Houri  E-mail this product to a friend

An autobiographical novel that looks at changes in Iran between the late 1960s and the early 1980s through the eyes of a 12-year-old Iranian boy and the boy as a man some 14 years later. The childhood scenes are sharply rendered. Baba, Shahed's father, is a selfish, greedy spendthrift and perpetual debtor who literally takes food off Shahed's plate; other men fare no better, from Shahed's opium-addict uncle “E” to a school principal who uses his blindness as an excuse to grope schoolgirls. But then there's the houri (Persian for “nymph of paradise”) of the title, the sexy, wealthy neighbor who was the object of the preteen Shahed's fantasies. Iran's struggles under a repressive regime provide the backdrop to this revealing story, but the book succeeds more as a fictionalized memoir. —Publishers Weekly

Journalist Balali’s bitter first novel about Iran, from which he is now banned, contrasts his native country before and after the Islamic revolution. Comparisons to The Kite Runner are unavoidable. —Kirkus

As with many other Iranian novels and memoirs, the violent political turmoil is vividly rendered, the cruelty and suffering both before and after the revolution. But what sets this autobiographical novel apart is the personal detail, the intimate vignettes that show how the past affects Shahed now. Always he is haunted by sexy Houri, the woman he fantasized about as a boy. The father-son standoffs are unforgettable in this wrenching coming-of-age story. —Booklist