As you already might have noticed, I like to explore different genres and therefore step out of my comfort zone every once in a while. When I do so, I’d like for my books to be as diverse as possible. Once I saw The Persians by Sanam Mahloudji, it immediately piqued my interest. I wanted to read this book in Dutch however, that seemed to suit me better. As soon as I got hold of the Dutch audiobook, I dove straight into it.

About the book

The Persians by Sanam Mahloudji
Published by Scribner on March 4, 2025
Pages: 371
ISBN: 9781668015797
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, General fiction, Literary fiction
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

An irreverent and deeply-felt debut novel about a family confronting a past that is both keeping them together and preventing them from breaking free.
Meet the Valiat family. In Iran, they were somebodies. In America, they’re nobodies.
First there is Elizabeth, the regal matriarch with the famously large nose who stayed in Tehran during the revolution. She lives in a shabby apartment, paranoid and alone. Except when she is visited by Niaz, her Islamic-law-breaking granddaughter who takes her debauchery with a side of purpose, and yet somehow manages to survive. Elizabeth’s daughters left for America in 1979: Shirin, a charismatic yet outrageous event planner in Houston who considers herself the family’s future, and Seema, a dreamy idealist-turned-housewife languishing in the chaparral-filled hills of Los Angeles. And then there’s the other granddaughter Bita, the self-righteous but lost law student spending her days in New York City eating pancakes and quietly giving away her belongings.
When an annual vacation in Aspen goes wildly awry and Shirin ends up being bailed out of jail by Bita, the family’s brittle status quo is cracked open. Shirin embarks upon a grand but half-baked quest to restore the family name. But what does that even mean in a country where the Valiats never mattered? Will they ever realize that life is more than just an old story?
These are five women who are pulled apart and brought together by revolution. Here is their past, present, and future. By turns satirical and philosophical, traveling from the 1940s Iran into a splintered 2000s, The Persians is a mordantly funny, heartbreakingly sad, and profoundly searching portrait of a family in crisis at the turn of the century, an American family saga reinvented.

My review

Because the blurb appealed to me and the book was named “Book of the Month”, my expectations were high. I enjoy stepping out of my comfort zone every now and then and broadening my horizons. A different genre helps with this. However, a book outside my comfort zone must meet certain criteria. I always consider diversity a plus, and that’s precisely the kind of story I seek out. The conflict that characters experience living between two cultures often provides interesting perspectives, and I expected that with this novel as well. I felt this would be an emotional story that would completely draw me in. That didn’t quite work out the way I thought it would.

In this novel, we alternately follow five women who are members of the highly renowned Valiat family: grandmother Elizabeth, her daughters Shirin and Seema, Shirin’s daughter Niaz, and Seema’s daughter Bita. This family enjoys a certain reputation in Iran, and this reputation comes with high standards. It must be maintained. After the Iranian Revolution, part of the family relocated in the USA, while others remained in Tehran. From the outset, it becomes clear that the different generations within this family hold different perspectives. By using multiple perspectives, the author illuminates the inevitable conflict this entails. The younger generations have different ideals than their parents, and these also differ culturally. At first glance, it seems incomprehensible that these women are related.

By following each of them, you get to know these women well and gain sufficient insight into their backstories. Gradually, you discover who these women are and what drove them to make certain choices. Yet, it’s difficult to feel sympathy for them, especially because one of them behaves terribly. This is an explosive diva who irritated me from the very first page. I couldn’t identify with any of these women, although their internal struggle with the family name and everything it entails is interesting. The development of each character also comes a bit too late, occurring towards the end. This makes it feel somewhat abrupt and unbelievable.

Mahloudji explores several important themes in this novel. Having grown up and having to navigate between two cultures, the author understands this feeling. She succeeds in conveying this effectively in writing, as the American family members have little understanding of the Iranian family members’ choices, and vice versa. The trick is to connect, and this requires a long buildup. This, however, results in an uneven pacing. These themes are the mainstays of this book, as the rest of the plot is rather thin. Something happens that sets things in motion, but this adds little value and, in my opinion, only serves to propel the story forward. This means that, despite being an easy listen, I wasn’t fully captivated by the book. And that’s a shame, because it didn’t become the emotional story I expected.

Despite my high expectations, The Persians by Sanam Mahloudji isn’t the book I was hoping for. While it certainly has interesting elements, it’s a bit disappointing overall. This is mainly due to the characters, who are difficult to understand and therefore fail to inspire much sympathy. Furthermore, the story itself is very thin, relying primarily on themes such as finding one’s own identity and finding one’s place within two cultures. The author philosophizes freely, which really must appeal to you, as the character development comes rather late and is therefore quite abrupt. It is, however, an easy read in terms of writing style. This book is therefore primarily suited to readers who don’t mind the character development starting relatively late and who can tolerate a bit of musing.