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Review: The Stationary Shop of Tehran

The Stationary Shop of Tehran by Marjan Kamali


A beautiful historical fiction story.

It's set initially in Tehran and later, in the USA,  the author tells the tale of Bahman and Roya from their initial meeting at The Stationary Shop of Tehran at the adolescent age of 17,  and being able to meet again at 77, from the age of innocence to the time when they have  experienced whole of their lifes' without each other. The story is about the course of their love over the span on 60 years of timespan. It was the time when Iran faced the political mishaps, the thoughts of the citizens were not untouched by the changing political situations, from the thoughts progressive about women's education to a time when the rules were strict and backwards. These political instability played a hug role in sepration of the protagonist, in a way which was unjustified and abrupt.Yet,  The author gives the reader satisfaction of the clouser for the protagonists sepration, clarification for what happened and satisfies the curiosity developed over the turned pages of novel.

They met when they were young and separated and further, their paths cross again. Not just the lead characters , Bahman and Roya , but all other character felt so important in changing the direction for the story, be it  the major ones like Walter, Jahangir , Bahman's mother or the minor ones like Omid and Clair. With an intersting plot, the book has an air of calmness needed at times. Some elements , like Omid's having same stationery layout and chime as the stationary shop of Tehran or the sense of having your home-land spices ( of Tehran for this story ) at an foreign land ,repeated mentions of the important  events in the Bahman-Roya story , the incidents overlapping in different characters' life give a sense of familiarity and interest in the story. It feels like it really happened and reader is bringing back he events from the memory.

As a story I found it very gripping and I loved reading every single page of it.  These love stories make up the chunk of the stories I love getting my hands on. While it  shows the vulnerability and uncertainty of  young love, but also the impulsiveness and innocent that comes with it.

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