The various mistakes she commits throughout the book are too many to be ignored. Mellat Park and Yousef Abad are not close Darband and Shush are very far such that characters cannot be in one place and soon appear in the other. Distances between various neighborhoods and places are not that short as she describes (e.g. Hozar not only doesn’t have a subtle knowledge of Iranian history and Iranian life, but she does also have a good grasp of the geography of Tehran, either. She said in an interview, by writing this book, she has become the VOICE of the VOICELESS. The problem is that she claims authenticity and knowledge on the subject. She left Iran with her family when she was seven and never returned for a visit, which is alright. These examples show that the author has no deep understanding of what she’s writing about. Ask anyone who once was in Evin and they tell you this is RIDICULOUS! 4) A park in North of Tehran where characters meet BEFORE the revolution, “SHAHANSHAHI PARK”, is mentioned by its name AFTER the revolution “MEALLAT PARTK”.
3) Evin prison, where Mithra is taken, has a CAFETERIA for prisoners. Clerics who are considered to be related to Prophet Mohammed by blood wear BLACK turbans. Like Ayatollah Khamenei, the current Iranian Supreme Leader, Khomeini wore a BLACK turban. 2) In the last chapter, Khomeini, while landing in Tehran, is described as wearing a WHITE turban. 1) In the first chapter set in 1958-1959, a political group called Fadaian Khalgh is mentioned. It is full of historical errors and inaccuracies. Overrated and Heavily Inaccurate and Biased Account of Iranian HistoryĪs one commentator pointed out, Aria is nothing but a “mediocre soap with the noise turned up”. *Many thanks to Nazazine Hozar, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group and NetGalley for arc in exchange for my honest review.* Aria herself is a strange girl but perhaps it is all due to being unloved in her childhood and the suffering that fell upon her. I cannot say I found characters likeable, except for Bakhtiar who finds the baby and decides to bring her up. I think a reader with some knowledge of the place and times will find this novel much more compelling. On the other hand, the social and historical background sounded intriguing despite the inability to comprehend all niceties. I spent a lot of time googling the names and trying to understand the religious complications in Iran at that time, and it was not something that allowed me to go with the flow with this book. The story of a baby girl with a boy's name, Aria, unwanted and left to perish after her birth, was interesting, however, the fact that I know almost next to nothing about Iran as it was in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, until the Revolution, stopped me from enjoying the plot as much as I wanted.
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