GoodReads.com gave me the option to post this review to my blog, so I guess I will

Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America by Firoozeh Dumas

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I brought this book home in a ridiculously big stack from the library a couple weeks ago, when I was in the middle of a deep funk. What a great read! It was definitely a good choice and provided some sunny breaks in the clouds. I typically enjoy reading collections of personal remembrances and this book was no exception to that rule. Like Haven Kimmel, another of my favorite memoirists, Firoozeh Dumas is my contemporary, and that made the page-turning all the more enjoyable as I found common ground with her.

Funny in Farsi is full of good-hearted spirit, and is a real celebration of family love, in all its quirky glory, and also of culture, that which we inherit and that which we choose. Ms. Dumas' voice is at once humorous and kind, a winning (and, it seems, an increasingly rare) combination. Anyone who can appreciate and deliver life's many ironies while never failing to be generous is alright by me.

I would be hard pressed to pick a favorite chapter from this book, but two of the later stories that got me howling were about Ms. Dumas' wedding and about a bird-beaked librarian from Berkeley. I hope to see more memoirs from this author in years to come.

If you're having a tough week, you really must give this book a try. It's as good as a day on the beach for lifting the heart.

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