Iranian writer, Marjan Kamali's The Stationery Shop of Tehran is a remarkable and touching book.
Like all literature set in countries with a deeply troubled history, this book too revolves around disillusionment, pain and the desperate struggle to live a normal life.
Akin to Khalid Hosseini, Kamali intertwines the political in the personal lives of her protagonists. Class struggle also plays a major role, like education or the lack of it. The story spans over six decades and two continents, starting from 1953 Iran to New England, US in early 2013.
Love lost, Lives Shattered
Young lovers, Roya and Bahman try to hold on to their love in the face of all pettiness and politics, but the aftermath of trauma runs too deep.
Yet, Kamali makes her story deeply human and optimistic. Her lovers are genuinely good human beings, kind, forgiving and full of empathy.
Instead of holding on to grudges, they move on, building their future with hope, touching several lives with positivity.
Thematic explorations
There are parts in the book that are quite painful to read, particularly those that deal with the loss of love and hope, and the death of a child.
When the last refuge of sanity and rationality, the Stationery Shop is burnt down, it brings a lump to your throat. Particularly because the beautiful shop was the meeting point of the young, hopeful lovers who thought they could change the world with their thoughts. It was the birthplace of hope for change, for a new Iran, where freedom and liberty were sacrosanct.
You keep hoping the lovers would somehow come together, though it is evident they will be torn apart. Themes of loss, helplessness, political turmoil, generational trauma run throughout the book.
Yet the ending is hopeful, shining a light on human endurance, kindness and hope.
Lovers of literature must not give this book a miss. It just shows how we are all the same, human beings in search of love and kindness.
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