Afin de lire mon avis en français, cliquez ici
Note: I read the French translation of this book, so I would
be using the names of the characters as it was written in French
Publisher’s write-up (from goodreads):
‘Three recent college graduates in Tehran struggle to
find their footing in this award\-winning debut by Iranian journalist Nasim
Marashi. Roja, the most daring of the three, works in an architecture firm and
is determined to leave Tehran for graduate school in Toulouse. Shabaneh, who is
devoted to her disabled brother and works with Roja, is uncertain about
marrying a colleague as it would mean leaving her family behind. Leyla, who was
unable to follow her husband abroad because of her commitment to her career as
a journalist, is wracked with regret. Over the course of two seasons, summer
and fall, in bustling streets and cramped family apartments, the three women
weather setbacks and compromises, finding hope in the most unlikely places.
Even as their ambitions cause them to question the very fabric of their
personalities and threaten to tear their friendship apart, time and again Roja,
Shabaneh and Leyla return to the comfort of their longtime affection, deep
knowledge and unquestioning support of each other. Vividly capturing three very
distinct voices, Marashi\x27s deeply wrought narrative lovingly brings these
young women and their friendship to life in all their complexity.’
I’ll be strong for you is the first novel of the writer
Nasim Marashi, written in Persian and published in 2014, which was highly
successful in Iran. It is a story of three young women who met at the university
in Tehran during their studies. The three have different family backgrounds,
with Leya having a privileged background, Shabaneh who is from a small town and
lived through her town being bombarded during the war (which war, is not
mentioned) and does not want to leave her brother with special needs alone with
her mother, the latter who does not have a particular liking towards him, and
Rodja, who has big dreams and wants to leave the country. The narration is done
in the first person though the narrator is different in each chapter (Leyla,
Shabaneh and Rodja respectively).
I liked the fact that
the novel was universal and addressed experiences faced by most people living
an urban life anywhere in the world. At times, I was interested in even going
for a coffee with Leyla, just to hear her out, with all the difficulties she is
facing with her mental health. I also appreciated the narration and the writing
style as well, and even though the narrator changed every chapter, the
chronology was maintained and the first person narrator of the previous chapter
is a character in the third person in the present chapter.
Each of the character had to address a difficult situation,
faced my most people, that is, ‘whether to stay or leave’, be it the country, job
or a relationship and each of them had to measure the pros and cons of whatever
decision they were to take.
However, universal nature of the novel was also its weakness,
as regardless of whether this novel had taken place in Tehran or New York or Paris
or Tokyo or Johannesburg would have caused little difference. I had a lot of
expectations considering the novel was translated to French in the year 2023,
with the context of the protests against the regime triggered by the murder of the
young Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini by the state in 2022. However, the author never
touched upon sensitive topics, neither religion nor politics. The former I
understand as based on several articles I have read, Iran is quite a secular
society where religion is less important than its other neighbours in the
Middle East, despite their government. However, with politics, she had an
opportunity, as Iran is a multicultural country despite popular perception
(with Persians, Kurds, Azeris, Arabs, etc.) and I never saw any of these cultural
aspects come out. And given that these women either wanted to leave the country
(like Rodja) or create a positive impact (like Leyla), it was very much
possible to explore the political angle.
To conclude, I enjoyed the book, and though it did not meet
my expectations, if you enjoy reading about universal emotions such as love, friendship
and dilemma, it is still a good novel to read. Considering that, I would award
the novel a rating of six on ten.
Rating – 6/10
Have a nice day,
Andy