My Father's Notebook- A Novel of Iran by Kader Abdolah

It's not easy to write about Iran. It's probably easier if you're from Iran, but I imagine it's still difficult. Maybe before 9/11 , some of us would have associated Persia with spices, hookahs, and legends of magic carpets. The war and the media haven't destroyed those connotations, but these days when I think of a flying carpet, I wonder where it's going and if it's carrying WMD.

Abdolah does a good job of dismantling these preconceptions; he makes us forget about them. The story begins with themes familiar to us all, family, status, and the search for happiness for those we love.

Ishmael , the main character, tells the story of his father and how he came into the world. Aga Akbar, his dad, is a deaf mute, born of a rich father to his servant mother. Akbar grows up in a small village, makes a trade as a carpet mender, and with the help of a benevolent, opium addicted, poet uncle, finds a wife.

Ishmael grows up with the normal pangs of childhood and adolescence. He sees unhappiness in his parents' marriage,  gets beaten up, and meets a helpful but unfortunate dentist.

The writing is clear but never over-descriptive. While evocative, it gives a sense of place that could be anywhere. When history and politics entered the novel, I'd almost forgotten I was reading about Iran.

But the politics is powerful, too. Ishmael gets involved in a far left party when he goes to University in Tehran. After that, his life and his families' lives are no longer safe. The novel takes us through a military dictatorship to the religious leadership in place today. The writing, though, focuses on people trying to get by, first in a simple village, then under one shit government after another.