NOVEL

Rooftops of Tehran
By Mahbod Seraji
NAL Trade (2009)

REVIEW
Rooftops of Tehran is first and foremost a tale of love.  The story is told by a 17 year old resident of a middle class neighborhood in Tehran who takes the reader into his world of love, friendship, family, community, politics, history and culture. The story is set in earlyu 70’s Tehran when the country had a semblance of comfort for the likes of Pasha’s family but at the same time limited their progress.  Pasha is a sensitive boy who shares with the readers the stories within the stories that take place in his neighborhood and its roof tops.

Mr. Seraji has done a tremendous job in developing the characters in this novel.  The relationship Pasha has with his parents, his friend Ahmed, the girl next door - Zari – the Doctor, Zari’s betrothed are well explored and exquisitely told.  As such Seraji manages, through his words, to create a deep connection between the reader and the characters.  It is in this atmosphere of familiarity that Seraji succeeds in educating the reader on  the politics of the time, the rites and rituals, the oppression, the frustrations, the intricate nuances of the Iranian society and its manifold modes of communication.  His descriptions of simple friendships of youth and pure unadulterated love are simply magnificent.  

This is a rich tale of emotions as Seraji balances action dialogue well with Pasha’s thoughts.  The simple language Seraji employs ought not be mistaken for his lack of proficiency in English.  The reader must remember the story is being told from the vantage point of a  teenager, who naturally, at his age, has little knowledge of complexities of language and a society as convoluted as that found in early 70’s Tehran.  Pasha is innocent, naïve, honest and sometimes gullible.  Not all of his contemporaries are like him and that is what makes him unique to tell this tale.  Pasha is a thinker and the reader is thus treated to many of his deep thoughts, flighty fantasies and vivid dreams.

Rooftops of Tehran touches on every human experience from love to loss. Seraji unabashedly poses the questions for which answers simply did not exist. His deep awareness of the human spirit shows through Pasha’s character, who while naïve, is a logical and extremely emotional character trying desperately to make sense of the insanity around him.  The reader is lost in the tale just as Pasha is lost and thus finds himself more than simply empathizing with the protagonist. The reader feels the emotions just as deeply as Pasha does – thanks to the brilliant story-telling of Seraji.  Seraji captures the delicate and poignant action of Pasha to plant a rose bush in the street for the martyr from the neighborhood.  This is offered as a means of opposition to the rulers of the time.  What is incredible is that the neighborhood keeps the plant alive while Pasha is away and thus the author conveys to the reader the spirit of the community, its solidarity against the despotic regime of the time – through one simple rose bush.

I wept reading Seraji’s novel, not because of his recount of the politics of the time, nor for his excellent account of family traditions and rites.  What made Seraji’s tale unique was the manner in which he made the characters real for me so that I could identify with many.  I could identify with Pasha and his love for family, his wish to pursue arts in college but having to come to terms with his father’s decision about his studies.  I felt what Pasha did sitting on that rooftop imagining the love of his life talk with him.  I could identify with Zari for loving Doctor and the sacrifices she undertook and I understood her for loving Pasha also feeling no guilt.  I could identify with Zari’s parents who feared for their lives and yet were able to overcome calamity and not lose their humanity in the process.  The imagery was vivid, the tale gripping; there were times that I could almost smell the pheromones on those teenagers on Shahnaz Avenue.

Rooftops of Tehran is the first novel I have read by an Iranian-American male. I found it refreshing and unique.  I congratulate Mr. Seraji for his first novel and for treating the readers to a glimpse of a life now well past but thankfully captured in words for the generations to come.

>>> See rooftopsoftehran.com