Marjan Kamali

“She thought of her words being placed inside the pages of a Persian poetry book, hugged by the verses of the ancients. Their love was safe there. In a way, it belonged there” (96).

My stomach was in knots the whole time I was reading because, like a Shakespearean star-crossed-lovers tragedy, you know that the pages are littered with such sad land mines, clandestinely hidden in each chapter only to lead us, the readers, and the tragically beautiful characters to an ill-fated end. You know it’ll end with sadness and regret and tears. And it did. Yes, there’s the American-optimism, the silver lining, the safe Walter, the one son. But what Roya and Bahman missed in the sixty-year gap was so much more lamentable than the brief amount of joy they had with one another for a few months at the Stationery Shop in unstable Tehran and a few hours at the Senior Center in cold, snowy New England. Yes, Roya lived a content life in America, but she missed out on a full, passionate life with Bahman. It’s just so—real. I wanted to remain in those brief moments in Mr. Fakhri’s Stationery Shop among the ideas and poetry and fictitious worlds, Roya and Bahman meeting covertly, covered and protected by the books surrounding them, the place that began and sustained their young love. The meetings at the bookshop and even the corresponding letters through the books were my favorites—and even though it’s not real life to stay there, I wished they could’ve remained in that shop forever, reading Rumi, backs pressed against the full shelves of possibility.… (mehr)

This is a romance novel which shifts between Iran in 1953 and contemporary U.S. The author was born in Turkey to Iranian parents, and spent her childhood in Turkey, Iran, Germany, Kenya, and the U.S.

Roya meets political activist Bahman Aslan in Mr Fakhri’s bookshop. Over a summer of political turmoil during which the Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh is ousted by a coup, the two fall in love. The coup removes pro-democracy Mosaddegh in favour of the Shah and maintaining international oil control. A series of events drive the two young people apart only for them to meet up sixty years later searching for answers to their heartbreak.

This was a poignant romance which reminded me of Nicholas Spark’s The Notebook, although somewhat better written. The historical events are more of a backdrop than the main part of the story. There are some events which stretch plausibility and I find attributing nefarious motivations to mental illness somewhat sloppy writing. It’s quite OK to write a nasty, manipulative character without needing to give them a psychiatric label to excuse their actions. This was a pleasant enough read. 3.5 stars for me.… (mehr)

I’m surprised The Stationary Shop of Tehran seems to be so positively received because I really did not like it. I like instalove! But instalove at 17 always seems to be about kids who are looking for something different in their lives. I felt that the writing was awful and immature (I have a special dislike for authors who put unimportant information in parentheses) and I honestly do not understand the point of the entire middle of the book – was it to show that Roya was doing just fine without Bahman or that she was deeply unhappy? We couldn’t tell because the author seemed to keep changing her mind about it. All we know for certain is Roya chose ‘boring and safe’ Arthur because he was opposite of Bahman - that a character that chooses a mediocre life does not make for an interesting novel.… (mehr)