ROYA HAKAKIAN

En Viaje desde la tierra del no, Roya Hakakian rememora con candor e intensidad su niñez y adolescencia en el Irán del Sha. El resultado es un relato exquisitamente escrito del tránsito a la adultez de una niña inteligente y perceptiva en su busqueda de una voz propia y autentica. De forma notable describe, con enorme sinceridad y, en ocasiones, gran sentido del humor, el cambio cultural, politico e intelectual de un pais que intenta huir de un gobierno corrupto y represivo hacia una revolucion que dejara por el camino las ilusiones de una nueva generacion traicionada en sus ideales. Roya Hakakian tenia doce años en 1979, cuando estallo la revolucion en Teheran. Hija de un apreciado poeta judio, crecio en un ambiente intelectual marcado por el exilio de dos de sus hermanos perseguidos por la policia del Sha. Con la inocente confusion de una niña, Roya pasa de la ilusion del cambio al desconcierto de ver como las promesas de un mundo nuevo se transforman en otro tipo de represion mas intolerante. Hakakian describe de manera conmovedora y, por momentos, desgarradora, uno de los momentos mas importantes de la historia de Oriente Medio a traves de la mirada de una valiente y optimista joven. Los trastornos politicos como la caida del Sha de Persia y la ascension del fundamentalismo islamico pueden ser infinitamente analizados por los especialistas, pero el relato de quienes, como Hakakian, han sido testigos directos de esos acontecimientos nos ayudan a entender de primera mano como fue esa revolucion... Su historia es inolvidable. .

A stirring, witty, and poignant glimpse into the bewildering American immigrant experience from someone who has lived it. Hakakians "love letter to the nation that took her in [is also] a timely reminder of what millions of human beings endure when they uproot their lives to become Americans by choice" (The Boston Globe).Into the maelstrom of unprecedented contemporary debates about immigrants in the United States, this perfectly timed book gives us a portrait of what the new immigrant experience in America is really like. Written as a "guide" for the newly arrived, and providing "practical information and advice," Roya Hakakian, an immigrant herself, reveals what those who settle here love about the country, what they miss about their homes, the cruelty of some Americans, and the unceasing generosity of others. She captures the texture of life in a new place in all its complexity, laying bare both its beauty and its darkness as she discusses race, sex, love, death, consumerism, and what it is like to be from a country that is in Americas crosshairs. Her tenderly perceptive and surprisingly humorous account invites us to see ourselves as we appear to others, making it possible for us to rediscover our many American gifts through the perspective of the outsider. In shattering myths and embracing painful contradictions that are unique to this place, A Beginners Guide to America is Hakakians candid love letter to America.

An emotional, evocative coming-of-age story about one deeply intelligent and perceptive girls attempt to find her own voice in prerevolutionary Iran An immensely moving, extraordinarily eloquent, and passionate memoir.Harold BloomRoya Hakakian was twelve years old in 1979 when the revolution swept through Tehran. The daughter of an esteemed poet, she grew up in a household that hummed with intellectual life. Family gatherings were punctuated by witty, satirical exchanges and spontaneous recitations of poetry. But the Hakakians were also part of the very small Jewish population in Iran who witnessed the iron fist of the Islamic fundamentalists increasingly tightening its grip. It is with the innocent confusion of youth that Roya describes her discovery of a swastikaa plus sign gone awry, a dark reptile with four hungry clawspainted on the wall near her home. As a schoolgirl she watched as friends accused of reading blasphemous books were escorted from class by Islamic Society guards, never to return. Only much later did Roya learn that she was spared a similar fate because her teacher admired her writing.Hakakian relates in the most poignant, and at times painful, ways what life was like for women after the country fell into the hands of Islamic fundamentalists who had declared an insidious war against them, but we see it all through the eyes of a strong, youthful optimist who somehow came up in the world believing that she was different, knowing she was special.A wonderfully evocative story, Journey from the Land of No reveals an Iran most readers have not encountered and re-creates a time and place dominated by religious fanaticism, violence, and fear with an open heart.