Prisoner of Tehran: A Memoir

by Marina Nemat

Book Overview

In her heartbreaking, triumphant, and elegantly written memoir, Prisoner of Tehran, Marina Nemat tells the heart-pounding story of her life as a young girl in Iran during the early days of Ayatollah... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0143052179
• ISBN13: 9780143052173
• Release Date: April 2008
• Publisher: Penguin Books Canada
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.69 lbs.

Customer Reviews

One of the Best Books I've Read This summer

The term good would not do justice to my opinions of this book. This is not to say that I agree with all of the author's opinions on all matters, but this well-written account of faith, suffering, and the price of totalitarianism is on the whole superb. Marina is thankfully a talented written and usully manages to keep even the more mundane aspects of growing up in Iran during the Shah's reign interesting. Essentially the story of her arrest, imprisonment, interrogation (with torture in at least one instance), near execution, and an essentially forced relationship with a guard is alternated with her childhood and experience of the 1979 Revolution. The interrogator Ali Moosavi is a fascinating character in the book. In some ways he is one of the most sinister characters but deep down he has numerous good qualities. Marina confesses that she very understandably still doesn't know how to feel for this man who combined ruthlessness with idealism. From one angle he cruelly convinced her to temporarily betray her Christian faith and slept with her against her will. On the other side he twice saved her life including the second time as his final actions on earth. He seemed to have the potential to change right at the moment when he himself became the victim of the regime he had once suffered and fought for (he not only fought the Iraqis but had himself been tortured earlier by the Shah's men). Despite all the pain and suffering from totalitarianism and war, Nemat herself retains a dignified humility and care for other human beings and thankfully does have a relatively happy ending in the book by emmigrating to Canada with her husband and children. The book also features an interview with the author that is rather interesting. If there is one criticism of the book it is that I wish the author had focused more on the return to her Christian faith and how her experiences had worked to shape her beliefs. This is discussed some but I felt there may have been so much more which could have been contemplated here. overall, i highly recommend the book. P.S. This work does bring up a number of issues. First of all Marina Nemat was faced with criticism from a number of former political prisoners about some details of the book. I can't of course know every single detail in the work was accurate; the author herself admits that time has obscurred some details. It is also worth mentioning that other former iranian political prisoners responded to the attacks by supporting Nemat. on a larger scale the book should bring to mind three important realities. 1. Political oppression and torture still occurs in Iran though argueably not to the level as under Khomenini (less mass executions anyway). 2. Christian minorities (and other religious minorities) suffer oppression and persecution in vast swathes of the Middle East. This often violent persecution in of course not limited to iran but also includes U.S. allies such as Saudi Arabia which is in trut

A moving memoir

It's not necessary to repeat the positive things already mentioned in the other reviews. I, too, heard Ms. Nemat speak on NPR and was motivated by her interview to buy her book. Her moving story kept me spellbound. Ms. Nemat writes with grace and courage. She is a role model for humanity.

could not put it down -

Marina Nemat's book is riveting - absolutely! Could not put it down - finished in one night. Her story is a tale of spiritual triumph -love over hate, freedom over opression.Marina's beautiful spirit emanates from pages of the book, instilling hope despite immesurable suffering. Prisoner of Tehran is a vivid reminder to the world about how cruel and bigoted is Aytolla's regime in Iran.It is an alarming testimony, a wake up call to all.While reading, I wondered if Marina's book will ever be published in her birth country.

A memoir that proves man's inhumanity to man...

There are many places on this planet that treat human beings in cruel ways. Man's inhumanity to man (and woman) is well known. I'm not excluding excesses and abuses in the United States (however rare), but reading Marina Nemat's memoir about her life from age 16 to 19 points vividly to why we need an international human rights police force. For want of a calculus lesson, Nemat came within minutes of execution. She does not escape torture, a marriage in a desperate attempt to escape a life prison term, and a drastically changed life. The other women and men imprisoned and tortured by the revolutionary guards lived, and died, because of absolute intolerance of anything other than the official state ideals. I thought Marina wrote well, alternating chapters of life in prison with life before prison, until they merged together. Her first forced marriage with prison guard Ali until his murder, her forced conversion to Islam, the torture, the execution of her cell mates... Nemat's prose was engaging and compelling. I hope this memoir provided some amount of healing for Marina. I hope it is embarrassing to the people of Iran. I hope life only gets better for Iran's political prisoners, her women, and her freedoms. And I hope those involved in state-sanctioned torture and murder will be called to the carpet as soon as possible. Alas, I have little hope my latter wish will happen anytime soon. Marina, on behalf of humanity, I offer you my sincerest apologies for how you were treated.