A review by misspalah
Children of the Jacaranda Tree by Sahar Delijani
4.0
“She could only see them as three reflections of one body. Three in one, like the branches of a tree, the jacaranda tree in their courtyard. One could never tell where the tree ended and the branches started. That was what they were, the three children: the tree and its branches."
- Sahar Delijani, Children of the Jacaranda Tree
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This book was written on the account of Author’s experience of being born in the Notorious Evin Prison in Iran. She written back what her mother went through as she went into the labor, she was held in a room for hours and at the same time being interrogated while enduring the pain. The book began with Azar’s POV of going through the same as experience as the author’s mother. As you might wonder why the title is “Children of Jacaranda Tree”, it is because this is a story of the children of those who were being detained in Iran during and after the revolution of the 1980's. Throughout the book, we explored the life of Iranian political prisoners in the 1980s, the mass killing of leftist prisoners in 1988, the long term impact of imprisonment on relationships between former prisoners and their children. The imprisonment did directly affected the author as Delijani's uncle was killed by the regime as he was the only one remain during the mass killing of prisoners in 1988. He had been arrested six years before, along with his two brothers, his wife and Delijani's mother. From the opening scenes of a prison birth to receiving clothes from prison officials after the death of her husband while in custody, this is how ghosts of revolution cast a long shadow on everyone’s lives. Throughout the stories that are entangled with ech other, we followed Azar who gave birth to Neda but could not take care of her as she was being taken away soon from her arms. Then, Leila, Azar’s sister appeared in the story dedicating her life to take care her niece and at the same time other kids that has been taken in by both Azar’s and Leila’s Parents. Then, we followed entirely different story but this time, A story of Amir, Maryam and their daughter, Sheida who never met her father as he never made it out alive of the prison. We saw the dilemma of Maryam who wanted to leave the country and we saw why Sheida felt betrayed knowing her father is not dead due to cancer but being executed. There are other children’s tales too,l like Dante where he was being abandoned when their parents are arrested and brought up with other family members.Delijani's writing is truly gorgeous. It felt real, like you were the spectator when she’s describing what the characters felt like and how certain situations unfolded. I deducted 1 stars because some of the characters are not developed well and it is disjointed to the point you get confused that you have to trace back which character you are following. Other than that, what an evocative novel.
- Sahar Delijani, Children of the Jacaranda Tree
.
.
This book was written on the account of Author’s experience of being born in the Notorious Evin Prison in Iran. She written back what her mother went through as she went into the labor, she was held in a room for hours and at the same time being interrogated while enduring the pain. The book began with Azar’s POV of going through the same as experience as the author’s mother. As you might wonder why the title is “Children of Jacaranda Tree”, it is because this is a story of the children of those who were being detained in Iran during and after the revolution of the 1980's. Throughout the book, we explored the life of Iranian political prisoners in the 1980s, the mass killing of leftist prisoners in 1988, the long term impact of imprisonment on relationships between former prisoners and their children. The imprisonment did directly affected the author as Delijani's uncle was killed by the regime as he was the only one remain during the mass killing of prisoners in 1988. He had been arrested six years before, along with his two brothers, his wife and Delijani's mother. From the opening scenes of a prison birth to receiving clothes from prison officials after the death of her husband while in custody, this is how ghosts of revolution cast a long shadow on everyone’s lives. Throughout the stories that are entangled with ech other, we followed Azar who gave birth to Neda but could not take care of her as she was being taken away soon from her arms. Then, Leila, Azar’s sister appeared in the story dedicating her life to take care her niece and at the same time other kids that has been taken in by both Azar’s and Leila’s Parents. Then, we followed entirely different story but this time, A story of Amir, Maryam and their daughter, Sheida who never met her father as he never made it out alive of the prison. We saw the dilemma of Maryam who wanted to leave the country and we saw why Sheida felt betrayed knowing her father is not dead due to cancer but being executed. There are other children’s tales too,l like Dante where he was being abandoned when their parents are arrested and brought up with other family members.Delijani's writing is truly gorgeous. It felt real, like you were the spectator when she’s describing what the characters felt like and how certain situations unfolded. I deducted 1 stars because some of the characters are not developed well and it is disjointed to the point you get confused that you have to trace back which character you are following. Other than that, what an evocative novel.