The Pomegranate Lady and Her Sons: Selected Stories
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
“Carries the flavor of the old world, its underlying ferocity leavened by a lyrical mysticism. . . . Her prose is transcendent.”—Washington Post
Rich in characters both whimsical and deeply poignant, humorous and real, the stories of Goli Taraghi have made her one of the world’s most beloved contemporary writers from Iran. A best-selling author in her native country and widely anthologized in the United States and around the world, Taraghi's work is now made fully accessible to an English-speaking audience in this standout and long-awaited volume of selected stories, selected as a Best Book of 2013 by staff and critics at National Public Radio.
Drawing on childhood experiences in Tehran during the reign of the Shah, her exile in Paris, and her subsequent visits to Tehran after the revolution, Taraghi develops characters and tales that linger in one’s mind. In the title story, a woman traveling from Tehran to Paris is obliged to help an old woman—the Pomegranate Lady—find her way to her fugitive sons in Sweden. In "The Gentleman Thief," a new kind of polite, apologetic thief emerges from the wreckage of the revolution. In "Encounter," a woman's world is upended when her former maid becomes her jailer. And in "The Flowers of Shiraz," a group of teenagers finally manages to coax a shy schoolmate out of her shell—only to once again encounter tragedy.
Reminiscent of the work of Nadine Gordimer and Eudora Welty, Taraghi's stories capture universal experiences of love, loss, alienation, and belonging—all with an irresistible sense of life’s absurdities.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
For Western readers, this fascinating collection might be most absorbing for the glimpses of daily life in Iran it provides, both in times of trouble and during more ordinary occurrences, like dance class for teenage girls in 1953 or a household antique sale during the 1979 revolution. Taraghi, born in Tehran in 1939 and currently living in Paris, also conveys the heartache and ambivalence of life in exile. The cumulative result is textured and nuanced, reflecting many different angles of upheaval and separation. In "Amina's Great Journey," an Iranian mother of two who flees to France during the revolution witnesses the remarkable transformation of her maid, a Bangladeshi woman whose abusive husband controls her from oceans away until unpredictable circumstances change the situation. In "Gentleman Thief," a college student uncovers how some people who could not leave Iran after the Shah's fall made do. Though overlong interior monologues slow the pace of a few stories, Taraghi's knack for dialogue feels fresh and intimate throughout. Overall, the reader is left with an acute understanding of what all of these characters have endured.