Title: Funny In Farsi
Author: Firoozeh Dumas
Published: 2004
Genre: Memoir
Rating: 5 out of 5
This book was recommended by my colleague who said 'I am sure you will like it and enjoy it', and I did!
A fun-filled memoir of an Iranian, Firoozeh who moved to the US in 1972 when she was seven. Her father who studied in the US speaks highly about the US but Firoozeh and her mother are clueless since they do not have firsthand knowledge of the country and do not know English.
Being from Asia, I could relate to Firoozeh culturally. I had wondered about some of the same things which she mentions in the book (hushpuppies and hotdogs??!). It was good to read the interview by Khalid Hosseini who also comes from similar background culturally.
Firoozeh Dumas also writes about the painful part of the history Iranians lived, when Americans were held hostage in Tehran. It must have been tough on the Iranian community back then when they did not have to do anything with the hostage situation.
Overall, I had a great time reading this book and some really LOL (I mean really out loud) moments in the book.
Favorite lines from the book -
A fun-filled memoir of an Iranian, Firoozeh who moved to the US in 1972 when she was seven. Her father who studied in the US speaks highly about the US but Firoozeh and her mother are clueless since they do not have firsthand knowledge of the country and do not know English.
Being from Asia, I could relate to Firoozeh culturally. I had wondered about some of the same things which she mentions in the book (hushpuppies and hotdogs??!). It was good to read the interview by Khalid Hosseini who also comes from similar background culturally.
Firoozeh Dumas also writes about the painful part of the history Iranians lived, when Americans were held hostage in Tehran. It must have been tough on the Iranian community back then when they did not have to do anything with the hostage situation.
Overall, I had a great time reading this book and some really LOL (I mean really out loud) moments in the book.
Favorite lines from the book -
- At an age, when most parents are guiding their kids toward independence, my mother was hanging on to me for her dear life.
- I wanted to tell her that Mickey was the reason I was lost in the first place. Had I not been trying to talk to him on those so-called phones, I wouldn't be sitting here. I didn't owe that rodent anything.
- For American friends, "a visiting relative" meant a three-night stay. In my family, relatives' stays were marked by seasons, not nights.
- Seeing our puzzled expressions, she showed us a picture of a beautiful, long-haired cat. "It's a Persian cat," she said. That was news to us; the only cats we had ever seen back home were the mangy strays that ate scraps behind people's houses.
- I now had two hurdles to overcome, fear of water and fear of being in the water with my father.
- Perhaps the greatest irony in the wave of Iranian-hating was that Iranians, as a group, are among the most educated and successful immigrants in this country. Nobody asked our opinions of whether the hostages should be taken, and yet every single Iranian in America was paying the price. One kid throws a spitball and the whole class gets detention.
- My mother learned what she knows about dating from Days of our lives. The only dates my father knew about contained pits.
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