Excellent writing, characters, and story

"We Heard the Heavens Then" is Aria Minu-Sepehr's memoir of his brief childhood in Iran. The book covers moments in his life up until he is ten. The book is extremely well-written with vignettes and anecdotes interspersed throughout moments of crisis.

In many ways, this book is an homage to the author's father, a larger than life general in the Iranian air force before the revolution. As such, Minu-Sepehr lives a sheltered life on a remote base. He is aware of and uncomfortable with the privilege he is given by guards, servants, his extended family, and his father, who encourages the child's experimentation with the world as his playground. Looking back on this time, the author offers wonderful insights into his relationship with class. He knows that it isn't fair for him to drive a dune buggy at age ten while other children sell vegetables on the street. The author is only vaguely aware of the revolution's trembling outside the base until his family escapes to Tehran.

The writing is fluid and enjoyable, despite the occasional use of silly SAT vocabulary words - perhaps this is just a pet peeve of mine. The book is thoroughly readable and one of the most engaging books I have read in a long time. I recommend it. ( )

This memoir of a young boy living in Iran as revolution strikes was a compelling book. Young Aria lived a life of privilege as the son of one of the generals of the shah's elite air force. His father, called Baba in the book was a mythic man to young Aria - capable of doing almost anything. Men snapped to his orders and he seemed almost god-like to a young boy. If he wanted a lake in the desert there would be a lake in the desert!

Aria was a very intelligent young man and soon realized that times were changing in his country without perhaps understanding why. His parents tried to keep him cushioned from the worst of what was going on around them but the fear that permeated the country's elite class could not escape the household. As their house at the air force base on which they lived was surrounded by revolutionaries Aria's mother stood firm until an escape could be made to Tehran. Soon another escape need be made - this time to London, then to the US.

The book reads almost like a novel. Mr. Menu-Sepehr's writing carries you along with his young self. You are aware of the progression of events going on in the greater world but the story is really about a young boy growing up in a changing world and the love he has for his father. A father both myth and man. ( )