Prisoner of Tehran: A Memoir by Marina Nemat

When I was a teenager, reading The Diary of Anne Frank and Exodus made me realize how blessed I was to be born in this country. I got the same feeling after reading Prisoner of Tehran and I think any teenager who read this would feel the same way. When you are sixteen years old, you are trying to break away from parents, traditions and rules to become your own person. In the United States, teens are free to speak their minds and write what they feeling. While I realize that schools can censor what the kids write, those kids aren't then placed on an arrest-to-be-tortured list.

Yet this is what happened to young Marina. When she was born, the shah was still in power and while there were abuses by the government there was also a lot more freedom and independence for women. Under the Ayatollah Kohmeini, all of that changed. Marina and several of her high school friends were arrested for "striking" against the school and for writing a protest newspaper. The strike involved a protest against teachers who chose to lecture on fundamentalist religion rather than on the topics they were supposed to teach (like calculus).

Marina was tortured in an attempt to force her to reveal the names of more friends involved in the protest. She suffered a great deal before being placed in a cell with some of her friends. Some survived; some did not. The ultimate horror--in my opinion anyway--was when Marina's interrogator fell in love with her. I recommend the book to anyone. Read it to find out what happens to Marina.

The Princes of Ireland by Edward Rutherfurd

After posting a poll about whether I should finish the book, I thought about the pros and ons of each side. TThe advice I got was very similar to what I was thinking. The first half of it had interested and engaged me--maybe I would get interested again. I don't like to spend $15 on a book and then not finish it. At the same time, though, I'd struggled through 100 pages and was hopelessly bored. I didn't think I'd want to pick up the book again, not later, not no how.

Since I did read almost all of the book I thought I would write about it anyway. Edwsard Rutherfurd's been called this age's James Michener. That's not necessarily a good thing as Michener's books can drag on and be excessively wordy. Another problem is when you want to cover centuries in a book, you lose a lot of the characterization.

Early on, I found Rutherford's characters interesting and engaging. I think he spent more time fleshing them out and it probably would have been better if his Dublin Saga had been split into 2 or 3 books to give equal time to everyone. The story starts in mythic Ireland, covering a tale I'd become somewhat familiar with: Deirdre escaping with the nephew of the king and incurring the king's wrath, the great cattle raid of Cú Chulainn. Rutherford moved smoothly from mythology to the arrival of St. Patrick and Catholicism with many characters carrying over from one age to the next. The sections about the Vikings and Brian Boru were also fascinating although by then new characters were introduced. I began to get bored during the Strongbow section and struggled at the end. I struggled for 100 pages and then tried skpping around. It didn't work.

By this time, the characters weren't so rich or interesting anymore. They just seemed like incarnations of people already introduced. I lost interest, did the poll, put the book down and moved on to something else. I'm glad I did!

My book became boring! What would YOU do?

I'm reading Princes of Ireland by Edward Rutherfurd, supposedly the modern James Michener. Actually, I enjoyed the first 570-odd pages of the book. Suddenly, though, the story ground to an abrupt halt. It's become so boring my eyes blur and glaze over as I struggle to continue. I struggled through 50 pages and then decided to try skipping to the next section. It's not engaging my interest, though, and I keep putting it down. There's another 200 pages to go. What would you do if this happened to you?

Booking Through Thursday

It's been a long time since I got to participate in this meme and I've missed it! I'm answering the last two questions because they go together.

Who is your favorite Male lead character? And why?

My favorite male character is Atticus Finch from To Kill A Mockingbird. He is someone that I could look up to as a real hero although his children didn't appreciate the fact--he was too "old" for them. He's a man of decency and integrity and his courage is the spiritual kind, not physical. He is chosen to defend a black man accused of rape in a sleepy southern town in the 1930s. He could choose the easy way out, hang with the good old boys and just allow nature to take its course. No--he truly defends the man and even though he loses the case and the man loses his life, Atticus Finch is a real winner.

Who is your favorite female lead character? And why?

My favorite female character is Francie Nolan from A Tree Grows In Brooklyn. She is a child growing up in extreme poverty. Her mother is the sole support of the family and her beloved father is a drunkard chronically unemployed. Yet, she loves him. She reminds me very much of me, growing up in an environment where there was lots of drinking and tension. She's a bookworm and something of a loner--like me when I was a child. She grows up doing what she has to do to help her family and I just admire her so much!