Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books (Unabridged)
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4.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $23.99
Publisher Description
Every Thursday morning for two years in the Islamic Republic of Iran, a bold and inspired teacher named Azar Nafisi secretly gathered seven of her most committed female students to read forbidden Western classics. As Islamic morality squads staged arbitrary raids in Tehran, fundamentalists seized hold of the universities, and a blind censor stifled artistic expression, the girls in Azar Nafisi’s living room risked removing their veils and immersed themselves in the worlds of Jane Austen, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Henry James, and Vladimir Nabokov. In this extraordinary memoir, their stories become intertwined with the ones they are reading. Reading Lolita in Tehran is a remarkable exploration of resilience in the face of tyranny and a celebration of the liberating power of literature.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
This memoir introduces us to a group of women who risked their lives to educate themselves in the face of brutal fundamentalism. In Reading Lolita in Tehran, author Azar Nafisi recounts her time leading an all-female book club in ’90s Iran, reading books that the tyrannical regime deemed subversive by authors like Jane Austen and Vladimir Nabokov, while also delving into her struggles, like being fired from university teaching for political reasons and her eventual emigration. Nafisi artfully depicts the book club as an energizing sanctuary of freedom, drawing thoughtful connections between the books they read and the demeaning treatment of women in the society outside her doors. Her contrasting writing style is a treat for listeners, balancing the near-magical atmosphere of her book club with the harsh realities of war and morality-squad raids outside in Tehran. Nafisi’s narration lends the story an extra dimension of personal poignancy, powerfully embodying her own and her students’ struggles for freedom. If you believe art and literature are essential mediums of resistance against oppression, you’ll be inspired by this audiobook.
Customer Reviews
I absolutely loved it
I love her writing style and attention to details writer pays, describing the events.