Dalia Sofer Poradie kníh (chronologicky)

"Set in Iran and New York City, Man of My Time tells the story of Hamid Mozaffarian, who is as alienated from himself as he is from the world around him. After decades of ambivalent work as an interrogator with the Iranian regime, Hamid travels on a diplomatic mission to New York, where he encounters his estranged family and retrieves the ashes of his father, whose dying wish was to be buried in Iran. Tucked in his pocket throughout the trip, the ashes propel him into a first-person excavation--full of mordant wit and bitter memory--of a lifetime of betrayal, and prompt him to trace his own evolution from a perceptive boy in love with marbles to a man who, on seeing his own reflection, is startled to encounter someone he no longer recognizes. As he reconnects with his brother and others living in exile, Hamid is forced to reckon with his past, with the insidious nature of violence, and with his entrenchment in a system that for decades ensnared him."-- Provided by publisher

In the aftermath of the Iranian revolution, rare-gem dealer Isaac Amin is arrested, wrongly accused of being a spy. Terrified by his disappearance, his family must reconcile a new world of cruelty and chaos with the collapse of everything they have known. As Isaac navigates the tedium and terrors of prison, forging tenuous trusts, his wife feverishly searches for him, suspecting, all the while, that their once-trusted housekeeper has turned on them and is now acting as an informer. And as his daughter, in a childlike attempt to stop the wave of baseless arrests, engages in illicit activities, his son, sent to New York before the rise of the Ayatollahs, struggles to find happiness even as he realizes that his family may soon be forced to embark on a journey of incalculable danger. A page-turning literary debut, The Septembers of Shiraz simmers with questions of identity, alienation, and love, not simply for a spouse or a child, but for all the intangible sights and smells of the place we call home.

Isaac Amin è in carcere, accusato di spionaggio per essere ebreo in un Iran dominato dal regime islamico. I suoi compagni di prigionia ricevono notizie dell'esecuzione sommaria dei loro familiari. A Isaac è negato ogni contatto con l'esterno; può solo amarli da lontano e augurare loro una buona vita. Farnaz osserva un giornale aperto su un articolo che il marito probabilmente non ha mai finito di leggere. Ripensa all'ultima sera trascorsa insieme, sprecata in una discussione sulle condizioni sempre più allarmanti del Paese, un argomento che lui odiava. A Brooklyn, Parviz lavora nel negozio di cappelli del suo padrone di casa per pagare l'università e l'affitto. Strano che, tra tante ragazze, si sia innamorato della figlia del padrone, Rachel, timida e molto religiosa. Parviz, incapace di tanta fede, sembra delegare a lei le sue preghiere per la salvezza del padre lontano. Shirin non ama i maghi e i trucchi che fanno sparire le cose e le persone, come la teiera d'argento e l'anello con lo zaffiro della mamma, scomparsi misteriosamente. Le dicono che sono solo fuori posto, ma Shirin teme che sia successo lo stesso a suo padre, scomparso da giorni. Sperando che un giorno torni, immagina di rivederlo nella poltrona di pelle, circondato dai suoi libri e dalle sigarette, mentre la mamma gli versa il tè dalla teiera d'argento, di nuovo con l'anello al dito.