BookLife Reviews
01/08/2024
"How could I not remember?” Ghazirad writes in this culturally rich English debut that sets an emotional story of family against the ramifications of war. “How could I not remember those bloody days of revolution when he used to read that book to me?" Through the eyes of young Moji, who first appears at the age of six, Ghazirad introduces "the house on Sun Street,” the Tehran home of Moji’s grandparents and her family’s safe haven from the violence of the raging 1979 Islamic Revolution. Comforted, mesmerized, and emboldened by the stories her grandfather Agha Joon tells her from One Thousand and One Nights, Moji develops a deep love of literature, learning, and the art of survival.
Written with graceful power, Ghazirad's narrative fully immerses readers into Iranian culture with vivid details of the land, the people, and their lives as sirens wail, family members are arrested, and violence shakes the streets. Alive with lush everyday detail and the feeling of living against history itself, The House on Sun Street follows Moji into young adulthood and the wrenching changes and choices her family faces, as her father and uncle enlist in the war, leaving behind the women who love and depend on them for guidance, protection, and provisions. One pressing question: whether—and how—to leave for America. Depicting cultural differences Moji encounters during a short stay in Huntsville, Alabama, Ghazirad illustrates the displacement of families during war, the rights and lives of women in Iran, and the urgency of familial bonds and education, especially in times of grave peril.
Moji is an engaging character who finds solace and encouragement for her own development in the familiar spaces of family and between the pages of classic literature. This powerfully told story will appeal to readers of all ages and backgrounds due to its endearing protagonist, humane insights, and moving accounts of facing a “horribly changed homeland.”
Takeaway: An imaginative girl’s powerful account of life in Iran’s Islamic Revolution.
Comparable Titles: Mahbod Seraji's Rooftops of Tehran, Aisha Saeed's Amal Unbound.
Production grades Cover: A Design and typography: A Illustrations: N/A Editing: A Marketing copy: A
From the Publisher
This is a coming-of-age story that has a lot to teach readers and will appeal to adults and teens alike.”—Booklist
"Mojgan Ghazirad’s stellar debut novel is based on her own harrowing experience growing up in Tehran during the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Through the eyes of young Moji, we witness the fear, her family’s travel to the U.S. and their eventual return when Iran is at war with Iraq, and the oppressive changes to her country because of it."—Ms. Magazine
"Mojgan Ghazirad's debut novel is a polished gem for readers across age groups . . . an unforgettable journey through history, the pains of growing up, and the power of storytelling."—Elizabeth DeNoma, for Shelf Awareness
“A tender, meditative debut that examines one family’s experience of the Iranian Revolution. Bravely delves into politics, religion, sexuality, culture, family bonds and friendships. Beautiful and elegiac.”—Chinelo Okparanta, Under the Udala Trees and Harry Sylvester Bird
"I have known Mojgan Ghazirad's work for years, and I am thrilled that others are now going to have the opportunity to experience it. Mojgan is a writer of an incredible power and grace. The House on Sun Street is as timely as it is timeless, full of unforgettable characters, harrowing moments, and the struggles of a young girl to make sense of a world set aflame."—Wiley Cash, When Ghosts Come Home and A Land More Kind Than Home
"Lives that have been ruptured by revolution, war, and the cruel whims of autocracy are explored with deep tenderness and refreshing honesty in this novel about a young girl’s coming of age in Iran. As Moji experiences the pull of first love and an adolescence shaped by political turmoil, the bonds of a loving family and power of ancient stories sustain her. A beautiful debut.”—Marjan Kamali, The Stationery Shop
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2023-12-14
A girl experiences the Iranian Revolution, creeping repression, and war in Ghazirad’s novel.
The author focuses her story on Moji, a 6-year-old girl living in Tehran in 1978; her idyllic existence centers around her grandparents’ Sun Street house, where her grandmother, Azra, cooks succulent meals and her grandfather, Agha Joon, gardens and reads her and her little sister, Mar Mar, tales from One Thousand and One Nights. Life is upended when the shah is overthrown and Ayatollah Khomeini establishes the Islamic Republic of Iran. Moji’s father, an army officer who supported the shah, takes his wife and the children to America, where Baba, Maman, and the children endure anti-Iranian prejudice when members of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran are taken hostage. They return home after two years to find Iran profoundly changed: Many books and ideologies are now banned, and the struggle to keep every wisp of hair hidden beneath a headscarf becomes a preoccupation for Moji. Ensconced in her girls’ school, Moji chafes at Islamic puritanism. She swipes volumes from a hidden cache of banned books and develops a crush on a female teacher, which prompts erotic impulses condemned as sinful in Khomeini’s book of Islamic sex advice. Ghazirad’s novel is a lyrical evocation of Iranian life, full of limpid detail: “Azra emptied the water that had dribbled in the bowl underneath the globe-shaped samovar and blew the blue flame inside its chimney through the gridded opening. White smoke funneled up the samovar’s chimney and vanished in the air.” The prose develops a searing emotional charge as Moji registers the disasters engulfing Iran. “Uncle Zabih trembled as he called Amir’s name over and over again,” she observes at a funeral for a teenaged cousin killed in battle. “Tears glistened on his cheeks in the sunshine. Maybe he hoped his son could hear and respond. But Amir was dead silent among the moaning women and stunned men staring at the fast-filling grave.” The result is a heartbreaking coming-of-age novel, luminous but tinged with darkness.
An absorbing, quietly intense saga of upheaval and war as seen through the eyes of a child.
