The Best of Days

Born in Iran in 1971 and refugiated with her family to Paris since 1974, psychologist Yassaman Montazami pays a moving tribute to her late father, in the debut autobiographical novel Le Meilleur des Jours - The best of days. When her father was born, in a family of rich middle class Iranians - his mother was Rosa Montazami, a famous cookbook author whose books keep being a bestseller - he had almost no chances to survive, but he did and made his mother the happies in the world, therefore his name Behrouz, which in Persian means the best of days, to remember the moment of him getting back on the life path.

A Marxist whose never finished PhD thesis ended up gathering dust, her father was a lover of life, helping practically everyone, in the wrong relationship, a lover of pranks and jokes. Both him and his wife never practically worked, being helped financially by his generous mother. 

Montazam is a storyteller, putting the words on paper against forgetfulness. It is both a moving father-daughter memoir, with fragments of memories of the grandomany during the Shah time and political resistance. before and during the mullahs. 

The merit of such memoirs is to offer voice to the diverse voices of a country made speechless by the religious fanatism. One day, hopefully soon, those voices will be hear again, in their chaotic diversity. Until then, we have the books, many of them.

Rating: 4.5 stars