A quick touch of Irani cultural history and what is currently happening there with books and culture. I enjoyed getting a different perspective on what is happening in Irani culture and literature. This was a positive look at what has happened centuries ago as well as the present. I liked being introduced to writers who lived centuries ago and those who write today. I enjoyed the look at Fatemeh Keshavarz's family and the vignettes she shared of her uncles. She brought light to the topic instead of the negative which we are usually given. Well written. It made me think. I would like to read some of the ancient authors and today's Irani authors. ( )

Reading Lolita in Tehran was a bestselling memoir about a professor of Western literature and her life in Iran before and after the revolution. But did it give us an accurate view of Iran? In Jasmine and Stars, Fatemeh Keshavarz argues that it did not. Within the pages, Keshavarz, also a literature professor, offers her positive experiences growing up in Iran, of contemporary, admirable Islamic men, and examples if the wealth of art being currently produced in Islam in an effort to break down the stereotypes and inaccuracies she feels were presented in Reading Lolita in Tehran. Keshavarz has some very solid, valid arguments, but some are weak. For example, she features a chapter on the Iranian novel Women without Men by Shahrnush Parsipur to show how alive and vibrant the novel is in Iran. However, that work was censored in Iran and the author was imprisoned for it twice and is now a political refugee in the United States. Like Reading Lolita in Tehran, some of the work reads like memoir while other parts are very academic, even more so than Reading Lolita in Tehran. This prevents the work from reaching the same readers Lolita in Tehran did. Still, multiple perspectives are only beneficial and give us a more complete picture of a place, people, or an event. ( )

This is an essential read for anyone who's ever heard anything about Iran (or even the Middle East). Keshavarz shows the beauty and humanity of a country behind the negative images flooded in the media and memoirs like "Reading Lolita in Tehran." She introduces the reader to an unknown world — the world of Iranian literature — and she deconstructs portrayals of Iran so that the reader is left with an analytical framework for viewing the world. The book is readable, fascinating, and engaging. It's sprinkled with poetry and stories from Iran. I'd recommend it to anyone. ( )

Silly and fluffy at best, and dangerously optimistic about the state of Iran and Islam ar worst, this book is still worth a read for those who have already completed the work it purports to refute. The author conveniently ignores many of the more troubling aspects of Shiite Islam, blaming it all on culture and forgetting that much of what she claims isn't true Islam can be found in the Quran and Hadith. Her picture is much too rosy to be realistic, and I hope that no one reads her work alone and without a proper context and understanding. In her efforts to portray Iranians as normal human beings, she falls into factual inaccuracy. ( )

I am very happy that I took the time to read “Jasmine and Stars: Reading More than Lolita in Tehran” by Fetemeh Keshavarz. I am indebted to Charlene Martel (charlenemartel) and the LT Books Compared group for making this fascinating title known to me. It was definitely worth the effort and provided me with many vivid positive images of life in modern Iran. I recommend it highly to all who seek a clearer understanding of the people and culture of modern Iran.

The larger part of this book relates loving tales of life in Iran immediately before and after the Islamic Revolution of 1979. These are deeply personal tales taken from the author’s own life, and each is told in a gently loving and almost magical style. These are uplifting, liberating tales of everyday heroism, achievement, and humanity.

But other parts of the book were, for me at least, far less interesting. These parts are written in dense, academic prose and their purpose is to refute, from every detailed angle possible, all that the author found objectionable in Azar Nafisi’s recent bestselling book “Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books” She finds fault with much of that book, and, personally, I sense genuine intolerance and psychological blindness in much of her criticism.

It was only recently that I read Nafisi’s book, “Reading Lolita in Tehran”, and that is why I picked up a copy of Keshavarz’ book, to see what she had to say from a different point of view. I, like many people in the West, are extremely curious to understand the people in this part of the world. If Kashavarz had a different point of view, I wanted to hear it.

Keshavarz is an Iranian-American. She loves both countries and very frequently makes visits to Tehran to visit friends and family. She is welcome there and easily adapts to both cultures. She is a scholar of Persian and Comparative Literature at Washington University in St. Louis. Recently, she has become an outspoken voice for a large Iranian-American community living productive and happy lives in America. This community is fearful about what they see as a New Orientalist narrative arising in the West. Let me explain. The old (primarily 18th- and 19th-century) Orientalist narrative sought to justify the colonial presence of Europe in the Eastern Hemisphere. The authors were European philologists. Kashavarz goes to great lengths in this book to argue that a New Orientalism has emerged in the West in the last few years, particularly since 9/11.

“The emerging Orientalist narrative has many similarities to and a few difference from this earlier incarnation. It equally simplifies its subject. For example, it explains almost all undesirable Middle Eastern incidents in terms of Muslim men’s submission to God and Muslim women’s submission to men. The old narrative was imbued with the authority of an all-knowing foreign expert. The emerging narrative varies somewhat in that it might have a native—or seminative—insider tone. Furthermore, as the product of a self-questioning era, it shows a relative awareness of its own possible shortcomings. Yet it replicates the earlier narrative’s strong undercurrent of superiority and of impatience with the locals, who are often portrayed as uncomplicated. The new narrative does not necessarily support overt colonial ambitions. But it does not hide its clear preference for western political and cultural takeover. Most importantly, it replicates the totalizing—and silencing—tendencies of the old Orientalists by virtue of erasing, through unnuanced narration, the complexity and richness of the local culture” (p. 3).

Kashavarz’ purpose is thus twofold: first, to refute in detail all that she finds objectionable in Nafisi’s book; and second, to provide abundant examples of the common humanity shared by the peoples of Iran and the West. In this manner she hopes to expose the irrelevance of prevalent stereotypes about Muslim culture that have recently been exacerbated by bestselling New Orientalist narratives such as: “Reading Lolita in Tehran” by Azar Nafisi, “The Hidden World of Islamic Women” by Geraldine Brookes, “The Bookseller of Kabul” by Asne Seierstad, and “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Husseini. To Kashavarz, and others in the wider immigrant Muslim community in the West, these books foster otherness and difference. What Kashavarz and this wider community of Muslim want is clear and simple: The West needs to learn to better understand and then fully to respect their culture. In Kashavarz’ words:

“Flying airplanes into buildings, keeping prisoners of war out of reach of the law, beheading those who might vaguely sympathize with the ‘enemy,’ setting off bombs in subway cars, and dragging the largest army of the world halfway across the globe to fight imaginary weapons of mass destruction are signs of big trouble. This environment festering with suspicion and hatred needs a more sophisticated global perspective, one geared toward respect, recognition, and healing” (p. 113).

Evidently, many in the immigrant Muslim American community are fearful that these New Orientalist narratives are providing the West with insider evidence that people from this part of the world are, in large part, the underdeveloped Orientals that everyone thought they were. Daily, they see the mass media enforcing this simplified image: that all that Muslims “do is pray, suppress women, and grow angry at the West” (p. 71).

Throughout the book there are numerous examples of great modern Iranian literature—literature that flies in the face of current stereotypical images of what we in the West may believe possible within their supposedly much more restrictive culture. For me, this was one of the best reasons to read Kashavarz’ book. I came away from this book with a strong desire to read many of the titles she suggests, all of which are available in English translation.

In my estimation, both Kashavarz’ and Nafisi’s books, offer great insight. If there is truth, it must be found somewhere between the two. Kashavarz’ main mistake in criticizing “Reading Lolita in Tehran” is that she does not validate Nafisi’s right to have negative views about some aspects of her former country. Nafisi lived through the Iranian Revolution. She was teaching at Tehran University at the center of radicalism during the heart of the conflict. She was witness to many atrocities on a very personal level. These are events that have carved a deep scar on her psyche. Where was Kashavarz during the upheaval and chaos of the Iranian Revolution? Well, she left Iran in September of 1979 “to carry out her graduate studies at London University” (p. 47). On the same page, she reveals: “When I left Iran, I left Ati with my parents, hoping I could bring her over after I settled into my new environment. Little did I know that a war would break out between Iran and Iraq and I would not see my daughter, only eight years old at the time, for another seven years.” That, I am afraid, is perhaps the only negative statement about Iran that Kashavarz allows herself to make in this entire book! It speaks volumes for what has been left out of her narrative. Need I say more?

But, please, DO consider reading this book. I recommend this book. It will open your eyes. ( )