Embroideries

by Marjane Satrapi

Book Overview

From the best-selling author of Persepolis comes a gloriously entertaining and enlightening look into the sex lives of Iranian women.

"Bold, bewitchingly humorous and politically astute." --Elle

Embroideries gathers together Marjane's tough-talking grandmother, stoic mother, glamorous and eccentric aunt and their friends and neighbors for an afternoon of tea drinking and talking. Naturally, the subject turns to love, sex and the vagaries of men.

As the afternoon progresses, these vibrant women share their secrets, their regrets and their often outrageous stories about, among other things, how to fake one's virginity, how to escape an arranged marriage, how to enjoy the miracles of plastic surgery and how to delight in being a mistress. By turns revealing and hilarious, these are stories about the lengths to which some women will go to find a man, keep a man or, most important, keep up appearances.

Full of surprises, this introduction to the private lives of some fascinating women, whose life stories and lovers will strike us as at once deeply familiar and profoundly different from our own, is sure to bring smiles of recognition to the faces of women everywhere--and to teach us all a thing or two.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375714677
• ISBN13: 9780375714672
• Release Date: April 2006
• Publisher: Pantheon Books
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 7.5"

Customer Reviews

Love and marriage, Iranian style . . .

In this graphic-novel style book, several women gather over after-dinner tea to "ventilate the heart," that is talk about the trials and tribulations of courtship and marriage in a culture where the sexes are far from equal, as well as to dish the dirt on some friends and acquaintances who are not present. Each woman has a story to tell that illuminates the sexual politics of a certain class of modern-day Iranians by revealing the secrets hidden by their socially respectable behavior. Marjane, the young, unmarried narrator of the book, lets them have their say, and what we get is a kind of memory play, sometimes poignant, often hilarious, with an all-female cast. The title is a euphemism for a surgical procedure, which figures in a story or two in which a lost maidenhood is restored. In another story, a razor blade is put to use to similar effect but with unexpected results for the groom. There is discussion of nose jobs and the relocation of fat cells from a lower part of the body to a higher one. Young wives married to emigrants already living abroad find their hopeful expectations dashed in various and sundry ways. A marriage prevented by a prospective husband's tyrannical mother leads to a visit to a psychic, who prescribes a potion that backfires. And so on. The lesson of this enjoyable book is that for a clever and resourceful woman, there's often a way to get what she wants, even when the cards are stacked against her.

all you need is an hour

great book. funny and entertaining. very easy read. read it!

you'd never guess...

what 'embroideries' really means! this book is like being a small child hiding behind a couch and eavesdropping on your mom and her friends telling their precious private stories regarding sex and love. good to read while relaxing somewhere cozy and drinking tea.

Hilarious inside peek

From an opium-smoking grandma, to folk remedies involving chai and keys, this illustrated novel is a great continuation of Satrapi's previous works. Readers receive hilarious inside glimpses of the rich and varied lives of Iranian women. My only wish is that it would have been longer--it ended far too soon.

An inside look at the love lives of Iranian woman

In Marjane Satrapi's latest book, Embroideries, she takes on the sex lives of Iranian women. Like in her past books the author brings to life colorful, lively women who discuss their most inner secrets about men, love, and "getting your virginity back," as where the title of the book comes from. The stories range from a woman getting plastic surgery to keep her man interest to another woman who finds out her husband is gay only after her arranged marriage to him. The stories are funny, sad, enlightening and all around fascinating. Although many of the experiences are unique to a Muslim woman's perspective, any woman, no matter what religion, will enjoy and related to some of the stories. This book proves that no matter what part of the world a woman is from, women have to deal with the same issues of love, sex and man troubles.