BOOKS FROM IRANThe Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree
Tags:
Set in Iran
Female author
Description:
An extraordinarily powerful and evocative literary novel set in Iran in the period immediately after the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Using the lyrical magic realism style of classical Persian storytelling, Azar draws the reader deep into the heart of a family caught in the maelstrom of post-revolutionary chaos and brutality that sweeps across an ancient land and its people. The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree is really an embodiment of Iranian life in constant oscillation, struggle, and play between four opposing poles: life and death; politics and religion. The sorrow residing in the depths of our joy is the product of a life between these four poles. "This novel is an exciting development in Australian publishing." ~ ANZ LitLovers LitBlog. Read the rest of this fantastic review here. "Living in the 21st Century is not for the faint hearted, so it's no surprise that writers of literary fiction are looking clear-eyed at schisms of times past and the capacity of humans for brutality. Stylistically similar to Eka Kurniawan's acclaimed Beauty is a Wound, this novel is set in the aftermath of Iran's Islamic Revolution of 1979. Many scenes, most memorably Azar's handling of Beeta's fate, blend heavy darkness with allegorical flights of imagination, marking the author as an assured fabulist. She brings to colourful life an extended family replete with beauty, humour, and tragedy." ~ WritingWA
Reviews:
(6 months ago) |
23 Mar, 2025
This is more like a book of short stories loosely connected by an arc story. Sometimes the offshoot stories wandered so far from the main one that I found myself losing the plot or forgetting why the story was being told in the first place. I liked the main story arc, the others were so-so. To me this book was a good idea with poor execution.
And a special note about that one chapter that has the world‘s longest run-on sentence: No. just… no.
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