Rooftops of Tehran (44 page)
Q. Do you plan to write another novel? Do you know yet what it will be about?
A. I’m already halfway through the second book. It’s about a man who has four wives but feels he has been deprived of love all his life! I don’t have a title for it yet. And someday, I’m not at all sure when, I will certainly write a sequel to
Rooftops
. I just need some time away from it for now.
Rooftops
. I just need some time away from it for now.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. What’s your general reaction to the novel? Did the author make the characters come alive for you? Did you care about them? Were you fully engaged? Did you laugh and cry?
2. Does Pasha’s love for Zari remind you of the first time you fell in love? How is it similar? How is it different?
3. Ahmed, Faheemeh, Iraj, Doctor, Zari, and Pasha are young people in the Iran of the 1970s. How universal are the challenges they face? How common are their thoughts and feelings, discussions and interactions, reactions to authority, methods of going after what they want? Compare the young adults in the novel to ones you know in the U.S. today.
4. Do you agree with Doctor that time is the most precious human commodity?
5. What do you think about the open, unguarded nature of the male relationships in this novel, especially between Pasha and Ahmed? How would such a close male friendship in the U.S. be likely to differ?
6. Discuss the relationship between Pasha and his father. How is it similar to, or different from, the father-teenage son relationships you know?
7. Discuss the lives of the women in the novel. What surprises you about them and what doesn’t?
8. The concept of
That
is discussed a number of times. What does this concept mean to you? Is there a Western equivalent?
That
is discussed a number of times. What does this concept mean to you? Is there a Western equivalent?
9. What do you think motivates Zari’s bold and tragic action during the parade? Do you see her choice as honorable or delusional, or something in between? How might a Western woman in a similar predicament react?
10. What aspects of Persian culture most intrigue you? Did the novel change or challenge any of your notions about Iran and Iranians? What did you learn?
11. The narrator discusses the unique way in which people in Iran react to grief, and the author dramatizes many scenes of mourning. What surprised you about those scenes? How do the characters mourn differently from the way people do in the U.S.?
12. Discuss how characters in the novel perceive the U.S., both accurately and inaccurately. What factors might be limiting or distorting their understanding? What distortions might be shaping your own understanding of Iran and Iranians?
13. What do you think happens to Pasha after the book ends? To the other characters?
RECOMMENDED READING
History and Culture
A History of Modern Iran
by Ervand Abrahamian (Cam-bridge University Press, 2008)
by Ervand Abrahamian (Cam-bridge University Press, 2008)
Iran Between Two Revolutions
by Ervand Abrahamian (Princeton University Press, 1982)
by Ervand Abrahamian (Princeton University Press, 1982)
Targeting Iran
by Noam Chomsky, Ervand Abrahamian, Nahid Mozaffari (City Lights Bookstore, 2007)
by Noam Chomsky, Ervand Abrahamian, Nahid Mozaffari (City Lights Bookstore, 2007)
All the Shah’s Men
by Stephen Kinzer (John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2008)
by Stephen Kinzer (John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2008)
Iranian Culture
by Michael Hillmann (United Press of America, 1990)
by Michael Hillmann (United Press of America, 1990)
The Soul of Iran: A Nation’s Journey to Freedom
by Afshin Molavi (W. W. Norton, 2005)
by Afshin Molavi (W. W. Norton, 2005)
The History of Iran
by Elton Daniel (Greenwood Press, 2001)
by Elton Daniel (Greenwood Press, 2001)
Iran
by Richard Frye (Mazda Publishers, 2005)
by Richard Frye (Mazda Publishers, 2005)
The Heritage of Persia
by Richard Frye (Mazda Publishers, 1993)
by Richard Frye (Mazda Publishers, 1993)
Modern Iran: Roots and Results of Revolution
by Nikki R. Keddie (Yale University Press, 2006)
by Nikki R. Keddie (Yale University Press, 2006)
The Iran Agenda
by Ruse Erlich (Polipoint Press, 2007)
by Ruse Erlich (Polipoint Press, 2007)
Memoirs, Novels, Poetry
Funny in Farsi
by Firoozeh Dumas (Random House, 2004)
Reading Lolita in Tehran
by Azar Nafisi (Random House, 2004)
by Firoozeh Dumas (Random House, 2004)
Reading Lolita in Tehran
by Azar Nafisi (Random House, 2004)
House of Sand and Fog
by Andre Dubus III (Vintage Books, 1990)
by Andre Dubus III (Vintage Books, 1990)
My Uncle Napoleon
by Iraj Pezeshkzad, translated by Dick Davis (Mage Publishers, 2004)
by Iraj Pezeshkzad, translated by Dick Davis (Mage Publishers, 2004)
Epic and Sedition: The Case of Ferdowski Shahnameh
by Dick Davis (Mage, 2006)
by Dick Davis (Mage, 2006)
The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
by Omar Khayyam, translated by Edward Fitzgerald (Collier Books, 1962)
by Omar Khayyam, translated by Edward Fitzgerald (Collier Books, 1962)
The Love Poems of Ahmad Shamlu
by Firoozeh Papen-Martin (Ibex Publishers, 2005)
by Firoozeh Papen-Martin (Ibex Publishers, 2005)
Strange Times, My Dear
, edited by Nahid Mozaffari (Arcade Publishing, 2005)
, edited by Nahid Mozaffari (Arcade Publishing, 2005)
Neither East Nor West
by Christiane Bird (Washington Square Press, 2002)
by Christiane Bird (Washington Square Press, 2002)
Mahbod Seraji
was born in Iran and moved to the United States in 1976 at the age of nineteen. He attended the University of Iowa, where he received an MA in film and broadcasting and a Ph.D. in instructional design and technology. He currently works as a management consultant, and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
was born in Iran and moved to the United States in 1976 at the age of nineteen. He attended the University of Iowa, where he received an MA in film and broadcasting and a Ph.D. in instructional design and technology. He currently works as a management consultant, and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
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