The Ministry of Guidance Invites You to Not Stay: An American Family in Iran
Hooman Majd
Category: Nonfiction:
Middle East; Living Abroad
Synopsis: Majd
moves to Iran for one year with his wife and infant son.
Date finished: 2
June 2014
Rating: ****
Comments:
I love reading books about Iran. It was once (and for
centuries) a great country, but now its government has moved it back several
centuries. And the people have been unable to change things. This is one of the
better books I’ve read about the country, its people, and the contradictions of
modern life under an Islamic regime.
Majd and his American wife and baby son spend a year in
Tehran, a city full of people that value education, family, and cleanliness
(though the city itself is one of the most polluted in the world), a city with three-quarters
of its population is under 30, a city whose doctors are trained in the West, a
city caught between ancient custom and modern thought. I enjoyed the real-life
scenes throughout, especially when it came to establishing a home for the
family. Majd’s wife Karri is a New Yorker who values yoga and organic food. The
first time they take the baby in a taxi, she insists on installing his car
seat. She soon learns this will not be practical in Iran.
Each chapter is about a different aspect of Iranian life.
Majd covers everything from Iranian parties, sulking (the Iranian custom),
traveling, bootlegging media and booze, and of course, the revolution. So while
some parts of the book were more interesting than others, there was something
to be learned throughout.
While he and his family is not in immediate danger, Majd is being
watched, of course. His past journalism was ill-received by the government. Many
of his friends in Brooklyn and Iran think he’s taking unnecessary risks
bringing his family to Iran.
While reading the book, I often felt that I couldn’t be sure
I was getting a bias-free description of Iranian life. I could sometimes feel
things being filtered through Majd’s lens being a man back in his homeland
(though he hasn’t lived there since he was an infant). You can tell by what he
includes (opium parties) and what he excludes (Muslim faith) where his interests
lie. And being the grandson of the Ayatollah Mohammad Kazem Assar, the relative
of the former president Mohammad Khatami, and a son raised in Iranian
diplomatic service abroad, you’re almost guaranteed a subjective account,
though I’d hoped for a more journalistic one.
Regardless of bias, this was a very well-written account
balancing well the personal with the political. While you don’t get a clear
picture of both sides of the regime, I don’t think it was Majd’s intent.
Would you recommend
this to a friend?
Yes.
You might also enjoy:
Honeymoon in PurdahLipstick Jihad and Honeymoon in Tehran
The Good Daughter
Reading Lolita in Tehran
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