by Hooman Majd
First published 2013
Hooman Majd decides to move his young family from Brooklyn to Tehran for a year of discovery. At fifty, the Iranian-American writer wants to reconnect with his birthplace alongside his blonde Midwestern wife Karri and their infant son Khash. The journey begins badly when airport intelligence officers confront Majd with a thick security file and warn him against writing about Iran. He hides this threat from Karri as they navigate daily life in an authoritarian state. The family searches for an apartment, secures bootleg internet connections, and finds reliable alcohol sources. Karri learns to wear a headscarf after being stopped twice for improper veiling. They fast during Ramadan and marvel at Iranian society's obsession with children. Security officers call Majd regularly while headlines grow more alarming. American spies get arrested, embassy riots erupt, and the Arab Spring spreads. The regime crushes the Green Movement while international sanctions devastate the economy. War talk increases as the government grows more paranoid about democratic uprisings. Majd and Karri watch these events unfold and question whether they are taking dangerous risks. This year becomes a search for home and identity amid the complexities of living under an unpredictable regime.
Genres: family, american, memoir, biography-memoir, 21st-century, iran
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Brooklyn, Iran, Tehran
Period: 2010s
272 pages · Hardcover · Doubleday