Imatge de l'autor

Anita Amirrezvani

Autor/a de The Blood of Flowers

4+ obres 2,199 Membres 111 Ressenyes 5 preferits

Sobre l'autor

Crèdit de la imatge: Anita Amirrezvani - Photo by Klaas Koppe

Obres de Anita Amirrezvani

The Blood of Flowers (2007) 1,935 exemplars
Equal of the Sun (2012) 252 exemplars
Tremors: New Fiction by Iranian American Writers (2013) — Editor; Col·laborador — 10 exemplars
OS FIOS DA FORTUNA (2007) 2 exemplars

Obres associades

Drivel: Deliciously Bad Writing by Your Favorite Authors (2014) — Col·laborador — 28 exemplars

Etiquetat

Coneixement comú

Nom normalitzat
Amirrezvani, Anita
Nom oficial
Amirrezvani, Anita
Data de naixement
1961-11-13
Gènere
female
Nacionalitat
Iran
Lloc de naixement
Teheran, Iran
Llocs de residència
Teheran, Iran
San Francisco, Californie, USA
Educació
Vassar College
University of Californië, Berkeley
Professions
Schrijfster
editor
Kunstcriticus
Danscriticus
Organitzacions
San Jose Mercury News
Contra Costa Times
California College of the Arts
Biografia breu

Born

November 13, 1961 in Tehran, Iran.

After my parents separated when I was two, I was raised by my mother in San Francisco. When I was thirteen, I began going to Iran on my own and spending time with my father’s side of the family. In San Francisco, my family was an intimate group that consisted of me, my mother and my aunt; in Tehran, a family dinner party was like a town hall meeting, huge and festive. I had eleven cousins and before long, two little brothers.
Isfahan

My father took me on a trip to Isfahan when I was fourteen, even though he was busy building his business and didn’t have much time for leisure. Because I loved art and architecture, he agreed to take me for two days. I remember being mesmerized by the great square of Isfahan and by the painted plasterwork on the staircase of our hotel, a former caravansary.

I decided to take a year off between high school and college and spend it in Iran. That year, 1979, turned out to be the fateful year of the Islamic Revolution. That summer, we heard gunfire and watched the sky turn black with smoke from fires. On my seventeenth birthday, the city was under an evening curfew. We went out for lunch and had cake at home. Less than ten days later, my father and stepmother decided the situation was unsafe. We packed up my brothers, who were one-and-a-half and three, and left for what we hoped would be a short time. It wasn’t.

The following fall, I started at Vassar College. I attended for two and a half years and then transferred to the University of California at Berkeley, where I majored in English. I loved school.

I’ve been a writer and editor all my life. Before selling my novel, I worked for ten years as a dance critic and arts writer at two newspapers in the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as an arts publicist. I felt very lucky to be able to write about dance, which unfortunately is getting less and less print coverage as newspapers downsize. I still write reviews now and then.

Membres

Ressenyes

For all the fiction I've read set in the 16th century, I don't know that I've read anything set in Persia, or what is now Iran. This tale of royal courts, intrigue, and overlooked women is just as interesting as the more often told tales of the Borgia Papacy or Tudor England. Told from the perspective an eunuch in the service of a royal princess, this novel hints at the power women had in a world that dismissed them. An interesting read and highly recommended for those interested in historical fiction set outside of Europe.… (més)
 
Marcat
wagner.sarah35 | Hi ha 21 ressenyes més | Oct 13, 2023 |
this was surprisingly compelling when i think about what i usually care about in a story. for some reason, the carpet making was fascinating to me, even as i don't really feel that i learned much about it. but i kind of feel like i could have read about that forever. i was so absorbed in the story that i didn't even notice that the main character wasn't named until over 1/3 of the way through, and then it was easily forgotten again. but i really like this aspect, maybe not quite for the reason the author meant, but because of how anonymous women are when covered from head to toe in a chador. how they are seen for their separate body parts and not who they are, like an unnamed narrator can be, but how we see how much more there is to her.

i really liked the interspersing of the folktales and oral stories passed down; it worked really well here. this was a really interesting look at an iran hundreds of years ago, and what life was like for a segment of the population. the idea of the temporary marriage, the sigheh, was particularly interesting, and i can see how it can both really help and really hurt someone, often at the same time.
… (més)
 
Marcat
overlycriticalelisa | Hi ha 88 ressenyes més | Jul 23, 2023 |
Ventana abierta a un mundo tan lejano como desconocido, rica en fascinantes detalles sobre la vida cotidiana en la Persia del siglo XVII, esta novela cuenta la historia de una joven audaz y perseverante que logra transformar su vida gracias a su extraordinario don para confeccionar alfombras. A los catorce años, tras la prematura muerte de su padre, la protagonista ve cómo sus posibilidades de matrimonio se desvanecen, lo que la obliga a marcharse del pueblo con su madre y trasladarse a la capital, Isfahán, donde un pariente lejano las acoge como sirvientas. Sin dote y condenada a depender de la caridad ajena, la joven huérfana no tendrá más remedio que aceptar un sigué, un contrato de matrimonio temporal, pero gracias a la ayuda de su tío, diseñador de alfombras en la corte del sah, tendrá ocasión de descubrir los secretos del antiguo arte de tejer alfombras, su tradición, el significado de sus dibujos y el origen vegetal de sus vibrantes colores.… (més)
 
Marcat
Natt90 | Hi ha 88 ressenyes més | Jul 19, 2022 |

"Equal to the Sun" equals a full three stars from me. Loosely based on the princess Pari Khan Khanoom Safavi, it's a story set in 1570's Iran. It's kind of funny that I've read about this time period set in England, Japan, Russia (well, book in queue), Hungary (Elizabeth Bathory), and Turkey/Malta. Now, it's Iran's turn.

The book opens with stomach churning introduction when a eunuch describes his castration to the princess. I had to walk away and return to the book. After that intro, I found the book slowing with reciting of poems and the maddening formalities and brown-nosing titles when addressing people. Was it the author's choice? Or do people really talk that way? Oh, light of the universe, please make it stop.

This is a book that dragged on some. The book's main plots were surviving the change in shahs .... and the protagonist's investigation for his father's death. I found the conclusion of the investigation anti-climatic and lacking wow factor. Author earns big points for shining the spotlight on a oft overlooked time period and place.

… (més)
 
Marcat
wellington299 | Hi ha 21 ressenyes més | Feb 19, 2022 |

Llistes

Premis

Potser també t'agrada

Autors associats

Persis Karim Editor, Contributor
Nahid Rachlin Contributor
Zohreh Ghahremani Contributor
Shideh Etaat Contributor
Maryam Mortaz Contributor
Ari Siletz Contributor
Omid Fallahazad Contributor
Erika Abrahamian Contributor
Dena Afrasiabi Contributor
Mehdi Tavana Okasi Contributor
Sholeh Wolpé Contributor
J. Kevin Shushtari Contributor
Marjan Kamali Contributor
Amy Motlagh Contributor
Leila Mansouri Contributor
Farnoosh Moshiri Contributor
Jasmin Darznik Contributor
Elizabeth Eslami Contributor
Taha Ebrahimi Contributor
Laleh Khadivi Contributor
Khalil Contributor
Amir Contributor
Sharon May Contributor
Gina Nahai Contributor
Nassim Assefi Contributor
Salar Abdoh Contributor
Mona Shomali Cover artist

Estadístiques

Obres
4
També de
1
Membres
2,199
Popularitat
#11,670
Valoració
3.9
Ressenyes
111
ISBN
68
Llengües
16
Preferit
5

Gràfics i taules