Neither East Nor West: One Woman's Journey Through the Islamic Republic of Iran, (Paperback)

Publishers Weekly,Bird's account of her travels in Iran is enriched by her having spent three years of her childhood in Tabriz during the reign of the Shah. Not nave about popular Western misconceptions of Iran, she sets out to debunk them in this book: "we had demonized Iran so completely that it no longer seemed to be populated by human beings." Still, she is surprised by encounters with her own assumptions. In a relatively liberal section of Tehran, for instance, she finds young people flirting with one another, in open defiance of the komiteh (a watchdog for illicit activities), and even drinking alcohol--forbidden in Islamic society. Even so, she encounters religious devotion in people of every class and level of education. "What is it," she asks, "about the human mind that likes to categorize so, neatly slipping people into slots, which in Iran usually translates into: educated, middle-class, and Westernized = nonreligious; uneducated, poor, or working class = religious." Gradually, and only to a certain degree, Bird comes to understand the Iranians' dedication to Islam. This travelogue affords fascinating portraits of people of many social circumstances, while not sugarcoating the gritty realities of life in Iran. But it is Bird's continual investigation of her own and her culture's prejudices that distinguishes this book, and that will help shine light into a part of the Middle East hitherto hidden from the West by its own misunderstanding. (Mar.)Forecast: While booksellers shouldn't expect breakout sales, they should take note that with the recent publication of Persian Mirrors by Elaine Sciolino and Honeymoon in Purdah by Alison Wearing, Bird's narrative indicates a trend of books written by women traveling in Iran. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved All rights reserved.,Publishers Weekly,Publishers Weekly,Bird's account of her travels in Iran is enriched by her having spent three years of her childhood in Tabriz during the reign of the Shah. Not nave about popular Western misconceptions of Iran, she sets out to debunk them in this book: "we had demonized Iran so completely that it no longer seemed to be populated by human beings." Still, she is surprised by encounters with her own assumptions. In a relatively liberal section of Tehran, for instance, she finds young people flirting with one another, in open defiance of the komiteh (a watchdog for illicit activities), and even drinking alcohol--forbidden in Islamic society. Even so, she encounters religious devotion in people of every class and level of education. "What is it," she asks, "about the human mind that likes to categorize so, neatly slipping people into slots, which in Iran usually translates into: educated, middle-class, and Westernized = nonreligious; uneducated, poor, or working class = religious." Gradually, and only to a certain degree, Bird comes to understand the Iranians' dedication to Islam. This travelogue affords fascinating portraits of people of many social circumstances, while not sugarcoating the gritty realities of life in Iran. But it is Bird's continual investigation of her own and her culture's prejudices that distinguishes this book, and that will help shine light into a part of the Middle East hitherto hidden from the West by its own misunderstanding. (Mar.)Forecast: While booksellers shouldn't expect breakout sales, they should take note that with the recent publication of Persian Mirrors by Elaine Sciolino and Honeymoon in Purdah by Alison Wearing, Bird's narrative indicates a trend of books written by women traveling in Iran. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved All rights reserved.