Things I've Been Silent About by Azar Nafisi

Following the success of Reading Lolita in Tehran , Azar Nafisi shifts her framing of the Iranian experience from great narratives of western literature to her own life story, in the years leading up to the 1979 revolution and after, with a particular focus on her difficult relationships with her parents, both powerful pre-revolutionary Iranian politicians. At times, the reader may feel a disquieting sense that Nafisi's depiction of her mother is so flavoured by an excess of bile as to undermine the author's authority ("It was as if when she looked into the mirror, she saw only a void"). But this is only apparent because of its contrast with what is otherwise a balanced, lucid narrative; a rich, complex account of this crucial part of Iranian history.