Welcome to Litsy!

The drama! ?. Many years ago a friend of a friend said to me, "But, darling, one doesn't actually PAY tradesmen!" (My background is working class.) Shirin reminded me of her, which is to say the book gave my empathy muscles a thorough workout! It has important things to say about mothers and daughters, and about the wounds of geographical and cultural displacement ('cause that ain't going away anytime soon) but Shirin and Elizabeth are monstrous.

Like many on here, this was a mixed bag for me. I appreciated the multigenerational aspect of the storytelling, and the several unlikable characters crackle off the page. But the more likable characters end up flat and boring and I felt like there were several loose ends not cleaned up well (or at all). It‘s a debut that shows promise but isn‘t quite there.

Truth

This may not be the most popular offering on the Women's Prize shortlist, but I really enjoyed this entertaining family drama.

The Persians tells the stories of three generations of women ranging from the outrageously rich to the determined and revolutionary. We are taken from Iran in the 1940s to New York in the 2000s.

The characters are flawed and it took me a while to warm to them, but in the end I found a lot to like.

Soft pick.

On paper this was my kind of book; a family saga focused on the matriarch, her daughters and granddaughters, spanning Iran and the US. I really wanted to love it, but just…didn‘t. I found the fast-paced narrative sometimes tricky to keep up with, and actively disliked just about everyone in an irritated rather than amused way. Slightly puzzled by the inclusion of this on the Women‘s Prize short list.

How did BOTH of these books make it to the #WomensPrize shortlist? Wasn't one (more than) enough?
They both feature serious broader issues that affect women, but take a tone that is supposed to be funny and have protagonists that nobody can identify with.
They're both about privileged women who implode their lives because rich people have trauma too. That's 1/3 of the #shortlist (maybe more 😵, I haven't read them all yet).
Why?

This book was work for me. I wanted to bail but I also wanted to understand why it was chosen for the #wpf25 shortlist so I kept reading to see if its inclusion would suddenly make sense to me. It never did. My favorite thing about it was its cover. Just not for me.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 I think I liked this #WPF25 short list pick better than most of the other Litsy reviewers. Definitely some self absorption, but from characters I found interesting because they and their circumstances are so different from mine. I enjoyed passively learning a bit about the Iranian revolution and the lives of characters who stayed and those who left. And I enjoyed over-the-top Shirin and her tiny steps toward growth by the end.

I was halfway through this on audio when the #wpf25 shortlist was announced. It wasn‘t on my shortlist and I haven‘t changed my mind since.

I actually quite enjoyed it on audio - mainly vacuous rich people being obnoxious - but I don‘t understand why it was on the list. There was no ‘important message‘ and I didn‘t learn anything and, as is the trend these days, the book just ended with no resolution for most of the characters.

This book has such potential. I was fully invested in the beginning, in what seemed to be a family story of a group of complex women who have been taught to strive for wealth and position over genuine human connection and love. But the book seemed to stall after the first half. It just never went anywhere, there was not really any character development (and what was there, wasn't earned). In the end, I just don't get the purpose. #wp25

Another so-so #WP25 book. What could have been an interesting story fell short imo. I learned little about Iran after the revolution and the Persian family members living in the US didn‘t really came to life. Shirin became a caricature towards the end of the story, Seema‘s role was unclear to me. Bita and Niaz could have been more interesting and I wonder why Shirin even had a son - Mo didn‘t add a thing. The longlist is a bit disappointing.

A soft pick for this #WP25 book.
I think I am just a bit burnt out, I can see why the judges picked it, there are some really good scenes, and the characters are compelling, it was just missing something a little extra that I expect from Women's Prize books. I also had a hard time keeping the storylines straight and would pick the book up and be confused who the POV was on.
Good not great 3.5/5 ⭐

"I watch the four women I work with and it is like an epiphany, discovering a waterfall during a walk in the woods, witnessing a secret smile. The men pretend not to notice, but I take pleasure in it, better than any party. There is beauty in small but radical exposures. I remember the women at Kian's - those long-haired revolutionaries."

That‘s a promising first sentence! This might be exactly the kind of book I‘ve been looking for after way too much (and too realistic) dystopian novels. #WP25

It's very important to match your donut choices to your book covers 🤣🤣🤣

A funeral is when the truth comes out, when everyone comes out of the wood-work. All the secret lovers, all the people the dead cheated with, or on. It's spectacular! A real shit show, as they say, and it's only a shame that the dead aren't there to witness. But I suppose that's the whole reason it happens. Nobody has any shame once you're a corpse. The shame melts away.

Behind the scenes in Iran...

They were plain-dressed, the women not wearing scarves, and for the first time in my memory I saw a large group of women with all their hair hanging freely. It was breathtaking. I was in awe, as if seeing a scene out of a Romantic painting of sea nymphs, like the ones Maman Elizabeth once told me about at bedtime. All textures and weights, dark, wavy, flying carpet-like. I loved these women and their powerful hair.

7 weeks! I don't think so...?

There's definitely a reason I turn these 'insights' off for kindle! Haven't worked out how to do it on Libby...

#WPLL25
#WomensPrize

This was a great read! The story follows three generations of women in an Iranian family. A part of them immigrate to the US, so we are given POVs about their lives and how they are deeply rooted in each other, even when a couple of them have not seen each other in years or met in person.

These women are very privileged and most of the time it made them navigate life without any regard to consequences.

US Pub Date: 3/4

4⭐️ #arc