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A review by elenajohansen
Rosewater: A Family's Story of Love, Captivity, and Survival by Maziar Bahari, Aimee Molloy
4.0
I regret that it took me so long to read this book, as I remember when its events were current. I was a huge Daily Show fan and watched the story unfold through that lens. It was strange to go back to that time.
The book itself comes across as an honest, forthright account of Bahari's experiences surrounding his imprisonment, with a strong emphasis on family as the title suggests. The discussion of his (and others') physical torture is minimized but not ignored. The psychological torture is more present but less gruesome to read about from this safe distance.
I didn't find it quite as gripping as I expected, whether from the years' removal from the story's immediacy, or from the lack of a certain spark to the narration. I don't wish for this story to be sensationalized and I'm certainly not clamoring for lurid details, but somehow the style of this felt flatter to me than it should. Perhaps because so much of it felt like a textbook, when Bahari capably explained Iranian politics to non-Iranian me; that context was necessary for much of his ordeal to make sense, but it was relatively dry and factual compared to his own personal account.
Because I waited so long to read this, though, I saw unpleasant similarities to government behavior towards the press here in the US. Not that things have progressed that far--journalists have been beaten in the streets by police for covering this year's protests, but as far as I know, not imprisoned--but I couldn't help feeling chilled at seeing a possible future based on the current efforts to delegitimize the free press.
The book itself comes across as an honest, forthright account of Bahari's experiences surrounding his imprisonment, with a strong emphasis on family as the title suggests. The discussion of his (and others') physical torture is minimized but not ignored. The psychological torture is more present but less gruesome to read about from this safe distance.
I didn't find it quite as gripping as I expected, whether from the years' removal from the story's immediacy, or from the lack of a certain spark to the narration. I don't wish for this story to be sensationalized and I'm certainly not clamoring for lurid details, but somehow the style of this felt flatter to me than it should. Perhaps because so much of it felt like a textbook, when Bahari capably explained Iranian politics to non-Iranian me; that context was necessary for much of his ordeal to make sense, but it was relatively dry and factual compared to his own personal account.
Because I waited so long to read this, though, I saw unpleasant similarities to government behavior towards the press here in the US. Not that things have progressed that far--journalists have been beaten in the streets by police for covering this year's protests, but as far as I know, not imprisoned--but I couldn't help feeling chilled at seeing a possible future based on the current efforts to delegitimize the free press.