The women characters of The Persians, the debut novel by Tehran-born London-based Sanam Mahloudji are strong willed, refusing to listen to anyone but themselves, especially when they are doing mistakes in life and love.
They are telling their story separately, sometimes continuing other women´s story, sometimes only to fully share their own. Men, they are mostly disposable, accessories to show at mehmooni (the Farsi word for social gatherings). You need them as you need a painted face, but there is more to life than that (hopefully).
As much as I loved, literally loved, the storytelling and some of the women, I felt a bit embarassed by the banality of their setting: rich, forced to leave Iran following the Islamic Revolution, obsessed about status and fancy cars and Aspen ski vacations. There are the common topics I´ve experienced in many books with Persian characters, whose repetition - and obligativity - may only lead to a stereotype that is killing any fiction. I may understand that this is what the ´market´ expects but it does diminish the originality of a story. After all, there are many more ´real´ characters with an Iranian background that probably aren´t rich, do not live in LA or Texas and may do a bit more with their lives than shopping to relieve stress.
The Persians was for me one of those books where loved the writing and the characters, but not lost me completely when explaining the context - both social and historical. There are so many more aspects to explore with talent and knowledge beyond that, and hopefully Mahloudji´s next novel will be fully fred from the chains of literary expectations.
Rating: 3.5 stars
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