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book_concierge's review against another edition
3.0
3.5***
For this historical thriller, Hellmann has chosen the time frame of 1977-1980, during the Iranian Revolution. Anna Schroder meets fellow grad student Nouri Samedi in a Chicago bookstore. They share a love of poetry, which is what begins their relationship. Despite their different cultures, they find in each other qualities which complete them, and fall in love. But when they return to Nouri’s native Iran, Anna is confronted with a greater cultural and religious divide than she had anticipated.
Hellmann has obviously done her research and she presents both sides of the many issues that resulted in the rise of the Ayatollah Khomeini (at least in my opinion). I found the lead characters rather naïve, but I reminded myself of their youth and idealism and how each had been somewhat sheltered by his/her family, and went with the flow. I was completely caught up in the story of Anna’s increasing isolation, the limited (or lack of) options, and her resolve.
In the Author Note at the end of the novel, Hellmann explains how the idea for the book came to her – her fascination with a story of one woman’s struggle against seemingly insurmountable obstacles. But, she says, she felt stymied because the story had no crime, and she writes crime fiction. So, on the advice of a friend she invented a crime around which to build her plot. I have news for Hellmann – she does a fine job of writing fiction without the crime (which, in this case, I felt resolved a little too neatly). What I found most interesting about the book was Anna’s journey from a naïve college student to a strong and resourceful young woman.
I’ve passed the book on to my husband, who loves reading about international issues and intrigue. I’m sure he’ll enjoy it as much as I did.
For this historical thriller, Hellmann has chosen the time frame of 1977-1980, during the Iranian Revolution. Anna Schroder meets fellow grad student Nouri Samedi in a Chicago bookstore. They share a love of poetry, which is what begins their relationship. Despite their different cultures, they find in each other qualities which complete them, and fall in love. But when they return to Nouri’s native Iran, Anna is confronted with a greater cultural and religious divide than she had anticipated.
Hellmann has obviously done her research and she presents both sides of the many issues that resulted in the rise of the Ayatollah Khomeini (at least in my opinion). I found the lead characters rather naïve, but I reminded myself of their youth and idealism and how each had been somewhat sheltered by his/her family, and went with the flow. I was completely caught up in the story of Anna’s increasing isolation, the limited (or lack of) options, and her resolve.
In the Author Note at the end of the novel, Hellmann explains how the idea for the book came to her – her fascination with a story of one woman’s struggle against seemingly insurmountable obstacles. But, she says, she felt stymied because the story had no crime, and she writes crime fiction. So, on the advice of a friend she invented a crime around which to build her plot. I have news for Hellmann – she does a fine job of writing fiction without the crime (which, in this case, I felt resolved a little too neatly). What I found most interesting about the book was Anna’s journey from a naïve college student to a strong and resourceful young woman.
I’ve passed the book on to my husband, who loves reading about international issues and intrigue. I’m sure he’ll enjoy it as much as I did.
lorac91383's review against another edition
3.0
An interesting perspective on the Iranian revolution. There are some character flip-flops that are a bit too extreme to be realistic but the realities of being a foreign woman in a strict theocracy are honestly portrayed.
meenuxx's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.75
knjimmy's review against another edition
5.0
The story took twists and turns that I never saw coming. Not only did I enjoy the plot, I really enjoyed learning about the Iranian culture.
samhouston's review
4.0
Libby Fischer Hellman is best known for the mysteries featuring strong female leads she writes, but her latest is more like last year’s Set the Night on Fire in which Hellmann took a more literary approach to a specific period of American history (the radicalism of the 1960s). With A Bitter Veil, the author focuses on the series of events that would lead both to the rise to power in Iran of the infamous Ayatollah Khomeini and to the downfall of American president Jimmy Carter. What makes the novel such a compelling read is Hellmann’s skill at recounting this turning point in the relationship of the two countries through the eyes of a rather naïve young American woman who falls in love with an Iranian student she meets in Chicago. Similar stories have, sadly, happened all too often in the real world during the last three decades.
Abby would like a family within which she can feel secure and protected, but she has the opposite. She is not particularly close to either of her parents; in fact, her mother has lived in her own native France for most of Abby’s life. Her physical and emotional response to Nouri, the young Iranian student she meets in a Chicago bookstore both surprises and pleases her. From almost the moment they meet, the two young people are inseparable and Anna dares to hope for a long future with Nouri. She is willing, almost eager, to follow him back to Iran to begin life there as a married woman.
As fate would have it, the couple returns to Iran at precisely the moment the Shah’s power and his hold on the government are slipping away forever. So gradually that Anna fails to recognize the warning signs, Nouri changes from the religiously liberal man she married into a strict follower of Islam. Nouri, whose father is close to the Shah and has become wealthy through his political connections, makes the change largely to ensure his own economic survival. Anna can understand the necessity of wearing the veil in public but in reality she becomes her husband’s prisoner - never allowed to leave their home alone. Worse, she learns that because she married in Iran she cannot leave the country legally without her husband’s permission. Nouri swears he will never allow her to leave.
The Bitter Veil is the story of a typical young American who finds herself tested in ways that the average, naïve American could not imagine in the late 1970s that they would ever be tested. The things that happen to her are simply not supposed to happen to an American – but when they do she must rise to the occasion if she hopes to survive long enough to escape Iran.
I do have one warning about the novel’s ending: do not begin the final segment (you will recognize it when you get there) unless there is time to finish the rest of A Bitter Veil before bedtime. Consider yourself warned.
Abby would like a family within which she can feel secure and protected, but she has the opposite. She is not particularly close to either of her parents; in fact, her mother has lived in her own native France for most of Abby’s life. Her physical and emotional response to Nouri, the young Iranian student she meets in a Chicago bookstore both surprises and pleases her. From almost the moment they meet, the two young people are inseparable and Anna dares to hope for a long future with Nouri. She is willing, almost eager, to follow him back to Iran to begin life there as a married woman.
As fate would have it, the couple returns to Iran at precisely the moment the Shah’s power and his hold on the government are slipping away forever. So gradually that Anna fails to recognize the warning signs, Nouri changes from the religiously liberal man she married into a strict follower of Islam. Nouri, whose father is close to the Shah and has become wealthy through his political connections, makes the change largely to ensure his own economic survival. Anna can understand the necessity of wearing the veil in public but in reality she becomes her husband’s prisoner - never allowed to leave their home alone. Worse, she learns that because she married in Iran she cannot leave the country legally without her husband’s permission. Nouri swears he will never allow her to leave.
The Bitter Veil is the story of a typical young American who finds herself tested in ways that the average, naïve American could not imagine in the late 1970s that they would ever be tested. The things that happen to her are simply not supposed to happen to an American – but when they do she must rise to the occasion if she hopes to survive long enough to escape Iran.
I do have one warning about the novel’s ending: do not begin the final segment (you will recognize it when you get there) unless there is time to finish the rest of A Bitter Veil before bedtime. Consider yourself warned.
nickimags's review
2.0
This was too long and drawn out for me, although I did enjoy the historical part of it. I didn't enjoy the romantic elements as I found them too repetitive and nauseating. I gave up half way through as it wasn't getting any faster.
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