of exile and the attempt to reconstruct a self through family stories." - The New York Times "The novel pulsates with life but does not shirk from violence. The gorgeous prose...takes the edge off the relentless turmoil described throughout." - The Financial Times "A momentous saga of modern Iran." - Publishers Weekly
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More Details:
Author
Négar Djavadi
Pages
352
Publisher
Europa Editions
Published Date
2018-05-03
ISBN
1787700003 9781787700000
Community ReviewsSee all
"this book went through it while i was reading it, it got lost at school, got water spilled all over it, all that. but i absolutely loved it and thats why it had to go everywhere with me. <br/>.<br/>.<br/>.<br/>the story of the Sadr family fleeing Iran and landing in Paris is told by the youngest daughter, Kimiâ, as she waits in a fertility clinic. the story spans Iranian history, personal tragedy, and growing up in the shadow of a political environment you can’t control or really understand as a child. <br/>.<br/>.<br/>. <br/>I loved this book. I think it encapsulated a lot of what i love: making history personal. This was a truly incredible book."
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Charlotte Dibb
"This was a haunting story about family, exile and love. Overall I enjoyed it, but it bounced between different time periods so often that sometimes it was a bit hard to follow, and some of the language used was kind of awkward (though I'm not sure if this was due to the translation from French)."
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