In the Walled Gardens

June 10, 2002
The underlying corruption of prosperous prerevolutionary Tehran provides the backdrop for this stilted first novel, alternately narrated by Mahastee, a wealthy, unhappily married woman whose husband is one of the business elite, and Reza, a Marxist underground revolutionary who is the son of the groundskeeper at Mahastee's father's estate. As children, Mahastee and Reza harbored a forbidden love for each other. Now in their 30s, they are thrown together in their attempt to free an acquaintance imprisoned unfairly by the Shah's secret police. Despite their common cause, their differing loyalties—Reza's to Marxism, as embodied by Jalal, an uncompromising revolutionary, and Mahastee's to some more nebulous idea of justice and personal freedom—pull them apart. A wandering narrative leaches some of the drama from the plot, as do the characters' desultory musings. The narrative voices of Reza and Mahastee are virtually identical despite their differences of gender, class and politics, and both report on the life around them with much description, but little sentiment. Because they do not seem emotionally engaged with their complex situations, the reader does not engage with their stories, despite the urgency of the characters' plights. The parties, gossip, affairs and drinking of the Tehran "B+" list are well drawn, as are the relationships of masters with servants, but the story is hollow at its core. (Aug. 21)Forecast:A misleading jacket photo of veiled women suggests that the book addresses Islamic fundamentalism. This is not the novel for those looking for a fictional primer on current affairs, but the details of privileged life under the Shah are of interest to those seeking historical background.

August 1, 2002
Firouz's debut novel is set in Iran in 1977, just a couple of years prior to the revolution in 1979. Told from two points of view--that of Mahastee, a wealthy young woman, and Reza, the son of an overseer--the story revolves around the world of privilege and the revolutionary underground. Mahastee and Reza knew each other as children, when Reza's father worked for Mahastee's family, but their lives have taken different courses. Mahastee is married to a wealthy businessman, whose personal and professional practices disgust her. Reza is involved in the leftist movement that protests the government's treatment of the majority of its citizens. Both Mahastee and Reza are seeking missing men: the son of one of Mahastee's colleagues and an associate of Reza's. As Mahastee learns of the sadistic secret police system, Reza discovers traitors in the midst of his group. Gradually, their two stories merge, and they are torn between their rekindled attraction and their obligations to their friends and families. Firouz expertly brings to life the tense atmosphere of the years before the Iranian revolution.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)