Lenka S. reviewed Funny in Farsi : A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America on + 829 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 7
Easy read, good for book clubs, or English classes. America from the point of view of an immigrant family.
Flowing, full of expressions, funny but serious. Gives a window into Iranian culture.
I have traveled to middle east number of times and must say that she paints fairly good picture of her culture.
Some words are difficult or unusual. Over all well written even though the time frame is a little disorganized, but well fitted together.
Don't pass on this one.
Flowing, full of expressions, funny but serious. Gives a window into Iranian culture.
I have traveled to middle east number of times and must say that she paints fairly good picture of her culture.
Some words are difficult or unusual. Over all well written even though the time frame is a little disorganized, but well fitted together.
Don't pass on this one.
Brenna B. (demiducky25) reviewed Funny in Farsi : A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America on + 161 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 6
I REALLY enjoyed reading this book! I think what made it so enjoyable is that you can more or less substitute your own relatives into some of the stories that she tells. Firoozeh Dumas discusses what it was like to grow up Iranian in America in the 1970s/ 1980s, but she spends a lot of time making you realize that the similarities between your family and hers far outweigh the differences. She keeps a nice balance between making the stories funny but still being respectful of her relatives and their quirks. For instance, you can tell that she really loves her father and respects him, despite his failed attempts at home repair and chronic thriftiness (or perhaps because of these things). The chapters are nice and short, keeping a quick pace throughout the book. Certain tales are funny (her father's reasoning as to why it's not a conflict for him to be Muslim and eat ham & the chapter called "The F-Word" about how her name always gets butchered were particularly notable), others are a bit more touching (such as when she discusses her intelligent aunt who should have gone to school but due to culture was married at an early age or how Firoozeh's mother became a pioneer for other women of her generation by embracing Firoozeh's choice of a husband- a Catholic Frenchman) but still humorous. I am excited to find out that she wrote a sequel and will have to look into getting that in the near future. All-in-all I HIGHLY recommend this book!
Madge C. (dmconn1) reviewed Funny in Farsi : A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America on + 234 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 5
This book had me laughing so hard out loud at times. The author details life as an Iranian woman growing up in the United States. She appears to be transparent and is humble as to how she describes herself. Her father's antics make the book! She describes both cultures and their strengths and weaknesses. I love her tales of her family who are so tightly interwoven into each others' lives. I envy the relationships her kin fostered, and how her French husband accepted and embraced her "tribe". Awesome book that reads very quickly.
Jennifer G. (puakinikini) reviewed Funny in Farsi : A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America on + 25 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4
Laugh out loud funny - whether you are an American or a recent immigrant to this country - you will love this heartfelt memoir of what it is like to be first generation in the US.
Deidra (deidra) -
Helpful Score: 2
A humerous and touching memoir about growing up as an (Iranian) immigrant in America.
Laurie D. (dutrall) -
Helpful Score: 2
I thought this was a fun, quick read. I really got the flavor of her personality and I like her a lot. There were a few laugh out loud moments, but overall the entire book was full of smile out loud moments. :-) I'll put her next book on my WL now.
Patty P. (Patouie) -
Helpful Score: 2
If you have ever bridged two cultures or had to sit through a time-share presentation free dinner, take a look at this book. Lots of fun!
Marsha C. reviewed Funny in Farsi : A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America on + 28 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
A laugh out loud book. I lived in Iran for 2 years and this brought back lots of memories.
EJ V. (bookgal7) reviewed Funny in Farsi : A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America on + 48 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This is a funny and fun read. It follows the main character through the 70s as a child observing her family as they acclimate to American culture up through the beginning of the 21st century when the narrator is a young adult. It reminds of of the nuances of American pop culture and allows the reader to appreciate all that makes America the country that it is for all it's good and not so good. I recommend the book, especially for those readers looking for something light and fun.
Helpful Score: 1
I loved this book! It's a gem. It's entertaining, easy to read, funny, and charming. I read this over one day. Firoozeh held my attention the whole way with her anecdotes about her lovable, quirky Iranian American family's misadventures in the USA. If you like reading fish out of water stories, you'll love this. It's a light-hearted look at what it's like to grow up in a culture that's so different from the one you were born into. Don't pass on this book. You get a good glimpse into what it's like to be an immigrant. A good book for anyone interested in seeing America from a different perspective. Might be a good book for a book club. I can see a lot of meaningful discussions arising from this book.
Cheryl B. (cjbaltes) reviewed Funny in Farsi : A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America on + 22 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Funny, quick read.
Carol T. reviewed Funny in Farsi : A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America on + 13 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
I really liked the humor used in the book to describe the challenges of moving to a new country. It gave me more insight on the difficulties of adjusting to a new culture especially when arriving without speaking the language. It shows how the children more easily pick up English while many adults struggle to ever be fluent, especially the older ones.
Maggie S. (maggiemaynj) -
Helpful Score: 1
A quick, fuuny read.
Marta J. (booksnob) reviewed Funny in Farsi : A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America on + 412 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
A quick, sweet memoir. Very enjoyable!
Karen J. (surfwidow) reviewed Funny in Farsi : A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America on + 36 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This book was in the style of A Girl Named Zippy. Both are funny and the fathers are prominent characters in the books. I thought Zippy was funnier though.
Jacky K. (Jacky) reviewed Funny in Farsi : A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America on + 174 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Entertaining light read.
Anne S. (auntanne) reviewed Funny in Farsi : A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America on + 8 more book reviews
Entertaining stories about growing up in an ethnic family, during the 70s. I chuckled throughout.
Patricia H. (beachcomber) reviewed Funny in Farsi : A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America on + 320 more book reviews
Delightful book. I loved her sense of humor and her family.
Very enjoyable. Laughed out loud quite a few times. Interesting to see this country in the eyes of an immigrant.
An easy, enjoyable book! The author recounts her family's reactions to the culture of America compared to their own Iranian culture. She tells of her family members and their many quirks and their astonishments at the many differences in our culture. I found the book to be funny and touching, and a fast read. It also made me realize what a great country America is and how those from other countries view things we take for granted.
Very intriguing memior, I wish it was a much larger book! similar to Reading Lolita In Tehran
Kathy H. (Nellie) -
Very funny and enjoyable. Looking forward to reading her next one.
Olga J. (bolgai) reviewed Funny in Farsi : A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America on + 109 more book reviews
When my book club voted for this book to be on our list for this year I was excited: it was definitely different from our usual fare and it was a promise of a peek into a new cultural experience, which is always something I'm interested in (since I myself am an immigrant other immigrant experiences are something I'm curious about). Besides, the title has the word "Funny" in it, I expected humor and lots of it.
The book started out well enough and at first I could see myself finishing it, but then it took a turn for the worse. It is structured as a series of vignettes covering particular subjects such as doing touristy things in America, kindness of strangers, American food, camp experience, etc. They're not done in any kind of chronological order and one chapter can jump from childhood to adulthood in a paragraph or two. This made it difficult for me to enjoy the experience because I couldn't help but feel unfocused and scattered all over the author's life. The promised humor was there but it was mild and didn't make me chuckle even once.
I got through about a third of the book and realized that I was having an OK experience with it but I didn't really care one way or another what else the author was going to talk about. My main takeaway at that point was that she didn't particularly feel like she belonged in either her family because she grew up very Americanized nor in American society because of her name, appearance and heritage, but she was putting a brave face on it. I also think she possibly was hoping that this book would build a bridge of sorts between the cultures, show the Western world that Iranians are not all terrorists and the Persian world that all Americans don't hate them just because they're Muslim. The fact that this book was written and published after the 9/11 makes this idea plausible for me.
I really wanted to like this book but once I realized it didn't really work for me I set it aside. Life is too short for OK books, especially if they're not required reading (I'm looking at you, Manon Lescaut and Bartleby the Scrivener), even if intentionally or not they make "the other" seem not quite so alien.
The book started out well enough and at first I could see myself finishing it, but then it took a turn for the worse. It is structured as a series of vignettes covering particular subjects such as doing touristy things in America, kindness of strangers, American food, camp experience, etc. They're not done in any kind of chronological order and one chapter can jump from childhood to adulthood in a paragraph or two. This made it difficult for me to enjoy the experience because I couldn't help but feel unfocused and scattered all over the author's life. The promised humor was there but it was mild and didn't make me chuckle even once.
I got through about a third of the book and realized that I was having an OK experience with it but I didn't really care one way or another what else the author was going to talk about. My main takeaway at that point was that she didn't particularly feel like she belonged in either her family because she grew up very Americanized nor in American society because of her name, appearance and heritage, but she was putting a brave face on it. I also think she possibly was hoping that this book would build a bridge of sorts between the cultures, show the Western world that Iranians are not all terrorists and the Persian world that all Americans don't hate them just because they're Muslim. The fact that this book was written and published after the 9/11 makes this idea plausible for me.
I really wanted to like this book but once I realized it didn't really work for me I set it aside. Life is too short for OK books, especially if they're not required reading (I'm looking at you, Manon Lescaut and Bartleby the Scrivener), even if intentionally or not they make "the other" seem not quite so alien.
Not many books make me laugh out loud, but sections of this were hilarious. I enjoyed this a lot.
Joan B. reviewed Funny in Farsi : A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America on + 5 more book reviews
I enjoyed reading this book - however, I would only rate it about a c+.
Sheryl S. reviewed Funny in Farsi : A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America on + 11 more book reviews
Author provides us insight with fun and uncanny insight, great read!
Lisa V. (wakuwaku) reviewed Funny in Farsi : A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America on + 10 more book reviews
Well, I saw an interview of the author and she was really funny so I really wanted to read this book. But I only got about 1/4 of the way through. It wasn't funny; it was boring. Iranians go to Disneyland and eat fast food, etc.
