"I was swept away by the picture of this culture - one I’ve never had close contact with before. It was rich and vivid. I learned so much history, but I still feel like there’s so much I don’t understand.
At first I found myself rolling my eyes at the dramatic and all-consuming nature of the love story - it felt just very YA to me. But then, isn’t that just being young and in love? Once I let go of my cynicism and suspend reality a bit, I could appreciate the ROMANCE of this life-long love story. Especially the ending - I listened to beautiful Persian music and got all melty!
[mild spoilers - next paragraph]
I was even more fascinated with the adult characters - the Stationery store owner and Bahman’s mother. Their story was fully of so much human brokenness and tragedy. It was paralleled by the beautiful and pure love story of our main characters. The tragedy of the first story lead to the tragedy of the second. Mr. Fakhri - his sins, loves, heartbreak, and attempts at redemption - are worthy of a very long book club discussion.
[end spoilers]
The ending was just lovely. I went up to five stars because of that ending. And don’t miss the acknowledgements!!! They left me crying in a Starbucks."
- katelynn
01/18/2020