Foreigner

by Nahid Rachlin and Rachlin Nahid

Book Overview

"Nahid Rachlin has an intimate insider's knowledge of present-day everyday Iran of people and places, houses, streets, and families and she writes of them with a clarity of perception and style that makes them instantly recognizable and even homely and familiar to the reader." Ruth Prawer Jhabvala "Rachlin's prose carefully understates and suggests her heroine's awakening to a pervasive atmosphere of menace and sensuality; residue of a culture she...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393319083
• ISBN13: 9780393319088
• Release Date: July 1999
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 194 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.4" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Prayer calls from the Mosque echo as you turn these pages

Foreigner is a remarkable story of a young Iranian woman who, as a child, is left with her father when her mother runs off with another man. Her name is Feri, and the beginning of her life urges her to see the western world, and its differences. She decides to study in America - where she ends up settling and becoming a biologist. She marries, buys a house identical with the ones next door- when she should feel complete, she feels emptier than ever. Feri realizes she needs to go back home to Iran. While in Iran, she reconciles with her family, yet feels uncomfortable with her short hair and slacks among the women in the streets wearing chadors. Upon attempts to leave Iran, she needs a written consent form from her husband, calls and cannot reach him; and goes on a search for her long gone mother. She travels hundreds of miles to see her, and while there meets a doctor when she falls ill - and falls in love with the eastern man. When her husband comes to claim her, Feri must decide between two worlds, and two pieces of her heart.

Interesting with many layers of complexity

Foreigner traces the tragic first visit, after a period of 10 years, of an Iranian lady(Feri) living in America to her birthplace. This is an interesting novel, which captures quite well the intellectual and spiritual confusion she falls into during her visit as she struggles to reconcile the two worlds she knows and decide where she is comfortable. We can feel the breakdown of the secure safe world that Feri has built in America, as she is confronted by her childhood memories, old relatives and knowledge of her long gone mother. The conflict is real, and most of the characters are convincing(though some of the ancillary Iranian characters like Feri's cousin and her family seem to be there only for shock value) The author does not take the easy way out by presenting clear cut old Iran v/s rational modern America opposites. All is not well with both the very modern American husband Tony's life as well as Feri's American life. But this is a personal story as well as a cultural one(and the issues dealt with are personal as well as cultural), of a woman finding and connecting with her long lost mother, one she has pined many years for.The civilizational conflict of the main character is well depicted(for example, Feri starts to see her American work to be empty, yet is happy to have modern American facilities in the hopital she visits). But the dichotomy we see on the surface through all this is false, there are more layers of complexity in the book. This is not an either/or situation, and one does not have to completely reject the modern for tradition or vice versa. The author acknowledges this; Feri knows her renunciation can only be temporary, the future is uncertain and could be tragic because of the renunciation. And in this we recognize the character's tragedy, an undeveloped sense of Self, a tragedy faced by many making the transition from traditional to modern. The novel captures this beautifully. And ironically this appears as a parable for her country, which itself is emerging after many years of 'renunciation' to a new yet unclear life.

You never quite leave home

More than about Iranians and their customs, or the constrasts between Feri's American and Iranian parameters, this book is about a complex psychological discovery -- the acceptance of self. I read it twice because the story haunted me, not unlike the way Iran haunts Feri. The bonus comes from a portrayal of Iran from the inside, a knowledge precious to me an arm chair traveller. This is a thoughtful, extremely concise and well written book, introspective and beautiful. A quiet adventure.

Was required, but very much enjoyed it

I am a Sophomore college student, and this book was actually assigned for my ethics class. I didn't really have a strong urge to read it, but seeing as it was assigned, I read anyway. I started reading it yesterday, and finished it today. As other reviewers here have said, I didn't want to put it down. The writing style had enough "hooks" to keep me wanting to see what would happen next or what I would discover about Feri and her relationships. It is a very easy and quick read, and gives me a much better understanding of a culture that I'm sure few Americans know about.

culture shock;exile;uncertainty:formula for a great read

I've been a fan of Nahid Rachlin and her portrayls of Iranian women for some time. Like another reviewer, I couldn't put this book down. In Foreigner, Rachlin explores culture shock (as Feri first feels it as an Iranian studying in the U.S., and then on her return years later to Iran, where it seems as though she is stepping back several centuries, both in people's way of life and way of thinking (e.g., the attitude toward women). When she becomes ill, she has to deal with the fear that medical facilities may be nothing like what is available in the States. In culture shock, she also re-experiences the difference in Eastern and Western ways of thinking. Rachlin makes very clear the unhappiness that comes with exile from one's own country, even if a person is forced to leave for the sake of his/her freedom or even life, and yet, on return to that country, it is never quite the same as remembered. Feri's uncertainty, feeling of being pulled in several directions, and reluctance to follow in her mother's footsteps are entirely understandable. What I find intruiging is this book was written (and takes place) right before the overthrow of the Shah and the Islamic revolution. Feri's decision to go or stay could make an interesting sequel for this book.Nahid Rachlin's writing is exquisite; she lets you picture Iran in detail even if you have never been there. Her work ought to be publicized more, to give readers a better understanding of the culture and country that she came from.