Summary
- follows the story of Pasha, a teenage in Tehran during the 70s and his group of friends
- Pasha is in love with Zari, but she’s already betrothed to Pasha’s older friend that they call ‘Doctor’
- things go sideways when Pasha accidentally leads the SAVAK to Doctor’s whereabouts and they kill him
- SAVAK = the regime’s secret police
- The loss of Doctor is a huge blow to Zari, Pasha, and all their friends and family
- the group of friends decide to attend a political rally/march. Unbeknownst to the rest of her friend group, Zari came prepared with gasoline and a match and sets herself on fire in the middle of the rally
- Pasha wakes up at a hospital, not really aware of what happened. Eventually he regains his senses. He believes Zari is dead
- Turns out Zari is alive living with her parents. She’s posing as her cousin, “the masked angel” who wears a niqab so no one can see her.
- Pasha eventually figures out that the girl in niqab is actually Zari.
- At this point Pasha had plans to go to the US. She encourages him to go ahead with his plan so that he can tell the world their story and improve life in Iran.
- She tells him that she’ll wait for him to come back and they’ll get married
Reflections
Very emotional story.
In the middle of the book, I remember a part where Pasha’s dad’s friend says one day Pasha will marry his daughter… and it was said as if some sort of prophecy… but it wasn’t Zari. So does Pasha never end up marrying Zari? Does Zari die after Pasha leaves for the US? Maybe that was her “last hurrah”, to urge Pasha to leave for the US so he can tell the world their story… after that there’s no reason for her to live, so maybe she takes her life (she was very clearly depressed)? And then Pasha marries that other girl… it’s sad to think about but maybe it’s true.