Saved by Beauty

Starred review from February 7, 2011
As a young man, British-American author Housden (Chasing Rumi) found himself drawn to Iran—its poetry, music, and even the signature blue color of its mosques, but only in his 60s was he able to visit the country and attempt to unlock its secrets. "The image of Iran as a dark and scary place," writes Housden, "remains a difficult one to dislodge from the collective imagination…I wanted to see if the Iran of today could give substance and value to the images I had cherished for decades." A lyrical panorama of contemporary Persian politics and culture, this book gives contour and nuance to our idea of Iran, and introduces us to complex, very memorable characters—from the artists who refuse to live elsewhere, despite governmental limitations, to the poetry-quoting intelligence agents who threaten the author with prison.

February 15, 2011

The eloquent account of a Western poet's encounters with the land, culture and people of Iran.

When Housden (Ten Poems to Change Your Life, 2007, etc.) was a young man living in London in the early 1970s, he fell profoundly and permanently in love with Iranian literature, music, art and architecture. His vision of and attachment to Iran were highly idealized, however, based on second-hand cultural experiences that were "never tested by reality." In 2007, as he was casting about for his next writing project, he had a flash of intuition. He would undertake an exploration of "the other Iran," the country behind the politics and sensationalist headlines. The guides along this journey would include Rumi, the Persian mystic poet he had held close to his heart since youth; outspoken artists, thinkers, politicians and spiritual leaders; and everyday men and women. In his travels across Iran, Housden discovered a vibrant country made all the livelier by its abundant internal contradictions. Though austere on the surface with its apparent adherence to the fundamentalist tenets of Islam, Iran was a place where anything—from alcohol, Western films, drugs and sex—could be "delivered like a pizza" and where nose jobs and "Elvis haircuts" were the most popular and pervasive forms of social rebellion. At the same time, it was also a place steeped in tradition and a magnificent history that had deeply impacted the cultural and religious development of the West. But most movingly of all for Housden, a self-proclaimed romantic, Iran was where "Beauty [was] one of the names for God."

Elegantly soulful and uplifting.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

March 15, 2011

Housden, a British transplant to California known for his poetry anthologies (e.g., Ten Poems To Change Your Life) and his writing about spiritual journeys (e.g., Sacred Journeys in a Modern World), here documents his travels to Iran in late 2008 and early 2009. The narrative flows seamlessly as the author visits Tehran, paradise gardens in Shiraz, the Pasargadae archaeological site where Cyrus the Great is buried, Persepolis, the Jewish quarter in Yazd, Esfaha-n, Sanandaj, Mashhad, Neysha-bu-r, Tu-s, Kermanshah, Ahvaz, and Turkey's Bursa and Konya, as well as surrounding settlements, plains, deserts, and mountainous areas. Along the way, he encounters fascinating characters including film assistants, actors, theater directors, musicians, performance artists, sheikhs, and ordinary folks. Readers will learn about the significance of Sufi poets Rumi and Ha-fez to Housden's spirituality and worldviews. His harrowing ordeal exiting the country starts and ends this compelling travelog. VERDICT Poetry lovers and adventurers alike will appreciate this work.--Elizabeth Connor, The Citadel, Military Coll. of South Carolina, Lib., Charleston

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from April 15, 2011
Both readers new to Housden and fans of his poetry will treasure this memorable account of what may be a once-in-a-lifetime trip. Even better, his insights are also sure to inform and maybe even re-form preconceived notions many hold about Iran. Housden acknowledges he has long been fascinated by this ancient country, its culture, and its poets but had not visited it until the winter of 200809. His fine prose constructs an enchanting picture book of Irans majestic architectural achievements. From his visit to the locale where writing was invented to his conversations with Iranian artists and philosophers of today, Housden shines a light on an Iran few Westerners will ever glimpse. These are young, creative people who are striving to marry the best of Irans culture, its 6,000-year-old roots, with the best of a new, secular culture that prizes the freedoms of speech and religion as well as gender equality. He is much inspired by Irans gleaming mosques and these sophisticated individuals, even though he is interrogated and threatened with imprisonment by representatives of Irans paranoid government. It is impossible not to lose oneself in Housdens many-faceted narrative.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)