Journey from the Land of No captured my interst right from the first chapter. I did not like Roya while I was reading her prolog. But, as soon as she started her story the pace picked up. Her self-righteousness disappeared and she provided an interesting look into a land and culture I knew little about.

The book gets to the point effectively. No extra verbage or descriptions detract from the reality of existence in Iran. Roya's story telling ability led me through the streets and dwellings so carefully that I could clearly picture the characters and their surroundings.

I think Book Lovers' Luncheon Club would appreciate reading this as a monthly selection. There are many issues to explore and discuss (many we, fortunatley, don't experience in this country).

Thank you for the book.

Roya gave a very good account of her growing up years in an oppressed communist country.It was both informative and heartfelt.
She probably was saved early on by her father's writing talent....he was well thought of, and it probably kept her from being taken from her classroom and killed.
Combine that with her own talent for writing, and you have a good book, and a pictorial of a life that is hard to understand by the standards we have here in the United States.
It is hard to remember that other countries are not so lucky as we are.

Journey From the Land of No: A Girlhood Caught in Revolutionary Iran is one of the most gripping accounts of life in Iran.

I found this book very interesting - I had some knowledge about what has happened in Iran, but very little about Jews living in Iran. I found her writing style very "airy" (some have called it "lyrical") - her background in poetry shows. I sometimes felt like her expression of her emotions in reaction to events in the book was really the tip of the iceberg in terms of what she was feeling - I got the intensity of what she felt more from reading of her resulting actions rather than the description of what she was feeling. An example of this is when she talks about the return of the law requiring women to wear a veil - her feelings were really expressed in the small act of rebellion when she removes her veil in the dark alley. A very compelling story, it was a quick read.

I think it would work okay for book club discussion since it's the kind of book that imparts knowledge and opens one's eyes to a part of the world that a lot of us would otherwise not know about - this aspect alone might lead to a good discussion.