Stars: 5 This has the potential to be a literature circle option
My Thoughts:
This may be the template that Randy Ribay used for his own intergenerational trauma and love note book Everything We Never Had. Like Everything, this is about three generations of males in one family. They also share each person's story as a young man, but they do intersect in each otherʻs family as the grandson, the son/father, and Baba.
This one holds so many secrets and so many cultural and historical barriers for this family, both in America and in Tehran that it feels like a documentary of one family with the backdrop of old Hollywood and 1970s Tehran.
In the classroom:
If using this in the classroom for a literature circle, pair this with Everything. In addition, add something in multiple voices that are also a reflection of the historical reality in which it is set even if it does not span generations by using Traci Chee's We Are Not Free and Nick Brook's Promise Boys. Promise is the only one set solely in a fictional time and place. It is also a murder mystery with lots of voices so it allows you as the teacher to differentiate the content while still keeping the same student learning objectives for each group (SLOs). Just some food for thought.
From the Publisher:
2019. Moud is an out gay teen living in Los Angeles with his distant father, Saeed. When Moud gets the news that his grandfather in Iran is dying, he accompanies his dad to Tehran, where the revelation of family secrets will force Moud into a new understanding of his history, his culture, and himself.
1978. Saeed is an engineering student with a promising future ahead of him in Tehran. But when his parents discover his involvement in the country’s burgeoning revolution, they send him to safety in America, a country Saeed despises. And even worse—he’s forced to live with the American grandmother he never knew existed.
1939. Bobby, the son of a calculating Hollywood stage mother, lands a coveted MGM studio contract. But the fairy-tale world of glamour he’s thrust into has a dark side.
Set against the backdrop of Tehran and Los Angeles, this tale of intergenerational trauma and love is an ode to the fragile bonds of family, the hidden secrets of history, and all the beautiful moments that make us who we are today.
Publication Information:
Author: Abdi Nezemian
Publisher: Harper Collins (May 9, 2023)
Print length: 398 pages
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