Persian Girls: A Memoir
by Nahid Rachlin
List Price:
Our Price: $6.16
You Save: $17.79 (74%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $5.78 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Nahid RachlinEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Published)
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2006-10-05
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: Tarcher
Book Reviews of Persian Girls: A Memoir
Book Review: Strong, Independent Woman
Summary: 4 Stars
For me, the most interesting thing about Rachlin's very interesting memoir was the incredible strength she showed in forging a life for herself that was so different from the culture she was born into in Iran and for which she had very little or no family support. It is a very personal tale of courage. Rachlin was given to an aunt to raise shortly after her birth and then wrenchingly, for both Rachlin and her aunt, taken away from her when she was about 8. I suspect it was this horrible experience that later gave Rachlin the courage to leave her family to attend college on a scholarship in the United States and to live an independent, solitary and self-sufficient existence in the United States for awhile before she met her husband.
If I am at all disappointed with this book it is because of the emphasis Rachlin places on arranged marriages as the cause of unhappiness in women in the culture she was born into. Rachlin's sister was in an abusive arranged marriage as were other women in her family. I know some couples who are in very happy arranged marriages and I know a lot of women who are very unhappy in marriages of their own making. The divorce rate in the United States certainly attests to that.
No, I would not have liked my life and/or marriage determined for me. And I value the ability to chart my own course. But Rachlin goes too far I believe when she seemingly equates arranged marriages with unhappiness and abuse.
But overwhelmingly, this is a very interesting, and although somewhat sad, nonetheless a charming book.
Biographies & Memoirs Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in 2008: a year in reading (L's reading list) part I.
A Wolf at the Table: A Memoir of My Fatherby Augusten Burroughs
St. Martin's Press; Published: 2008-04-29; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.95
Price in other shops:
Dry: A Memoirby Augusten Burroughs
Picador; Published: 2004-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.94
Price in other shops:
Dave Barry Slept Here: A Sort of History of the United Statesby Dave Barry
Ballantine Books; Published: 1997-10-29; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.15
Price in other shops:
The Prophet (Kahlil Gibran Pocket Library Series)by Kahlil Gibran
Knopf; Published: 1995-02-21; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops:
Snow in Augustby Pete Hamill
Vision; Published: 1998-03-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops:
Hand-Me-Down (Red Dress Ink)by Lee Nichols
Red Dress Ink; Published: 2005-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.80
Price in other shops:
Three Junesby Julia Glass
Pantheon; Published: 2002-09-05; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $1.90
Price in other shops:
A Lesson Before Dyingby Ernest J. Gaines
Random House Audio; Published: 2005-05-17; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $17.29
Price in other shops:
Plum Lucky (A Between-the-Numbers Novel)by Janet Evanovich
St. Martin's Press; Published: 2008-01-08; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $2.95
Price in other shops:
Montana 1948by Larry Watson
Editions 10/18; Published: 1998-09-03; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
Married to a Strangerby Nahid Rachlin
City Lights Publishers; Published: 2001-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.92
Price in other shops:
A Thousand Splendid Sunsby Khaled Hosseini
Riverhead; Published: 2007-05-22; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $8.25
Price in other shops:
Infidelby Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Free Press; Published: 2008-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.37
Price in other shops:
My Name Is Iran: A Memoirby Davar Ardalan
Holt Paperbacks; Published: 2008-01-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.96
Price in other shops:
Foreignerby Nahid Rachlin
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 1999-07-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.30
Price in other shops:
Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Timeby Greg Mortenson, David Oliver Relin
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2007-01-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.00
Price in other shops:
Lipstick Jihad: A Memoir of Growing up Iranian in America and American in Iranby Azadeh Moaveni
PublicAffairs; Published: 2006-03-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.49
Price in other shops:
Climbing the Mango Trees: A Memoir of a Childhood in India (Vintage)by Madhur Jaffrey
Vintage; Published: 2007-10-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.00
Price in other shops:
Jumping Over Fireby Nahid Rachlin
City Lights Publishers; Published: 2006-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.70
Price in other shops:
Prisoner of Tehran: A Memoirby Marina Nemat
Free Press; Published: 2007-05-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.99
Price in other shops: