I found this book to be both enormously interesting and vastly disjointed. It was difficult to follow the characters and time lines. Characters came and went with alarming frequency. Time jumped back and forth from the early days of the Iranian Revolution to the present with stops in the middle.
My attention was immediately captured in the first few paragraphs, but then the next chapter moved to another time and place with new characters and I was left lost and wondering. Perhaps this was the author’s intention as those same disjointed feelings were evident in each of the (many) characters.
Delijani captures the sense of loss and “disconnectedness” the characters felt as their lives were disrupted, ended and changed from moment to moment with no clear resolution in sight. The descriptions are lovely. The characters are generally well drawn. Situations are rendered in often harrowing clarity. However, I had a hard time with the younger generation. I couldn’t remember who the parents were or what had happened to them or worse, if I had even “met” them before.
I wish I could say I liked this book and give it 5 stars. I wanted to..…but….. The book needs a list of characters with notes to their relationships. A glossary would help, for example, a “manteau” was defined as a “medieval garment like a coat” in my dictionary, I’m still not clear on what kind of garment was meant.
I read this on an e-reader – perhaps not the best choice for this book. But thank you Net Galley who provided the book in exchange for this review.

I can't believe how good this book is. So well written, so emotional, so informative. It is a story that was on my mind for a long time after I finished it. I enjoyed Sahar Delijani’s descriptive phrases. One that I especially liked: “…smelling of wood dust and expectation.” I can only say—this story is outstanding, I loved it and it should be number one for 2013.

Heart wrenching story of life in Revolutionary Iran, powerful descriptions although it is
confusing following all the characters and connecting them to their relatives

Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan... They all seem to be melded together into a place "over there." Not really knowing much about the history of Iran, this story inspired me to look into Evin Prison and the complicated history of the area. People are the same all over the world...we require love, friendship and a sense of belonging.

Very difficult to keep track of how things were happening, Too many names.

This was a thought provoking book which led to interesting discussion about a neglected period in Iran's history. It was sometimes difficult to keep the charactesr straight but worth reading for it's beautiful writing and important subject matter.