Rooftops of Tehran Book

I acquired this book a long time ago and it got lost somewhere in my stacks of books. I was elated when I found it this morning, after trying to find it for many months, and decided to spend the entire Sunday in bed, reading a tale I marked boldly MUST READ on my TBR list in my diary in 2012.

Colorful, descriptive, detailed, compassionate, entertaining, rich in color and culture, is how I would love to summarize this fictional biography which is mainly based on the author's memories of his life in Iran, prior to living in America.

He uses a fictional protagonist, Pasha Shahed who regarded life "as a random series of beautifully composed vignettes, loosely tied together by a string of characters and time" to act as himself in the narrative.

Pasha had five friends: Ahmed, Faheemah, Iraj, Zari and Doctor(Ramin Sobhi, a political science major and political activist on the SAVAK hunt list).

The young people discovered the value and truth behind, humor, love, hope and friendship in a tumultuous time in their history, while the reader accompanies them down the alleys of the neighborhood, spend nights with them on the roof, peek with them into the neighborhood windows, and fall in love with the girl next door. Warm, funny, generous people open up a culture that is normally hidden from the world.

The story opens in 1974 with an old man standing somewhere in the buildings of the Roozbeh Psychiatric Hospital in Tehran, lost and disconnected from reality, chanting in an empty tone:If I had a book, I would read it.
If I had a song, I would sing it.
If I knew a dance, I would dance it.
If I knew a rhyme, I would chant it.
If I had a life, I would risk it.
If I could be free, I would chance it.
If I had a horse, I would ride it.
If I had a horse, I would ride it.
If I had a horse ...Seventeen-year-old Pasha Shahed finds himself(temporarily) in a wheelchair nearby with no memory of how he landed there. Slowly his memory returns through painful dreams ...

A fictional tragic, but beautiful love story plays itself out amidst the revolt around the ousting of the Shah, in the 1970s in which a community have to deal with the secret police, and the devastation and torture resulting from the tyrannical ruler at the time.

Most of the story plays out on the rooftops of Tehran and explains the title. It was so beautifully done that I felt like a family member running around with the young teenager in the alleys, playing chess or soccer on the street, challenging the rigid religious teachers, cry, laugh and love with a community who took care of each other.

Four of the friends become involved in a tragic incident during a birthday celebration of the Shah of Iran, which will change their destinies forever.

There's humor, tears, miracles and misery, and Ahmed's grandmother who was roaming the alleys looking for her husband who passed away a few years earlier. And Iraj who prefers to play chess against himself and then cannot decided who wins ...

I have such a great admiration for Iran and its people. Old Persia with its ancient civilization and intriguing history have an ongoing story to tell to the world, and I appreciate the authors who are trying to introduce the real multicultural Iran to the world. Mahbod Seraji did a splendid job in Rooftops of Iran

Last year we met an Iranian student doing research on leopards for his doctorate degree. He stayed with us for a few months, since my husband has been sponsoring leopard research for many many years. I was so surprised to learn that Iran has national parks, unbelievable wild life and one of the biggest leopard species in the world! By the time I met Benjamin, I already got to know more about this amazing, diverse country through the books I mentioned below. The beautiful warmhearted people inspired me to read more Iranian authors who might enrich my knowledge of a country I would love to visit one day.

It is with this background that I wanted to read Rooftops of Iran - a heartfelt biographical fictional story with a strong autobiographical element. As such it is an excellent read since, IMHO, it does not really fall into the 'real' novel classification (such as The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Afghanistan story), although there is a little bit of suspense, lots of drama, and a well developed mystery to the tale with several colorful characters to fill up the heartbreaking, as well as heartwarming moments in the book.

After closing the book, I wanted to read more about the author and discovered a audio version of the book on Youtube, a movie trailer and interesting interviews with the author.

I'm pasting the links below.

Movie trailer


Interview


A Goodreads interview:


Audiobook



Two other memoirs which introduced me to this amazing country were:

1) The Cypress Tree: A Love Letter to Iran by Kamin Mohammadi


and

2) A Beginner's Guide to Acting English by Shappi Khorsandi


A WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE for historical fiction, as well as fictional biography readers who loves to explore the different cultures of the world.

I loved it!