Bibliofreakblog

Honeymoon in Tehran by Azadeh Moaveni

Azadeh Moaveni published this book slightly too early.  It came out last year before the riots over the election in Iran.  Thus I assume this sequel to Lipstick Jihad will become the second book in a trilogy.

Actually, it is the 2005 election that pulls Moaveni back to Tehran.  There for two weeks before the election, never once does she interview anyone on or off the record who plans on voting for Amedinejad.  In fact, many people her age (she was 28 at the time) plan on not voting at all, they have become so disenfranchised with the change that seemed so promising just a few years earlier.  

Something that I found fascinating was just how large this voting (or non-voting, as the case may be) block was.  At the beginning of the 1979 revolution, people were encouraged to have as many babies as possible.  This generation was politically motivated during the past elections, as they were young and in college, or at least college-aged, and idealist.  Now, they have grown up, and things like appliances and marriage take up more of their thoughts.  

Of course, I knew that that would change in a few years, even if Moaveni herself didn’t at the time of writing this book.

As the effects of Amedinejad’s rule are felt, Moaveni’s personal life changes as she falls in love, and becomes pregnant out of wedlock.  She lives with her boyfriend, though she keeps that hidden from most people, especially Mr. X, her government minder.  

Getting married in Iran, as they decide to do when she finds out she is pregnant, is no easy matter.  Her father lives in California, but she has to get his permission, in person, before the Mullah, in order to get married, despite her age.

Moaveni chooses to deliver her baby in Tehran, rather than go some place else.  The only real obstacle is finding an OBGYN who is willing to sneak her husband into the delivery room.  That and choosing a name on the government’s list of approved names.  She tells of one woman, nine months pregnant, who wants to name her child Rom (I don’t know if maybe it’s spelled Rahm or Ram, as I listened to it on audio).  Rom, the mother thinks sound modern, and is easy to pronounce.  But it’s not on the list of approved names because it sounds too much like Sam, as in Uncle Sam.  

What drives Moaveni and her husband to leave Iran, is, again, the government’s interference with her work as a journalist for Time.  They tell her that she’s in trouble, but won’t elaborate, and the paranoia, though justified, is too much of a strain.

I liked that this book seemed to focus a bit more on politics than the last one, but I wish that she had detailed more of the restraints placed on people since Amedinejad was elected.  Other than that, it’s another great read.

 
Buy Honeymoon in Tehran: Two Years of Love and Danger in Iran on Amazon

If you like this book/author, you might like:

(my reviews in blue)

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
Girls of Riyadh by Rajaa Alsanea
The Bastard of Istanbul Elif Shafak
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
Stones into Schools by Greg Mortenson
Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil by Deborah Rodriguez and Kristin Ohlson
A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
My Sister, Guard Your Veil; My Brother, Guard Your Eyes: Uncensored Iranian Voices edited by Lila Azam Zanganeh
Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nifisi
Veils: Short Stories by Nahid Rachlin
Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America by Firoozeh Dumas
Pagan Spain by Richard Wright  
The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad 

Other works by Azadeh Moaveni:

Lipstick Jihad

With Shirin Ebadi:

Iran Awakening: One Woman’s Journey to Reclaim Her Life and Country