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Book Review of Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books

Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books
reviewed on + 171 more book reviews


This book was not an easy read. It was, however, informative, and I am glad that I finished it. It would have been more helpful if I were more familiar with the works of fiction that were discussed in the book. I'd never even heard of the author Nabokov, and I've not read Jane Austen - I'm sure it would have resonated with me more if I'd done so. I also found that I could not keep straight which girl in the "reading group" was which - they all seemed to mesh together. But perhaps that was partly intentional as the Islamic Republic of Iran intended to take away any form of personalization - especially for women. Finally, I found the book to be a powerful statement about how we actually control very little about our own lives, and I felt very blessed to live in the United States of America where I cannot be imprisoned because of the way I dress or the books I read.