Reviews with content warning for Murder - The Stationery Shop of Tehran

I've inadvertently read a romance and I'm not mad about it. This was about those young loves you never recover from, in the backdrop of 1950s Iran's political unrest. It was aching and sweet and sad. I've been lucky to be in love several times, some I keep waiting to recover from, and maybe the not recovering is the point. It sure was in this.

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mels_reading_log's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

This book is beautiful from the cover, to the love stories within. Not only did I fall in love with the characters and have my heart broken with them as well, I found out about some Persian dishes I need to try, because the food in this book leaps off the pages. Such a great love story.

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spellygirl's review against another edition

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reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.75

It's a pretty good book, just a bit slow for my taste, and a lot of back and forth between times/people.

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megelizabeth's review against another edition

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2.0

This book pains me a little to review, because it has so many elements that I loved, but ultimately its flaws are too significant to merit a higher rating. The writing is brilliant, the sense of place and time is incredible, and there are so many great discussions about cultural differences, the reality of immigrant life, and the roles and expectations of women in Iran and the US. It presents a much more nuanced look at 1950s life than the stereotyped version you often see, and I just adored the sprawling, layered narrative and everything it has to say about love, loss, politics, and familial and societal expectations.

However, there are two things about this book that I just cannot forgive. The first is that it celebrates a character who grooms a child, and the second is that its representation of a mentally ill character feels lazy and one-dimensional and made me very uncomfortable. I'm not saying that mentally ill people can never be bad people, but to present the only mentally ill character as such and to leave very little space for any slight expectation of why they act the way they do is just irresponsible in my opinion. This book could've been incredible if these two elements had been dealt with differently, but instead I was just left feeling thoroughly frustrated and disappointed.

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wellreadjill_'s review against another edition

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challenging emotional sad 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? Yes

4.75

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bethanstanleyy's review against another edition

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emotional 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? No

3.5

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briannareadsbooks's review against another edition

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challenging emotional inspiring 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? No

5.0

I loved this book so much. I cried numerous times. I loved it and I love love and everything about this book. I will read anything by Marjan Kamali.

Only thing I didn't like was the representation of mental illness. It seemed a bit dramatized, but because I do not suffer from the mental illness that the character I'm referring to does, I can't say for sure if it's poor representation.

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