2025 Reading Challenge discussion

This thread is to discuss Azar Nafisi‘s book, Reading Lolita in Tehran.


***Please remember to mark spoilers.***

Participants: Aurora, Cassandra, Cheri, Allison, Hailey

Suggested break down of reading so that you can check in and let us know how you're doing. The following breakdown is purely a suggestion and is therefore not set in stone.

Rather than putting dates for each section I've done it so that it takes into account that not everybody will necessarily have the book at the same time.

Week 1: 89
Week 2: 89
Week 3: 89
Week 4: 89

May I join? The book is high up on my TBR list and I'd love to share comments with others. What is "89" after each week -- 89 pages?

Thanks!

Please do! I got my copy from the library but I have a couple of books to read first.

Yeah, the 89 is the number of pages to read each week if you want to spread it evenly. I don't usually, but I like to check in after each of the breakpoints.

Cassandra wrote: "Please do! I got my copy from the library but I have a couple of books to read first.
"

Great, thanks! I am in the midst of 3 other books right now, so I won't be starting immediately, either; I'll start it as soon as I finish those.

May I join? I've had this book on my shelf forever and recently took it down to consider it. I'd love to join the group and discuss!

Cheri wrote: "May I join? The book is high up on my TBR list and I'd love to share comments with others. What is "89" after each week -- 89 pages?

Thanks!"

Of course you may! I will add you to the list of participants! The 89 is 89 pages but it is only a suggested pace. Read the book as fast or as slow as you like. Just be sure to mark spoilers so the storyline is not revealed to others who are not as far along.

Allison wrote: "May I join? I've had this book on my shelf forever and recently took it down to consider it. I'd love to join the group and discuss!"

I will add you to the list of participants!

And the first week of February comes to an end! Hard to believe! How are all of you progressing with this book so far?

Hi, everyone! I finished Part 1 (through page 79), so that's what I'll discuss here. I'm sad to say that after looking forward to reading this for so long, I'm pretty disappointed. Two things in particular bother me -- the tone and the focus.

Focus: Sometimes this is about literature, sometimes about personal relationships, sometimes about the author, and sometimes about the political situation. I can see how all of these could be part of the book, but I never know what direction the author is actually heading. She starts the book with descriptions of each of her "girls" (way too much to take in all at once), and even so the book doesn't seem to be about this group. Chapter 16 of Part 1 is a mystery to me -- she never says who "he" is (and is "he" the same as the "magician" she mentions?) and she asks "is this where it all started?". Where what started? She throws in many things in different chapters that run off in various directions, like her mother making coffee, so I don't know where things are going.

Tone: Her frequent chit chat about pastry and ice cream seems out of place. Perhaps she is trying to normalize what is going on, but it really trivializes it -- you don't solve the kind of problems they have by eating sweets. She demeans the group of women she meets with by calling them "my girls," when in fact they are women (one has been married three times), many of whom have been through much worse than she has. She portrays herself as the wise leader, yet doesn't provide much evidence for it.

Sorry if this sounds like a rant, but I'm partly trying to get clear in my own mind what is bothering me so much. I had expected so much more. Maybe some of you can see what I am missing.

I'd like to join as well if it's not too late. It's been on my reading list for awhile but I only picked up a copy a few days ago.

Hailey wrote: "I'd like to join as well if it's not too late. It's been on my reading list for awhile but I only picked up a copy a few days ago."

Of course! I will add you to the list of participants!

Interesting! I think this book has some controversy around it, and maybe you're picking up on that. I'm still a couple of books away from being able to start this one - sorry!

Glad to see this book is generating some interesting comments as we head into the third week of February!

Thanks for your remark about controversy around Reading Lolita in Tehran, Cassandra. I finished the book today and googled to find the controversy. Here's a short article on the subject you all might be interested in:
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/cu...

The last two paragraphs of the article address the issues that I find bothersome. In looking at Goodreads reviews, I see some people really liked the book but others had problems similar to my own. I'm interested to hear what you guys have to say after you've read it!

Interesting discussions here! Any final thoughts as we enter the last week of February?

I'll start this probably tomorrow - sorry for the long delay on my end!

I feel really bad for not haven gotten around to this one yet! I've picked it up several times, but I just can't get into it. Cheri said everything I think better than I could. There's way too many people to keep track of and even after reading several chapters I've no idea what the book is actually about. I'll try to push through by the end of the month, but right now it's not looking promising...

I haven't gotten to it unfortunately. :( I might not make it by the end of the month.