Girl from the Garden” is a story of a wealthy Persian Jewish family living in Iran at the beginning of theth Century.
Its more of an account of womens cultural plight at that time, Although these women were fed well and surrounded by monetary beauty, their lives were ones of male servitude and oppression, Only the conniving seemed to survive,
The author, Parnaz Foroutan, uses her own familys folklore as fodder for this beautifully written novel, Foroutan stated that as her family members aged, the family stories changed, She wont call this historical fiction as the sources became unreliable, This reader is appreciative that she chose to use the folklore, in whatever state of truth, in fiction, It made a fine novel,
The story is told as memories of the familys only surviving daughter, Mahboubeh, She is living in Los Angeles, ruminating over her mother, who died when she was a mere child, No family member would explain explicitly how her mother died her father would only state that it was “from the complications of womanhood, ” After reading the novel, that statement had a different meaning for me,
The novel has complicated names that started to trip me up at the beginning, but I got the flow and after aboutpages and found the names easily remembered.
Because Mahboubeh is elderly, her ruminations ebb and flow through current life, It took me a bit to understand that flow, As a result, this is a novel that does take careful reading, Warning: dont read while tired! I highly recommend this novel because Foroutans writing is beautiful, and the story captures a time and place in history that is incredibly interesting.
A suspenseful debut novel of desire, obsession, power, and vulnerability, in which a crisis of inheritance leads to the downfall of a wealthy family of Persian Jews in early twentiethcentury Iran
For all his wealth and success, Asher Malacoutithe head of a prosperous Jewish family living in the Iranian town of Kermanshahcannot have the one thing he
desires above all: a son.
His young wife, Rakhel, trapped in an oppressive marriage at a time when a woman's worth is measured by her fertility, is made desperate by her failure to conceive, and grows jealous and vindictive.
Rakhel's despair is compounded by the pregnancy of her sisterinlaw, Khorsheed, and by her husband's growing desire for Kokab, his cousin's wife.
Frustrated by his own wife's inability to bear him an heir, Asher makes a fateful choice that will shatter the household and drive Rakhel to dark extremes to save herself and preserve her status within the family.
Witnessed through the memories of the family's sole surviving daughter, Mahboubeh, now an elderly woman living in Los Angeles, The Girl from the Garden unfolds the complex, tragic history of the Malacouti family in a longlost Iran of generations past.
Haunting, suspenseful, and inspired by events in the author's own family, it is an evocative and poignant exploration of sacrifice, betrayal, and the indelible legacy of the families that forge us.
An at times engrossing at other times frustrating novel, The glimpse into the lives this Jewish family in Iran is captivating: fear, obsession, jealousy, loyalty, faith and violence all mix together in the cloistered environment of the family enclave.
It is a glimpse into a seemingly lost world full of mystery and joy, tragedy and love, faith and superstition,
But the jumping back and forth in time and the complex way this is narrated undermines much of this story, Whenever the story comes back to the present it slows down and loses its punch.
The flashbacks carry all the power,
An interesting and promising debut novel but one I am of mixed feelings about, The Girl from the Garden is Mahboubeh, and the garden is in LA, and all she does it wander around the garden remembering and imagining things from her family's past in Iran.
It's all sad and tragic, The book the character centers on most is Rakhel, the incredibly bitteryear old wife of Asher, the rich Jewish merchant who slights her because, for the three years they've been married, she can't get pregnant.
She wants to get pregnant, But she can't because Asher can't, but he is furious about how he's going to pass on his wealth, Rakhel first abuses and manipulates her sister, Khorsheed, who has a little boy then she abuses and manipulates Kokab, the second wife Asher takes on.
What makes the book especially compelling are these two side characters, Khorsheed and especially Kokab, who come across as interesting, kind, wise characters.
This is especially the case of Kokab, who is incredible independent and strong and forceful, though it does little good in this misogynistic, patriarchal moment in Iran.
The way we see through Rakhel's eyes through Mahboubeh's eyes the trap these women are in, and their vitality and power and how little these free them, is powerful.
There is a surprise ending that is not entirely a surprise, The weakest conceit of the book is the wandering around the garden alone remembering things, The story was good, but I felt like the book jumped around a lot, I didn't feel the transition from real life to memories was constructed well, An interesting read but just too sad and depressing, Don't get me wrong, all books don't need happy endings but I need at least one small glimmer of happiness or at least hope that something good will happen.
Not so with this story of the women in a wealthy Jewish family in Iran in the earlyth century, Rakhel is married to Asher but when she fails to conceive, he takes his cousin's exwife after a scandalous divorce as hisnd wife.
She doesn't conceive either hmmm, . . maybe the women aren't the problem here! so Asher destroys what little pride she has left and divorces her, Rakhel then basically steals her sister inlaw and best friends son to raise as her own so that her husband will have a heir.
And of course no good comes of any of this, It reminded me of Henna House so if you enjoyed that you might like this one too, It took a while for the story to get going, but once it did it was very good, The tagline "She died from complications of womanhood" ending up being more powerful and touching than I could have imagined at first, Sięgnęłam po tę książkę, ponieważ jej opis wydał mi się ciekawy i nieco intymny, W związku z tym spodziewałam się historii pełnej emocji a otrzymałam dość zwyczajną powieść obyczajową,
"Dziewczyna z ogrodu" niestety mnie nie zachwyciła i nie zostanie ze mną na dłużej, Jak dla mnie Parnaz Foroutan nie poradziła sobie z fabułą, W sensie została ona opisana w dość dziwny i pokrętny sposób, Moim zdaniem wprowadziło to niepotrzebny chaos a skakanie z osoby na osobę i opisy raz w pierwszej a raz w trzeciej osobie przyprawiały mnie o szybsze bicie serca.
Nie wiem, czy to wina tłumaczenia, czy autorki,
Sama historia jest jednak na tyle ciekawa, aby zagryźć zęby i przerzucać kolejne strony nie patrząc na formę jej przekazu.
Autorka pokazuje losy bogatego kupca i jego żony oraz jego bliższej rodziny, Dowiadujemy się, jak wyglądało życie codzienne kobiet w Iranie a jednocześnie śledzimy losy bezdzietnego małżeństwa, Straszne jest to, co spotkało brata głównego bohatera i jego małżonkę, Nie jestem w stanie pojąć, ile musiało ich to kosztować, Jak otrząsnąć się po takiej niecodziennej stracie dziecka, Szkoda tylko, że po tym punkcie zwrotnym powieść jakby wyhamowuje i nagle czeka na nas zakończenie, Chciałam więcej, ale książka się skończyła, The Girl From Garden is the debut masterpiece from Parnaz Faroutan and another one added to my favourite reads this year, It is a powerful tale of desire, obsession, jealousy, power and vulnerability and ultimately the downfall of a wealthy PersianJewish family set in the early twentieth century.
Mahboubeh, the only surviving daughter of the Malacouti family, is an elderly woman who spends her time tending and talking to the plants in her garden.
Mahboubeh drifts in and out of the past reliving her memories as a young girl in Iran and it is through her that we hear about a young married couple who are unable to produce an heir to ensure the continuation of the family line and we bear witness to the tragic events and destructive forces that destroyed the family.
When Asher Malacouti's young wife fails to produce an heir and his brother's new wife becomes pregnant he decides on a course of action that will have disastrous consequences.
The disdain and resentment that Asher displays toward his wife, Rakhel, will distort and shape her into a manipulative, vindictive woman, Rakhel will go to any extremes to maintain her status within the family including the use of spells and help of djinns in this highly superstitious, spirit believing culture.
In a male dominated and strict boundary controlled environment the young women jostle with one another in a struggle to reach the most beneficial status within the unit, sacrificing any chance of true friendship or bond, and is where betrayal, and manipulation are the unending driving force.
The Girl From The Garden is all the more poignant as life for young girls is pretty much the same today as it was then.
Little or no alternative exists than to be married very young to produce children, and look after their husband and family, often in oppressive and restrictive marriages, as is the case for Rakhel.
The Girl From The Garden is a beautifully written piece of literature, Vividly depicting a world rich in detail with beautifully drawn characters who effortlessly come to life and lodge themselves into your mind,
I highly recommend The Girl from the Garden to anyone interested in learning about lives from a different time and culture and would generate lively discussion in book reading groups.
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