An interesting look into the realities of life for Iranians during much political change, especially as those changes affected women. One of Nafisi's issues she had been silent about was with her mother. She is quite honest about those issues. However she could have devoted less space to those familial conflicts and more to the issues that had an impact on many people.
This book was a real disappointment after "Reading Lolita in Tehran," which I thought was fantastic. Ironically, given the title of the book, I thought there were too many things the author left unsaid; after reading it, I didn't feel particularly enlightened about her or pre-revolutionary Iran. Also, considering this is a memoir, I felt the timeline of events was confusing in many places; I had a hard time figuring out what year the described events were taking place or how old the author was at the time.
