A lucid, moving view into an often obscured part of our world, exploring notions of democracy, identity, and the resilience of the human spirit
In the wake of losing her beloved grandfather, Delphine Minoui decided to visit Iran for the first time since the revolution. It was 1998. She was twenty-two and a freshly minted journalist. She would stay for ten years.
Quickly absorbed into the everyday life of the city, Minoui attends secret dance parties that are raided by the morality police and dines in the home of a young couple active in the Basij—the fearsome militia. She befriends veteran journalists battling government censorship, imprisoned student poets, and her own grandmother (a woman who is discovering the world of international affairs through her contraband satellite TV).
And so it is all the more crushing when the political situation falters. Minoui joins street protests teeming with students hungry for change and is interrogated by the secret police; she sees a mirrored rise in the love of country—the yearning patriotism of the left, the militant nationalism of the right. Friends disappear; others may be tracking her movements. She finds love, loses her press credentials, marries, and is separated from her husband by erupting global conflict. Through it all, her love for Iran and its people deepens. In her family's past she discovers a mission that will shape her entire future.
Framed as a letter to her grandfather and filled with disarming characters in momentous times, I'm Writing You from Tehran is a remarkable blend of global history, family memoir, and the making of a reporter, told by someone both insider and outsider—a child of the diaspora who is a world-class political journalist.
A lucid, moving view into an often obscured part of our world, exploring notions of democracy, identity, and the resilience of the human spirit
In the wake of losing her beloved grandfather, Delphine Minoui decided to visit Iran for the first time since the revolution. It was 1998. She was twenty-two and a freshly minted journalist. She would stay for ten years.
Quickly absorbed into the everyday life of the city, Minoui attends secret dance parties that are raided by the morality police and dines in the home of a young couple active in the Basij—the fearsome militia. She befriends veteran journalists battling government censorship, imprisoned student poets, and her own grandmother (a woman who is discovering the world of international affairs through her contraband satellite TV).
And so it is all the more crushing when the political situation falters. Minoui joins street protests teeming with students hungry for change and is interrogated by the secret police; she sees a mirrored rise in the love of country—the yearning patriotism of the left, the militant nationalism of the right. Friends disappear; others may be tracking her movements. She finds love, loses her press credentials, marries, and is separated from her husband by erupting global conflict. Through it all, her love for Iran and its people deepens. In her family's past she discovers a mission that will shape her entire future.
Framed as a letter to her grandfather and filled with disarming characters in momentous times, I'm Writing You from Tehran is a remarkable blend of global history, family memoir, and the making of a reporter, told by someone both insider and outsider—a child of the diaspora who is a world-class political journalist.
Critiques-
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February 1, 2019
This poignant memoir by a French Iranian journalist in the form of a letter to her deceased grandfather recounts a deeply felt 10-year journey to immerse herself in what it means to be Iranian.A year after her grandfather's death in 1997, just when the reformist Mohammad Khatami had been elected to great hope and fanfare, Le Figaro Middle East correspondent Minoui (co-author: I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced, 2010), who was born in Paris to a French mother and Iranian father, landed in Tehran, hoping to learn more about her heritage. For the next 10 years, she stayed on and off with her surviving grandmother and traveled around the country, interviewing people of different classes and political beliefs and learning about the violent vagaries of Iranian politics. At first, with the election of Khatami, the hope among citizens under age 25 was palpable; after enduring decades of Islamic oppression after the 1979 Iranian Revolution, the people's mood was wildly optimistic and confident. In spite of the widespread influence of the "morality police," the youth daringly held mixed, alcohol-fueled parties behind closed doors, openly protested, and supported a vibrant "reformist press." Yet soon enough, Minoui became aware of the dark underside of Iranian society and institutions that would soon turn ugly and menacing--e.g., the appearance of intelligence agents who tracked her movements and interrogated her threateningly and the prowling of radical rightist militiamen, one of whom Minoui befriended to figure out how they think. Ultimately, as the author writes in one of many moments of pointed insight, "to research your country's history was to uncover your own story, too," and she learned intimately of her grandfather's tangled past. With the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, "a veritable machine to crush modern Iran had been set in motion," and she left the country in 2009.A uniquely rendered chronicle of one woman's personal and professional journey from faith to activism.COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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March 1, 2019
Written as a letter to her long-deceased grandfather, this memoir by journalist Minoui recounts her decade in Iran after her move to Tehran in the spring of 1998. Born in Paris to a French mother and Iranian father, Minoui travels to Tehran to discover the country of her ancestors. The author journeys throughout the region and tries to discern Iran's future by observing the work of reformers and hardliners. Her account describes the political, social, economic, and religious situation during this time. Along the way, readers are treated to clandestine parties and secret meetings along with revelations of old family secrets and an interesting parade of personalities. We are privy to the modern Western views of the author, as she begins to coexist in a country decidedly not modern in its views. This fascinating look at Iran, written with a journalist's attention to detail, presents a series of short vignettes that balance the narrative's sense of urgency and seriousness with the courage and defiance of those engaged in activism and reform. VERDICT A wonderful choice for readers of history, current events, and fans of Marjane Satrapi's graphic memoir Persepolis. [See Prepub Alert, 9/109/18.]--Jacqueline Parascandola, Univ. of Pennsylvania
Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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March 1, 2019
Born in Paris of a French mother and an Iranian father, award-winning journalist Minoui decided upon her grandfather's death in 1998 to whisk herself to Iran for the first time since the revolution, when she was just four years old. She stayed through a decade of tumultuous change, learning how to dodge the morality police, enduring interrogation by the secret police, and finding love and marriage before she is separated from her husband by world events. Her book is framed as a letter to her grandfather.
Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
