The Immortals of Tehran

Starred review from February 1, 2020

DEBUT In this multigenerational novel, Araghi, winner of a Prairie Schooner Virginia Faulkner Award for Excellence in Writing, explores life in Tehran from the end of World War II to the final days of the Iran-Iraq War. At the story's center is Ahmad Torkash-Vand, an intelligent, sensitive poet who cannot physically speak. His poems not only speak for him but at their best make the paper they are written on glow and even ignite; at one point, a friend escapes from prison by etching lines from one of Ahmad's poems on the iron bars and padlocks that confine him, causing them to break. Introducing memorable characters as he chronicles Ahmad's family and pathway from childhood to esteemed poet to risk-taking politician, Araghi unfolds a poignant story of love, loss, and social upheaval. VERDICT A highly recommended literary page-turner worth a second reading; fans of Gabriel García Márquez will delight in this fantastical--and fantastic--work.--Lisa Rohrbaugh, Leetonia Community P.L., OH

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February 15, 2020
A poet navigates Iranian life and politics in the tumultuous years between World War II and the Islamic Revolution. Araghi's ambitious debut novel pivots around Ahmad, who was 10 years old when he witnessed his shellshocked father commit suicide. The incident at once strikes him silent and introduces him to some peculiar family lore, most prominently from a seemingly immortal great-great-great grandfather who is inexplicably still alive. Another relative is convinced that Ahmad is similarly blessed with seeming immortality, and Ahmad unquestionably leads a charmed life amid the chaos of the Iranian capital: He survives the country's postwar famine and rises from street brawling to becoming a poet whose words are so fierce they emit light. Writing under the pseudonym Silent Fist, Ahmad soon becomes a much-discussed figure in both literary and political circles. Araghi braids Ahmad's story with an uncle's obsession with the movements of cats around Tehran, which allegedly predict the country's fate; and with an ever branching family tree full of activists, politicians, and poets. Ahmad's professional and personal trek is compelling, but it also feels smothered by the competing storylines, which reflect Araghi's urge to not miss a moment in Iran's 20th-century history, from the postwar rise of Mohammed Mosaddegh to the 1953 coup to the shah's exile. There are striking moments that capture the national drama (as when a tank crashes through a movie theater as if it were leaping off the screen), but Araghi is strongest at more intimate moments of courtship and parenting, and his zigzagging from blunt scenes of torture to magical realist imagery of Ahmad's words cutting through metal makes the story feel lacking in a tonal center. An admirable if overencumbered family saga.

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February 24, 2020
Araghi’s impactful debut follows the rise of a poet with magical powers that emerge during the Iranian revolution. At 10 years old, Ahmad Torkash-Vand lives in the village of Tajrish. His father, returned from the front lines of WWII after serving with a group of British-led volunteers, is overcome with despair over the country’s future and fatally shoots himself, with help from his unwitting son. After his father’s suicide, Ahmad becomes mute and turns to poetry. As tension in Iran mounts and the revolution unfolds, Ahmad’s grandfather Khan, still living at an advanced age, cites a myth told decades earlier by Khan’s grandfather about a kingdom of cats as a prophesy of the country’s turmoil, and the omniscient narrator describes cats working behind the scenes to incite turmoil and even acting as snipers firing on government troops. Meanwhile, Ahmad, now in his 40s and estranged from his wife, writes a love poem so powerful that it burns through anything that it is written upon and becomes a tool for the revolutionaries. While certain cultural and historical references may be lost on readers not familiar with Persian history and mythology, the narrative of Ahmad’s journey is engrossing. Araghi’s skillful combination of revolutionary politics and magical realism will please fans of Alejo Carpentier. Agent: Alison Lewis, Zoë Pagnamenta Agency.

March 1, 2020
Araghi's debut novel introduces Ahmad, a ten-year-old boy living in a small Iranian village, on the day of his sister's wedding and his father's death. Ahmad is struck silent from that day forward, communicating by mouthing words and writing in a notebook. After his father dies, Ahamd's seemingly centuries-old great-great-great-great grandfather tells him about a legendary curse that befalls every other son in the family line. Ahmad's grandfather Khan alternately ignores the stories about the curse and seeks to protect Ahmad from its wrath. Ahmad's early life in his grandfather's orchards is peaceful until famine and Russian attacks force the family to move to Tehran. Ahmad grows into adulthood against a backdrop of the country's tumultuous history, from the Russian occupation following WWII through the Revolution in the late 1970s. His life takes him to poetry, to love, and to his own place as a family patriarch. Following multiple generations, this family epic unfurls with elements of magical realism. Readers will enjoy Araghi's vivid imagery and personification of complex histories.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)