Book Review: Censoring an Iranian Love Story by Shahriar Mandanipour

This book is more than just a regular love story. As an American reading an Iranian novel, it seems quite unusual to me. First of all, many of the letters has lines crossing out words in the order to simulate censorship. These words are still legible, and the author even wrote that there is no order to which words are crossed out.

Throughout the novel, the author wrote about a difficult man named Petrovich, who censors the novel as the story progresses. He and Petrovich have many disagreements throughout the novel.

Another part of the story deals with a peddler who sells spells, such as to solve problems, and to get obsessive thoughts about someone he or she loves out of his or her thoughts. It's possible that people in Iran buy these spells out of desperation.

A third injustice throughout the novel deals with the misfortunes of a man named Dara. He spent time in prison for being in a dissident political party. When he got out, he wanted to finish Tehran University. He only needed a few more classes in order to finish his degree. To his horror, his entire transcript was purged by the university. They had no record of him as a student. When he showed the clerk a copy of his transcript, he was uncooperative and Dara was escorted out by security guards. All that hard work was for nothing. A lady who overheard the conversation said that there were many students in his situation. Out of desperation, because of not being able to find work, Dara helped produce movies that were unapproved by the government. He ended up in prison again. This time he was in solitary confinement for two years. That is a such a terrible thing to happen to someone, that only one who's been there can even imagine it.

Sara never got in quite as much trouble as Dara did. She got reprimanded by her principal for wearing colored shoelaces. She knew better than to wear colored shoes, because students got in trouble for that. She told the principal, "You never told us it's against the rules to wear colored shoelaces." "I'm telling you now," the principal responded. Once Sara bought a book of poetry from a man who demanded her headscarf as payment. Dara and Sara ran to a store to buy a new one, very fearful that they would get in trouble. He was very angry at Sara for taking such a chance.

The main point of the novel is the love story between Dara and Sara. At first the love was unrequited, but Sara quickly warmed up to Dara as well. Dara and Sara took walks, while fearing being arrested. In Iran it is illegal for unmarried couples to do so. They memorized the answers that an interrogator would ask them if caught, so they could pretend to be brother and sister.

The first complication to their romance is that Sara has a suitor, named Sinbad. Sara's parents set them up, and wanted them to get married. "Why didn't you tell me about Sinbad earlier,?" Dara asked. "Because you didn't ask." Sara replied. Despite Sara's impending marriage, Dara and Sara continued to see each other. They even went to a bridal store together. Sara tried on a dress for fun, while pretending that Dara, not Sinbad, was going to be the groom.

The novel eventually has a surprising twist to it when it comes to the love triangle, something that is completely unexpected. This is a novel that I would highly recommend. It is unique, and has many fascinating twists and turns. It was a novel that I was not able to put down. Throughout the novel, passion between the characters is implied, rather than spelled out, in typical Iranian style.

Reference: Censoring an Iranian Love Story,by Shahriar Mandanipour 2008 translated by Sara Khalili 2009