Reviews for Honeymoon in Purdah: An Iranian Journey

The average rating for Honeymoon in Purdah: An Iranian Journey based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-05-14 00:00:00 Scott Weiler Yet another book I read that is missing from my shelves. I don't think I reviewed it though as I read it probably in 2008/9. I have the book sitting in front of me. Why wouldn't I have listed it? I wish now I had kept all the .csv files of the bookshelves instead of the newest one replacing the last. However, since I started to notice books missing in June 2014, I've been keeping all the files. It's really distressing the number of bug affecting the books right now. GR say they can't trace the bug or they are looking into it or something or other but nothing gets done. These are the problems I have right now: 1. I am 'top reviewer' as I 'reviewed' 941 books last week. I didn't even reshelve that many when I set up a new shelf. 2. All books I reshelve or reviews I correct are sent to my update feed even though I am scrupulous about not having any boxes checked for this 3. Books and sometimes reviews just disappear. I only find out if something like I read someone's review and I know what book they are talking about because I've read it but it isn't on my shelves any longer. Shelving books and reviewing them are at the heart of my experience on GR but all GR does these days is rush to think up yet more marketing features to place anywhere they can and then have soothing but mostly ineffectual threads on Feedback. GR has degenerated so much since Amazon bought it out, not just that it has become a selling site where Patrick is intent that authors and their product, especially SPAs as their product costs Amazon nothing, it's all profit for them, will come first and us readers are just fish swimming around in a barrel. It seems to me that the only bugs that get fixed are ones that might affect this marketing. The others like this distressing losing of books and reviews and too many updates, they don't want to devote any money and time to fixing. Rant over. For now.

Review # 2 was written on 2007-07-30 00:00:00 Lewis Smith This is absolutely one of the most unbiased, open-minded "outsider" views on modern-day Iran that I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Alison Wearing went into Iran with an open mind and an open heart, and a double dollop of tenacity and courage. She emerges a person who has viewed the country the news media doesn't want us to see. This is the country of total strangers who invite you to stay and dine at their house; of people who are concerned with whether you find the restrictions of their country pleasant or stifling; and, the story of other ex-patriots who have made their home in this land, and how they view it as outsiders who have become insiders, as much as possible. There are fascinating stories in this book, including the author's day spent escaping the stifling heat of the city with nomads in the mountains, including a 12-year old girl who is married but unable to consummate the marriage since she hasn't finished puberty. In Shiraz, Wearing meets a British woman who is raising her teenaged daughter with her Iranian husband. She bemoans her nieces in England who are struggling with teenage pregnancies, while her daughter is getting straight A's and planning for college. Not every story is positive, including the incident on the bus to Syria, which raises Wearing's ire. But, people are people no matter where you go. And, the majority of people she meets are a far cry from what anyone would expect. I highly recommend this book, and have loaned my copy to several people so far. It tells things I experienced as the wife of an Iranian in that country, but is even more interesting because Alison Wearing is truly viewing this world as an observer.