Bridges cultures with humor and heart
WOW, this book was a phenomenal one-day read for me. It does a brilliant job of exploring issues of culture, heritage, family, discrimination, and clinical depression, with an excellent balance of heart and humor that will have you laughing one moment and dropping the floor out from under you the next. The alternation between the character's "American" name, Darius, and the original Persian version, Darioush, is an incredibly powerful choice on the author's part, it represents the core of the character's struggle of feeling caught between two worlds, and people's inconsistent expectations of what he should be. He was born in America, but his mother's entire family is in Iran. He loves Star Trek, but is also a tea aficionado. He doesn't speak Farsi, but his little sister does, though they both share an intense love for Persian desserts. His very white father shares his diagnosis of clinical depression, but has very specific ideas about how a "normal" boy should handle it and present himself.
When he visits Iran and befriends Sohrab, I appreciated how that introduced another opportunity to discuss discrimination. Darius is struck by how in Portland, Persians of all kinds come together in harmony because there aren't many of them around, but in Iran, despite being a full Persian, Sohrab's family faces discrimination and brutality because of their Baha'i faith.
This book is a bridge between cultures, because Darius himself is a bridge. His often-humorous internal musings address social cues, food, games, as well as language nuances (like how his mom never would confirm if Farsi borrowed a bunch of words from French). His humor is based largely in science fiction and fantasy culture (TONS of Star Trek and Lord of the Rings references) that will resonate with fans of those genres while introducing them to possibly new concepts that are firmly based in reality.
The way this book presents depression has been hailed as accurate and powerful by readers who also have depression. Though I can't speak for that myself, I found it to be poignant - it's a daily part of his life, it can strike without warning, but Darius has come to terms with the fact that it doesn't define him. In fact, though he wishes people understood him better, Darius never demonstrates an inclination to change himself for people, which I thought was excellent. He doesn't fit squarely into one box, and is okay with that internally, he just wishes everyone else would be too.
I highly recommend this book!
When he visits Iran and befriends Sohrab, I appreciated how that introduced another opportunity to discuss discrimination. Darius is struck by how in Portland, Persians of all kinds come together in harmony because there aren't many of them around, but in Iran, despite being a full Persian, Sohrab's family faces discrimination and brutality because of their Baha'i faith.
This book is a bridge between cultures, because Darius himself is a bridge. His often-humorous internal musings address social cues, food, games, as well as language nuances (like how his mom never would confirm if Farsi borrowed a bunch of words from French). His humor is based largely in science fiction and fantasy culture (TONS of Star Trek and Lord of the Rings references) that will resonate with fans of those genres while introducing them to possibly new concepts that are firmly based in reality.
The way this book presents depression has been hailed as accurate and powerful by readers who also have depression. Though I can't speak for that myself, I found it to be poignant - it's a daily part of his life, it can strike without warning, but Darius has come to terms with the fact that it doesn't define him. In fact, though he wishes people understood him better, Darius never demonstrates an inclination to change himself for people, which I thought was excellent. He doesn't fit squarely into one box, and is okay with that internally, he just wishes everyone else would be too.
I highly recommend this book!