The Colonel

June 25, 2012
Dowlatabadi (Missing Soluch) is regarded as one of Iran's greatest novelists, yet this work, 25 years in the making, is banned in his native country. This fact alone is evidence of the difficulties that have long plagued Iran, and this novel stands as a testament to that struggle. Set during the Iran-Iraq War, the book follows the colonel, a devout patriot and soldier, as he grapples with the fates of his children, all condemned in one way or another by the revolution and its aftermath. On a miserably wet night, the colonel is tasked with burying his youngest daughter, 14-year-old Parvaneh, killed for handing out anti-regime pamphlets on the street. As he wanders through town in search of a pick and shovel with which to bury her, his thoughts spiral to the downfall of his family, and he wonders to what extent he bears responsibility: "The colonel felt guilty, tooâguilty for the very existence of his children, or lack of it, as the case may be. He bore the burden of the offences of each one of his offspring on his shoulders." Unfortunately, for unfamiliar with Iranian history, the book is a confusion of events, names, and historical figures entwined in the colonel's personal narrative. There is no clear arc, and Patterdale's explanatory notes do little to help solve the ambiguities of the plot. The novel may be a bold statement decrying a country's troubled past, but the message will be lost on the average reader.

April 1, 2012
Iranian novelist Dowlatabadi (Missing Soluch, 1979, etc.) re-imagines the life of a fabled Persian patriot against the bloody backdrop of the Islamic Revolution. We see the revolution through the eyes of the Colonel, an officer in the Shah's army, a figure largely based on Mohammad Taqi Khan Pesyan, who led a partially successful Persian revolution in 1921 and was lionized after his assassination. As the novel opens, the Colonel is taken in the dead of night to collect his daughter's body from the prosecutor's office. From there, the book jumps back and forth to show the Colonel at his height and the struggles of the officer and his son Amir as the Ayatollah returns and the Shah is forced into exile. The military man's five children represent different factions within Iranian society, and nearly all come to tortuous or violent ends. Patterdale offers up a fine translation of Dowlatabadi's book, gently guiding Western readers through its complex maze of political intrigue and moral failings with restrained footnotes, a rich glossary and a thoughtful afterword. At its core, the book is about the inherent corruption that power inspires and the toll it takes on the people under its long shadow. A demanding and richly composed book by a novelist who stands apart.

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July 1, 2012

In this powerful novel, longlisted for the Man Asian Literary Award, Iranian writer/actor Dowlatabadi has created a vivid account of the changing political ideologies of Iran and their influence on the country's unceasingly oppressed citizens. The political and social history of Iran is depicted through the lives of the Colonel and his five children. This narrative technique allows Dowlatabadi to comment on the various regimes controlling the country and its people and to encompass a significant span of Iranian political history within the framework of his story. Through Dowlatabadi's skilled interweaving of cultural and historical references, events ranging from the Shah's regime to the 1979 revolution to the country's war with Iraq are portrayed through their impact on the family. The story of the Colonel's regrettable past unfolds alongside flashbacks detailing the disillusionment and suffering of his children. VERDICT An important and compelling novel that will unquestionably be appreciated by readers with an interest in the political history of Iran and its societal effect.--Catherine Tingelstad, Pitt Community Coll. Lib., Greenville, NC

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2012
In Missing Soluch (2007), Dowlatabadi dramatized the effects of intragenerational strife on a rural family of meager means and received praise for his unique use of Farsi, the everyday language of the Iranian proletariat. In this novel, composed over the course of 25 years and still unpublished in Iran due to problems with state censors, Dowlatabadi again tells a story of familial dissent and political struggle, this time with a troubled, unnamed colonel at the tumultuous center of his five children's spiraling lives. The colonel must reconcile his liberal principles and the stark reality of Islamist rule when he's forced to pay for the reclamation and hasty burial of a daughter who dies of what American readers will recognize as enhanced interrogation techniques. The colonel laments the unintended aftershocks of the Iranian political left's greatest coup, the deposition of the Shah in 1979, which gave rise to the radicalized regime. Translator Patterdale's instructive glossary and afterword afford valuable geopolitical context for Dowlatabadi's stirring tale replete with the hideous viscera of violent confrontation.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)