Lipstick Jihad

January 17, 2005
Time
reporter Moaveni, the American-born child of Iranian exiles, spent two years (2000–2001) working in Tehran. Although she reports on the overall tumult and repression felt by Iranians between the 1999 pro-democracy student demonstrations and the 2002 "Axis of Evil" declaration, the book's dominant story is more intimate. Moaveni was on a personal search "to figure out my relationship" to Iran. Neither her adolescent ethnic identity conundrums nor her idyllic memories of a childhood visit prepared her for the realities she confronted as she navigated Iran, learning its rules, restrictions and taboos—and how to evade and even exploit them like a local. Because she was a journalist, the shadowy, unnerving presence of an Iranian intelligence agent/interrogator hovered continually ("it would be useful if we saw your work before publication," he told her). Readers also get intimate glimpses of domestic life: Moaveni lived among family and depicts clandestine partying, women's gyms and the popularity of cosmetic surgery. Eventually, Moaveni became "more at home than was" in Iran, and a visit to the U.S. showed how Moaveni, who now lives in Beirut, had grown unaccustomed to American life, "where my Iranian instincts served no purpose." Lipstick Jihad
is a catchy title, but its flippancy does a disservice to Moaveni's nuanced narrative. Agent, Diana Finch. (Mar.)

Forecast:
This work, as well as Afschineh Latifi's
Even After All This Time, reviewed above, joins the recent explosion of memoirs by women about living in Iran, and could be displayed alongside Marjane Satrapi's
Persepolis, Roya Hakakian's
Journey from the Land of No and Azar Nafisi's
Reading Lolita in Tehran.

June 1, 2005
Adult/High School -Moaveni went to Tehran to report for "Time" -to find out both the truth about Iran and, she hoped, her -authentic self. - One of the strongest memoirs written about being trapped between two countries, the book begins with the author as a young Californian who told friends she was -Persian. - Secretly enthralled by the country her parents left during the Islamic Revolution, she wanted to love Iran and determined to give it a chance. She quickly adapted to not smoking or smiling in public. She learned how dating boys and girls seen together on the street are subject to being beaten by the police. During her time in Iran, certain regulations relaxed: veils and "roopooshes" became available in an array of colors. Citizens pulled off the occasional wild party in the street. There were things she could not accept -as when a friend of hers was caught with a bottle of wine and fined 30 lashes. The author writes well about the aftermath of 9/11 -feeling -suspect - in the U.S. and tensing under the weight of President Bush's naming Iran as part of an -Axis of Evil. - She includes many stories about Iranians with varying situations and perspectives. Her book is an excellent introduction to the country's recent history and the Islamic Revolution. It makes fine reading both for those who will identify with the author and for those who are curious about how teens in very different countries negotiate their lives." -Emily Lloyd, Stephen J. Betze Library, Georgetown, DE"

Copyright 2005 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2005
For anyone unfamiliar with Iran, mention of the country may call to mind the image of a fundamentalist "Dark Age" in which religion rules and Western culture is shunned. This is not the whole picture, according to journalist Moaveni ("Time", the "Los Angeles Times"). Moaveni, an Iranian American who grew up in California, decided to embark on a journey in spring 2000 to rediscover her Iranian heritage. In this account, she successfully conveys the tensions she observed between the fundamentalist mullahs and younger Iranians, who are pushing for a more Westernized, modern Iran; indeed, many readers will be surprised at the level of sophistication and culture Moaveni found in this "axis of evil" state. In addition to her journalistic commentary, Moaveni presents her personal journey as she realizes that she must embrace both her American and her Iranian selves. Like Afschineh Latifi's recent "Even After All This Time: A Story of Love, Revolution, and Leaving Iran", this book shows a young woman's attempt to fit into a society very different from the one in which she grew up. A charming and informative memoir; recommended for public and academic libraries. -Maria C. Bagshaw, Lake Erie Coll., Painesville, OH

Copyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2005
After growing up in suburban California, where she never felt fully comfortable, Moaveni moved in 2000 to Iran, the land her parents had fled. Although she spent her childhood aching to live in Tehran, the place she discovers is nothing like she imagined--and, indeed, not what most of us imagine, either. She describes a sprawling city choked by smog and traffic; people "preoccupied by sex in the manner of dieters constantly thinking about food"; and, of course, the volunteer Morality Police, whose brazen cruelty has to be read about to be believed. Moaveni has captured Tehran's youth, the "student demonstrators" often in the news, in both their worldliness and their ignorance. And although much of the writing tells more than it shows, Moaveni is riveting when she works her way into a scene--capturing, for instance, the horror of a girl who must not react when the Morality Police beat her boyfriend lest they find out she is breaking " shariah " by dating. Not quite " Persepolis" without the pictures, but good stuff all the same. -- (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)