Bone Worship

by Elizabeth Eslami

But lately love in general feels just as incomprehensible. After a disastrous romance sends her into a tailspin, causing her to fail out of college just shy of graduation, a conflicted Jasmine returns... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1605980749
• ISBN13: 9781605980744
• Release Date: January 2010
• Publisher: Pegasus Books
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

MOVING, ENTHRALLING, HAUNTING

Jasmine, a young woman whose confusion about her life and herself is tangible and immediate, has just flunked out of university, despite her brilliance. She both knows and doesn't know why it all came apart, but her Iranian father doesn't care - he has decided that the only logical course is to arrange her marriage. Jasmine's American mother approves and Jasmine struggles to navigate their attempts to control her future and her own desperation to both make sense of and control her present. At first passive, she gradually discovers, and then seizes, possibilities, discovering herself in the process. The lush, radiant language of this novel is utterly captivating, as are its complex characters. Jasmine's father is in many ways a nightmare of a man - while he plainly loves his family, he is determined to control them, perhaps as a means of protecting them from a dangerous and incomprehensible world. Although he is frustrating, it is impossible not to be fascinated and wonder about his life, as Jasmine does. He and Jasmine's equally complicated and exasperating mother throw Jasmine herself into relief - she is at once a mix of modern and ancient in her sensibilities, and her journey to find herself is both familiar and fresh. With characters that pop off the page and stories that unfold like dreams, Bone Worship is a gorgeous and supremely rewarding read.

Cultural clashes while searching for autonomy

Elizabeth Eslami took me by the hand and led me into a fascinating, well written story that was a fresh and surprising combination of two themes -- familial dysfunction and cultural clashes. There is much to admire about the way in which Eslami created both desperation and wit within the personality of Jasmine, a young Iranian-American woman who, in so many ways, was rudderless. Jasmine's longing to know her emotionally distant father, her confusion and pain over his expectations -vs- her own desires, and her very real emotions kept me turning pages. I applaud Eslami for her wise and insightful portrayal of Jasmine as she searched for her own identity and autonomy. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it highly!

Getting a life

This debut novel tells a nuanced, witty story of a young woman's "getting a life", almost accidentally. The protagonist, Jasmine, starts out adrift after failing at college. Her controlling Iranian immigrant father and cheerful American mother move her back home to supervise her adulthood choices, most notably, in trying to find a suitor for an arranged marriage. Jasmine has a difficult relationship with her aloof, mysterious father. She gradually begins finding her true self, and in the process understands both of her parents better, and finding love to boot. This story is told with a wealth of warmth, humor and insight. It was a fabulous read.

A witty and beautifully written culture clash

What I liked most about this book is the nice twist on the classic theme of cultural and generational conflict. Stories of children torn between two cultures are (for me) always intrinsically captivating, but this book poses the question somewhat differently. Jasmine, the daughter of an Iranian immigrant and his American wife, sees little reason to commit to school or life in general when her parents have resolved to chart her life for her. But just as she begins to wonder why her father has kept his heritage secret from her, it is forced decisively upon her -- in the form of a traditional Iranian arranged marriage. So how can the child of an immigrant come to know and understand an alien heritage, if she simultaneously rejects its presence in her own life? Jasmine is not torn between cultures; she is torn between attitudes, between attraction and repulsion, acquiescence and defiance. Eslami's prose ranges effortlessly from lyrical to explosive, from chiseled to tender. Skillful plotting also makes the book so satisying: several surprises emerge as the novel tracks Jasmine's development, not the least of which is her ultimate resolution of her father's get-married-or-else ultimatum. The protagonist Jasmine is wry and sharp, and winningly misanthropic, like a bi-racial Juno but with profounder things on her mind. I think that her pleading, almost desperate drive to connect with a father she barely knows, actually resonates just as loudly as the more tangible issues of cultural conflict that provide the framework for their confrontation. Five stars, and I look forward to reading more by the author of this lovely debut novel.