Review by Booklist Review
Mitra Jahani pushes back against the expectations of her Iranian parents, while her sister Anahita is a sweet, gentle people pleaser. Mitra's rebellious ways anger her traditional father, and she flees to San Francisco. When Anahita dies in an accident, it further strains the family's relationships. Mitra's return to New Jersey for the one-year anniversary of Anahita's death brings back troubling memories, including a long-buried secret. Frustrated by her father's callous disregard for the women in his family, Mitra opens up to her mother, Shireen, giving Shireen the courage to change her life. Pari's debut is a 1990s-set family saga about the tension between tradition and assimilation, featuring strong female characters whose deep ties to their homeland and culture are at odds with their desire for independence from patriarchal expectations. Although the story centers on Mitra, Pari includes a variety of narrators from the Jahani family, turning the story into a chorus of voices that blend together into a harmonious whole. Readers who enjoy Thrity Umrigar will be drawn into this immersive tale of a first-generation immigrant determined to blaze her own path.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In this luminous multigenerational tale, Pari (The Fortune Catcher) examines the complicated ties among an Iranian American family. After Mitra Jahani's immigrant father refuses to let her younger sister Ana be the first one to get married, Mitra pretends to get engaged, then cancels at the last minute. She also has her tubes tied. As a result, her father disowns her and she moves from New Jersey to California, breaking their mother Shireen's heart. Years later, Ana and her young children are killed in a car accident, and family secrets tumble out one after another, including Ana's childhood molestation by an older cousin and Ana's extramarital affair with an artist. Shireen, caught in the middle between her husband and daughter, finally takes a stand against her husband's cruelty, perhaps changing her own destiny. Well-drawn supporting characters, including Sali, an Iraqi teenager who gets pregnant after being raped and is disowned by her mother; and Julian, Mitra's supportive physician boyfriend, add depth. This expertly paced story easily navigates the cultural differences between newer Americans and older immigrants and provides a frank look at fraught family dynamics. For fans of sweeping family sagas, this is like catnip. (Jan.)
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