The Emerald Archive is a novel in verse about a Jewish-Iranian emigre family living in Manhattan. The book is a theme and variations. It opens with a three-page prose "theme" that summarizes the plot of the entire book. The remaining pages are a series of poems that function as a collection of variations on the theme. The story unfolds through the poems. The final page, in prose, ties together the themes of the book. The major characters of The Emerald...