A Memoir of Iran
Free Press,New York 2012
241 pages,25 Dollrs
241 pages,25 Dollrs
In We Heard the Heavens Then,Aria Minu-Sepehr A Iranian writer and memorist,is rewriting history,but this time narrated through experiences of a five year old boy,very closely supervised under a general.The story grows in fine details as the boy grows ,but not beyond 10 years old,although insights are showering from heavens of a more mature life,retold in retrospectives,at times in flashback style by a man of some Forty years old.
Four men are killed as "corruptors of the land"in dawn of a revolution,and killing ,threats , chasing and escape continues through the story or nightmares of narrator.Shadows of mullahs are scattered all over places as the shadow of general whose son,also called General's Son in all occasion appears and is available to be trained and instructed.The general is showing his capabilities in flight and management,
and specially juggling with new system from hiding to the point of being invited to work and cooperate,even after his mentors and peers are executed by the same rogue people,now running a disorderly country and its government.
Four men are killed as "corruptors of the land"in dawn of a revolution,and killing ,threats , chasing and escape continues through the story or nightmares of narrator.Shadows of mullahs are scattered all over places as the shadow of general whose son,also called General's Son in all occasion appears and is available to be trained and instructed.The general is showing his capabilities in flight and management,
and specially juggling with new system from hiding to the point of being invited to work and cooperate,even after his mentors and peers are executed by the same rogue people,now running a disorderly country and its government.
The highlights of boy's life goes on in an air force base in southern desert of Iran,depicted as oasis
.He drives his dune buggy there ,goes to a top tier school and mingles with the members of family ,including a major general of Shah,his father,called mostly as Baba or Dad,in real life or in the form of
a halo,not appearing in clear view all the time.
Bubbie,the boy's nanny, is the general of the house by her own right,a stoic old house worker in charge of kitchen with a vast entourage and power and attitude ,but a master of meddling and bubble gum advice containing her traditional views. She is coming from a village life,joining the family after she escaped the threats of her husband to kill her.It sounds very much similar to the story of the family under threats of tugs to be torched or killed by militia during the bitter days of revolution,or even destiny of a nation,whose country has diverted direction and been hijacked in that same revolution.
Maman has a leisurely life and substituting general most of the time to rear general's son,but we are not expecting her to be a Missus know-it-all to answer all questions.Then there are a pale picture of Omid who soon leaves Iran to live in London,although he makes summer trips back home without much impact on this narrative or even been overshadowed by the little boy in a sibbling rivalry.
Mamman Ghodsi,the maternal grandma is a secular presence .Uncle Dear Who survived two shahs and six wives .Uncle P with a foul mouth,an ex police officer with a pet phrase of pussy-giving sister to relieve his irritations.Auntie Z with her auburn hair as the most pious muslim, not anywhere else but in the middle of all these people and especially Baba who used to carry the last name of Zardeshti,meaning Zoroastrian, changed to Minu-Sepehr,still a composition with pre-Islamic connotation ...God plays a role too.,especially after changing the sacred Islamic calendar by shah to switch back to Imperial calendar,namely from 1356 to 2536,but not 1336 to 2536 as it is recorded in the book.All these were present in the background to make this diverse universe possible and fill the spots of this narrative,sometimes in form of fiction with all the possible details,and mostly a strong documentary as it is seen when Shah Gone .
.He drives his dune buggy there ,goes to a top tier school and mingles with the members of family ,including a major general of Shah,his father,called mostly as Baba or Dad,in real life or in the form of
a halo,not appearing in clear view all the time.
Bubbie,the boy's nanny, is the general of the house by her own right,a stoic old house worker in charge of kitchen with a vast entourage and power and attitude ,but a master of meddling and bubble gum advice containing her traditional views. She is coming from a village life,joining the family after she escaped the threats of her husband to kill her.It sounds very much similar to the story of the family under threats of tugs to be torched or killed by militia during the bitter days of revolution,or even destiny of a nation,whose country has diverted direction and been hijacked in that same revolution.
Maman has a leisurely life and substituting general most of the time to rear general's son,but we are not expecting her to be a Missus know-it-all to answer all questions.Then there are a pale picture of Omid who soon leaves Iran to live in London,although he makes summer trips back home without much impact on this narrative or even been overshadowed by the little boy in a sibbling rivalry.
Mamman Ghodsi,the maternal grandma is a secular presence .Uncle Dear Who survived two shahs and six wives .Uncle P with a foul mouth,an ex police officer with a pet phrase of pussy-giving sister to relieve his irritations.Auntie Z with her auburn hair as the most pious muslim, not anywhere else but in the middle of all these people and especially Baba who used to carry the last name of Zardeshti,meaning Zoroastrian, changed to Minu-Sepehr,still a composition with pre-Islamic connotation ...God plays a role too.,especially after changing the sacred Islamic calendar by shah to switch back to Imperial calendar,namely from 1356 to 2536,but not 1336 to 2536 as it is recorded in the book.All these were present in the background to make this diverse universe possible and fill the spots of this narrative,sometimes in form of fiction with all the possible details,and mostly a strong documentary as it is seen when Shah Gone .
It is after revolution that the family moves in a hurry to Tehran in a horror drama ,while stew bubbling on stove, and then settle with Mamman Ghodsi,while general lives in a semi hiding, still in contact with daily social life,his family and even the new power house in all its brutality.Then the family decides to send general's son to London to join the boy's elder brother Omid, who has been there for years ,and maman who recenly flew there to live temporarily but never returned home.The story of this flight and the excitement of carrying an involuntary gift ,sending by Hassan for Uncle P in boy's wallet,passing through Duty Costom and finding his mom again is a melodrama mixed with humor to supplement the narrative.Something which might have been seen in the other parts of the bookThis is continuing to gradually build author's refuge in England and later in U.S.A...And the general is left behind when no general left but him ,incredibly still in contact with revolution and their benchmen and even being a candidate to resume top level duties,and referring the temporarary prime minister like they were childhood friends and ,visiting him in tie and suit,a veteran politician ,a mullahesque bearded professor of school of engineering.These are all happening within mysteries and somehow blank pages.
Aria's privileged life with gardener,cook,Chauffeurs,civilian servant ,his dune buggy ,water ski,Chevy Impala,Bronco and other toys in the desert pond or on the roads and in the house,now in a drastic turn continues in Oregon with his American wife and two daughters ,in an open house overlooking a park,instead of desert.Is this a metaphor of change he has passed in the back of his mind,to be relieved from life in a base,although with all available facilities provided by the General
and now free and independent,out of the overwhelming shadows of Shah or clerics?He still lives under a wall of collage,showing pictures of his father ,his idle and his hero.Aria;s book also is that collage at larger dimensions, with him playing a playful overlapping silhouette and at time a youngster's overwhelming shadow, eluding the patriarch, and or the rest of the family.He is writing and rewriting history in his own version of a new narrative .
---MBR
Aria's privileged life with gardener,cook,Chauffeurs,civilian servant ,his dune buggy ,water ski,Chevy Impala,Bronco and other toys in the desert pond or on the roads and in the house,now in a drastic turn continues in Oregon with his American wife and two daughters ,in an open house overlooking a park,instead of desert.Is this a metaphor of change he has passed in the back of his mind,to be relieved from life in a base,although with all available facilities provided by the General
and now free and independent,out of the overwhelming shadows of Shah or clerics?He still lives under a wall of collage,showing pictures of his father ,his idle and his hero.Aria;s book also is that collage at larger dimensions, with him playing a playful overlapping silhouette and at time a youngster's overwhelming shadow, eluding the patriarch, and or the rest of the family.He is writing and rewriting history in his own version of a new narrative .
---MBR
