Saffron Sky: A Life Between Iran and America

By Gelareh Asayesh

Book Overview

This lyrical memoir evinces the author's passion for constructing an American life with the spiritual fervor and deeply aesthetic rituals that were part of her childhood in Iran. Asayesh, who... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0807072109
• ISBN13: 9780807072103
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Beacon Pr
• Length: 222 Pages
• Weight: 0.77 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.8" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

A Reader in New Jersey

Saffron Sky is a supperbly writtem memoir. It is not what she says, rather how she describes things that makes the book irresistable. She is accurate and honest with her descriptions, and brave in sharing her emotions. An absolute MUST READ for anyone who is curious about Iran or a life of a successul immigrant or who wishes to read an exciting memoir. Can't wait for the next book from this Author.

Saffron Sky - Reflections on the Immigrant Experience

Saffron Sky is a book about the immigrant experience. It is a profound and touching examination of the author's struggle to gain acceptance in her new home, and at the same time stay true to her heritage. The book also paints an accurate picture of the huge gap between the East and the West, and the at times impossible task of reconciling the two. The author has managed to examine the U.S. and the Iranian cultures, with respect for both and without offending either. The book also represents a personal and candid examination of issues that are sometimes painful to face, but that are central to an understanding of the sense of malaise that afflicts many immigrants. The prose is very descriptive and at time poetic. The author has a rich memory full of details and conveys those details to the reader with simple but lyrical language. As an immigrant, I not only enjoyed the book very much, but I also found it an invitation for me to examine my own immigrant experience and thoughts and feelings that I had suppressed for many years. I highly recommend the book, and especially to immigrants and those who have loved ones who are immigrants to the U.S.

Thank you Saffron Sky

What I enjoyed most about Saffron Sky was how much I learned from it. Being born an American, never having traveled off the East Coast, I consider myself somewhat sheltered to the world around me. This book was very educational. Yet, it wasn't boring, fact after fact reading like a text book. It was real life and personal. Asayesh allows the reader to visit Iran with her, to experience some of the same issues, feel some of her same emotions which made it all the more interesting. The book was easy to read, funny at times, a sort of comic relief from some of the more upsetting parts. I feel so very fortunate to have read this book and highly recommend it. I feel a little more exposed to the world now, thanks to Saffron Sky.

Consciousness-raising and profound...

I read this book with gratitude. Though I am a Jewish woman, born in America, I, too, have grappled with my identity. Ms. Asayesh stirred feelings in me about my own assimilation from my childhood, when I lived with my orthodox Jewish grandparents and celebrated holidays and customs that, as time went on and the elders died or I moved away from them, lost their hold on me. The author's descriptions of her loving family and the warmth and sweetness of past rituals and the land she had loved as a child were very touching. I was especially moved when she wrote that her aunt, visiting in Canada, had wept, noting that North America is so green, and Iran is so brown...and dry. It made me realize, not without a little shame, that I take my homeland for granted, and also that there are people who, though they may be less fortunate, love their parched homeland as much as I love my fertile one. Although it was hard to hear about the dogmatic, sexist, religious practices and the anti-Americanism of many Iranians today, it is important to remember that America is not without its flaws in these and other areas. We, too, have an extreme, right-wing element that opposes women's rights and the rights of minorities. We have plundered others' lands in the name of Democracy when, in fact, it is economic interest that motivates us. We still have the death penalty here. Hate crimes abound. Children murder other children. Addiction to drugs and alcohol is rampant. Our politicians are corrupt, and we accept this with cynicism. And yet I, too, love my homeland and forgive its many sins. At least I can still live here fairly comfortably. Ms. Asayesh found herself in exile from the place she loved. The wrenching sadness of that disconnection was beautifully portrayed. I hope a lot of people read this book.

Powerful, beautiful story of the immigrant's dilemma

This is a fast but amazingly beautiful read about an intriguing place (Iran) and about the very tough choice immigrants make when they leave their home for America. Is the author Iranian or American? That proves to be a fascinating and very powerful question that she is painfully sorting out. I learned about modern day Iran, about arriving suddenly in very different land (it's tough even in progressive Chapel Hill, North Carolina) and about what it must be like to return to a homeland that's very different from the one you left. A terrific book.