I somehow picked up this book, after remembering that I really liked the author's first book, The Septembers of Shiraz. I remember reading that one back when I was in graduate school, in Buffalo. Given that I have fond memories of that book, somehow when I learned that Dalia Sofer has a second book out, I decided to put it in my list. And this one definitely packs a punch. It is a study on corruption, on one man's unraveling, and how there's a point of no return so to speak, that when one decides to turn left and pursue the dark side, somehow, things just get darker and darker.
It is the story of Hamid, a man working for the Iranian "system". His family fled during the Islamic Revolution. And somehow, due to one choice he made in life, he slowly was sucked into the Iranian regime's apparatus, becoming an interrogator, until at some point, he himself was being interrogated. Of course, this is not an easy life, and his entire family essentially goes against him. His parents and brother leave for the United States. His wife and daughter also abandons him. And eventually, he also goes down, after all, he is just another puppet which is part of the larger system.
It is a sad story, and something that makes readers think whether life could have been different if one made a different choice in one crucial point in the past. Sometimes I wonder the same: I made a conscious decision to abandon a certain community in the past, and this resulted for example in me not having a relationship with my parents. Maybe I have a totally different life if I have done things slightly differently. No, erase that, not maybe, but rather, definitely. The question is, whether I would like that hypothetical scenario or not. Thankfully, unlike the main character, I actually like my current life, and even though I do not have a relationship with my parents, I think it is actually a good thing, given the circumstances. Of course, sometimes I evaluate things periodically to see if this still is the outcome that I want, but after all, I do not control every card on the table, and at least given the cards that I can control, this is an outcome that I definitely prefer.
Anyway, back to the book. I also picked this up due to its timely nature. Iran has been on the news lately, not to mention that I have been there myself, and my trip to Iran back in 2016 actually was one of the best trips I have done in a while. I still have fond memories of the places that I have visited during the three weeks that I have spent in that fantastic country. It is really sad that the regime is what it is, but the people I have met on the ground were perhaps the friendliest people I have met, and so there was this rather unnerving sense of kindness and hospitality which I have encountered while I was there. All of that somehow came back to me, as I was reading this book.
Overall, this was a fantastic read, and perhaps, due to my personal circumstances, as well as current events, reading this book was just a fascinating experience. I am glad to have picked it up, and I definitely recommend it to anyone else who might be interested. I give it 5 out of 5 stars.
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