Reviews for Veil of Roses

The average rating for Veil of Roses based on 2 reviews is 1 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2007-08-21 00:00:00 Sharen Kenton This is not the book to read if you want to learn about Iranian women or Islam. I was not surprised to find that the author's only connection to Iran is that her husband lived there until the age of ten. She is certainly allowed her own opinion of Iran, but is clearly misinformed on many counts. For one thing, "all good Muslim men" do NOT dream of meeting a limitless supply of virgins in heaven. And, although women in Iran do have fewer freedoms than they do in the U.S., they are allowed creative expression. Fitzgerald claims that female artists are not allowed to perform in front of men. I have seen this happen with my own eyes. I have seen female musicians performing with men onstage in Iran. I have seen artwork by female Iranians, and I have seen them acting on Iranian television. I do not pretend that the Iranian government is not corrupt, because it is in many ways. However, the way they portray Islam is false. At the time of the Prophet Muhammad, when the Muslims of Saudi Arabia were living in Medina, they had a covenant with the Jews who also lived there. The Muslims never forced Islam on the Jews. Also, when Muslims ruled Spain, Jews there had a great life of freedom. Just because Iran made a mistake in interpreting Islam, does not mean that that is what Islam stands for. I am one of so many Muslim women who wear hijab out of choice. I know Iranian women here in America who wear chadors out of choice as well. It is not seen as a restraint. Just because the character of this book feels chained because of the veil, does not mean that the rest of the Muslim women do. We see it as freedom from a world where women are seen as sex icons, and as a way of demonstrating our religion and fear of God. That does not mean that we cannot have fun, as the author of this book claims. On the contrary, women (besides in Iran) who wear hijab are allowed as much freedom as those who don't. Of course, we can't drink alcohol, but then neither can men. There are things that Muslims are not allowed to do, but those restrictions do not include listening to music or talking to men. What especially angered me about this book was that, while repeatedly trashing wearing a veil or being religious, the author makes a number of Islamic references. There is a moment where Tami says "Inshallah". What Fitzgerald conveniently failed to do was tell readers what that expression means. It is an expression used by Muslims all over the world that means "God willing". Tami says that a certain thing will happen if God wills it, which is not something a very non-religious person would say. This is a person who openly hates and refuses Islamic customs such as wearing a hijab or abstaining from drinking. She goes to Las Vegas because it is known as the land of sin. To her, freedom is drinking, wearing revealing clothes, using excessive amounts of makeup, getting boob jobs, and going to clubs and bars. These things do not sound like freedom to me- they sound like things that anyone with an ounce of moral standings would want to stay well away from. Islam, in making those actions unlawful, is not restraining anyone. If people would try to understand Islam instead of condemning it, they would be able to see that there are reasons behind the restrictions- in truth, we are protected from harmful lifestyles. We, in fact, are free.

Review # 2 was written on 2014-11-11 00:00:00 Fred Van Holst Such a let down. If you hope to get to know more about persian culture with this book, then you're totally wasting your time. I highly doubt the author even knows anything about Iranian women. Full of cheesy clichés, stereotypical and extremely unrealistic. I dived into it expecting to read about immigration and real persian women's lives and their traditions, their struggles, but it ended up being just a silly and pointless love story. The writing was also pretty bad. It could've been written by a 12 year old. I really want the time I spent on this stupid book back.