Disoriental - Softcover

Bookseller Blurbs

"PHENOMENAL! Insightful and compelling...Djavadi takes on huge social topics such as immigration, homosexuality, politics and culture and distills those issues into the personal experience of one girl, who is so genuine and endearing that one can't help but come to understand and have compassion for what she and her family endured. This story is one that needs to be read!" --Stephanie Crowe, Page & Palette Bookstore

"A master storyteller, Djavadi unravels Kimia Sadr's origin with family lore that has been passed down for generations, beginning with her Persian great grandfather in 1896. Each thread of the family's story builds the foundation for their harrowing escape to France during the Iranian Revolution. This book is a triumph and humanizes the history of a culture that many have ignored." --Rachel Watkins, Avid Bookshop

Praise for Disoriental

"Disoriental is a novel that will take your breath away, a lovely hymn to the freedom to live, to think, and to love." --France Inter

"Emotion, comedy, fever, and drama."--Elle

"If the history of Iran had to be contained in a book, set in motion and shaken by its revolutions, it would give you Disoriental...astonishing, disorderly, extraordinary, and enjoyable." --Le Devoir

"Constructed like a vinyl record, with its epic and novelistic A-side and its 'awkward little sister, ' the personal and political B-side, Disoriental has many enticing tracks. These include its narrative strength, held up by the consummate art of digression, changes in tone and rhythm, and the richness of its themes, as well as the precision of the critical eye that it points most notably at French society." --Le Monde des livres

"An incredible story...that leaves the reader dumbstruck, intensely and emotionally thrown off course." --ActuaLitte

"An ample political, historical, and intimate fresco, Disoriental appeals to readers with its freedom, its power, its breath, its language, and offers brilliant reflections on exile and identity. Impressive!" --Le Carnet a spirales

"Magnificent." --Le Soir

"An enchanting writer." --Canal +

Bookseller Blurbs

"PHENOMENAL! Insightful and compelling...Djavadi takes on huge social topics such as immigration, homosexuality, politics and culture and distills those issues into the personal experience of one girl, who is so genuine and endearing that one can't help but come to understand and have compassion for what she and her family endured. This story is one that needs to be read!"--Stephanie Crowe, Page & Palette Bookstore

"A master storyteller, Djavadi unravels Kimiâ Sadr's origin with family lore that has been passed down for generations, beginning with her Persian great grandfather in 1896. Each thread of the family's story builds the foundation for their harrowing escape to France during the Iranian Revolution. This book is a triumph and humanizes the history of a culture that many have ignored." --Rachel Watkins, Avid Bookshop

Praise for Disoriental

"In a tour de force of storytelling, screenwriter and debut novelist Djavadi deftly weaves together the history of 20th-century Iran [...] with the spellbinding chronicle of her own ancestors. [...] [T]his enchanting novel, well translated and with surprises and delights on every page, perfectly blends historical fact with contemporary themes."--Library Journal

"Authentic, ambitious, richly layered, and very readable, [...] every scene [of Disoriental] rings true."--Kirkus

"What is obvious from the beginning of this riveting novel is that Djavadi is an immensely gifted storyteller, and Kimiâ's tale is especially compelling."--Booklist (Starred Review)

"Disoriental is a rich, irreverent, kaleidoscopic novel of real originality and power. I've never read anything quite like it."--Alexander Maksik, author of You Deserve Nothing

"Djavadi's momentous first novel [...] convincingly and powerfully explores the enormous weight of one's family and culture on individual identity, especially the exile's."--Publishers Weekly

"Disoriental is epic in scope and yet deeply, even intimately, personal-the novel blows up any lines between the personal and the political, intertwining generations of inherited family stories in a way that doesn't just bring history to life (though it does that as well), it shows the lingering and often cruel effects seemingly disembodied historical forces can cast on an individual like Kimiâ Sadr. And amidst a story that could not be more topical--encompassing political upheaval and emigration, gender and sexuality--Djavadi's reluctantly worldly-wise narrator casually lays bare devastating truths about society and human nature. Stunning."--Tim Mohr, author of Burning Down the Haus

"By turns heartbreaking and humorous, Negar Djavadi takes us on a whirlwind journey through Iran's modern history, vividly capturing the pain of exile with passion and heart."--Saleem Haddad, author of Guapa

"Disoriental is a novel that will take your breath away, a lovely hymn to the freedom to live, to think, and to love." --France Inter

"Emotion, comedy, fever, and drama."--Elle

"If the history of Iran had to be contained in a book, set in motion and shaken by its revolutions, it would give you Disoriental...astonishing, disorderly, extraordinary, and enjoyable." --Le Devoir

"Constructed like a vinyl record, --Canal +