Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

The Stationery Shop of Tehran by Marjan Kamali

4 reviews

arnoles's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad 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? No

4.75

This was a absolutely beautiful, gorgeous book. The love story was powerful and moving and the theme of societal/family expectations and personal desire was expressed beautifully. The time jump and the occasional switch in character focus was used perfectly. I learned a lot about Iranian history and Persian culture from this book as well. Definitely have tissues ready for the last 50 or so pages.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, and Grief

Moderate: Death of parent, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Miscarriage, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Cancer and Xenophobia

crakandra's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Xenophobia and Suicide attempt

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-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

5.0

this absolutely wrecked me. i cried in public reading this. 

it was so enlightening on the tribulations many Iranian people faced during that time. i felt my heart break when the characters faced grief and loss, which is hard for an author to achieve. 

i would recommend this 1000%, please just check trigger warnings!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Miscarriage, War, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Medical content, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Blood, Cancer, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Violence, Abandonment, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Classism, Colonisation, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Grief, Infertility, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pregnancy, and Suicide attempt

kaiulanilee's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Overall I loved this book. The writing was absolutely stunning, especially the way she describes food and certain cultural moments. I thought the messages surrounding love, family, culture, and understanding were absolutely incredible and gripped at my heart a ton. She was able to mix in a lot of political and historical issues going on which made the book even more fleshed out, in my opinion. You never felt like you were in a class but I definitely learned a good amount about Iran, Persian culture, and the dynamics in the country at this time. The way she wrote Roya’s family and their dynamic was so stunning it absolutely melted my heart. I also thought her use of time was quite well done! 

On the negative side, there were moments where I felt like ideas kept repeating when they didn’t need to, particularly in regards to Roya’s internal monologue as she’s missing Bahman. It felt slightly repetitive in that aspect but it was nothing to bad. I also found the letter he writes to her at the end to be so focused on explaining what happened that it didn’t actually feel like a letter to someone. I know she had to have a way that things are explained but it was especially odd in letter format, to me.

This all being said, I would HIGHLY recommend this book. It’s stunning and captures so much about love for the people in your life so incredibly well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Mental illness, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Xenophobia