Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Only This Beautiful Moment

Only This Beautiful Moment (OTBM) by Abdi Nazemian is a beautifully written novel that to me is about love. Romantic love, yes, but also love of family, community, and culture.

I read this novel in three days which is extremely rare for me, and I kind of wish I'd taken more time to fully absorb all the points Nazemian was making in what for him, is a deeply personal story.

The novel is narrated by three young men from three generations of an Iranian family: Moud, an out gay Iranian-American in 2019, his father Saeed, an Iranian engineering student sent away for his safety among growing calls for revolution in 1978, and finally, Bobby in 1939 - a young man who has no idea of his heritage, and whose American stage mother is determined to turn her handsome son into a movie star.

Aside from love, one of the main themes of OTBM is about injustice and the many forms it takes, and the difficulty of fighting that injustice when the odds are stacked against you. Racism, homophobia, transphobia, colonialism, sexism, xenophobia - Nazemian touches on all of these issues, some more briefly than others but nevertheless still impactful. It also talks about the blind spot that exists in Western society when it comes to people of different ethnicities, depicted here in the conversations between Moud and his American boyfriend, Shane.

Shane - whose family has accepted his sexuality with open arms - cannot understand why Moud's father is uncomfortable with Moud being gay and doesn't seem to grasp the nuances of Iranian LGBTQIA+ folk carving out meaningful lives for themselves under an authoritarian regime that would rather they didn't exist.

A minor criticism I did have was that there were times at which I felt a disconnect between myself and the main characters like I was viewing them from behind a glass wall. However, that may have been because I was reading too fast to be able to process my feelings properly.

This was a stunning, important read.

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pey333's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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imstephtacular's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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marleywrites's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I loved that while reading this book, not only did I laugh and cry, but I also learned so much about Iranian culture and family dynamics. Three generations of the same family, connected not only by blood but by circumstance. The way the truth tumbled out and how they were so intentional about sharing the truth after years of either avoidance or cover ups was especially beautiful to me. It’s not often we see vulnerable, emotional men in media so I appreciated this loving depiction of this family despite the tenseness as well.

I really enjoyed the women of this book as well. They were all strong and I loved how they knew what they needed.

This book was really fantastic and I enjoyed almost everything about it. I was rooting for Moud and Bobby so much, and I was so relieved to see their respective personal relationships develop. Saeed, I had a bit of trouble connecting with due to the homophobia, however I appreciated his character arc and I’m proud of his development. Every queer person knows a young Saeed (circa before accepting his family), and it was both frustrating and interesting to read his thoughts.

My only question at the end of the book is, did Bobby/Baba make up his illness’s severity? Because he did not seem sick in the book. He used a wheelchair but it did not seem like he was at the end of his life at all. He was still very active and cognizant and he was never taking medications or seeing doctors. I was expecting that to be another focus of the story.

Overall I was very pleased with this book and devoured it in two days! Looking forward to more from this author. Thank you to Balzar + Bray and NetGalley for this e-arc.

Content Warnings

legalplanner's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

This was such an interesting read coming after the Chander Legacies from Nazemain. The story's three different perspectives gave an insight into the generation trauma, both the growth and sad delays in the evolution of a country.

By setting this against the back drop of three different men in the history of Mahmouds family you get to see how each of them struggled with who they were and how they would manage to go beyond this and become a stronger family.

At first I wasn't totally sure how all of these stories were going to intersect or even come together to what they did. I am so glad that I was able to read this in advance and can say that this is another amazing LGBTQIA+ and Own Voices novel from Nazemain.

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