March 2009 jacob silverman fiction the age of orphans by laleh khadivi. Laleh khadivi was born in esfahan, iran, in 1977, but fled with her family to the u nited states in the aftermath of the islamic revolution. The age of orphans is the first novel in a projected trilogy that will trace three generations of a kurdish family as they make their way to the united states and undergo the profound transformations of the immigrant experience. Laleh khadivi the story of a kurdish boy forced to betray his people in service of the new iranian nation, and the tragic consequences as he grows into manhood. At once rich and bleak, the age of orphans unleashes a tapestry of untold horrors and pleasures, of blood and smoke, hopes, dreams and desires. She has taught, and worked as a documentary film maker, and currently lives in atlanta, where she is fiction fellow a. Where a boys journey is measured by stolen love, memories forgotten, maps that circle upon themselves and back again. Read the age of orphans a novel by laleh khadivi available from rakuten kobo. It is a strange feature of laleh khadivis novel that it provides a list of who has owned the kurds land a list so central to the kurdish narrative of dispossession in the midst of a description of a young orphan urinating.
Laleh khadivis the age of orphans has something in common with chinua achebes masterpiece, things fall apart. Ive read 28 books this year and for me the age of orphans is the best of them all. Soon after his initiation into manhood, at age seven, he accompanies the village men to a mountain lookout, where they wait for the shahs troops. A kurdish proverb, it is more difficult to contend with oneself than with the world, serves as an epigraph to the age of orphans. In 1921 persia, after a battlefield massacre, a kurdish orphan is conscripted into the shahs army and given a new identity. The young boy watches the murder of his father by irans modern. The age of orphans is the first novel in a projected trilogy that will trace three generations of a kurdish familybased loosely on her ownas they make their way to the united states and undergo the profound transformations of the immigrant experience.
The age of orphans paperback common by author laleh khadivi on. The age of orphans by laleh khadivi overdrive rakuten. The story of a kurdish boy forced to betray his people in servic. Laleh khadivi was born in iran in 1977, but fled with her family to the united states in the aftermath of the islamic revolution.
She has been awarded a whiting award, a pushcart prize, and an nea literature fellowship. Laleh khadivis novel traces the history of iran through the brutal. The age of orphans, by laleh khadivi the independent. In gorgeous and poetic language, author laleh khadivi, recreates the gloried ground to which the boy is connected by birth and culture. Laleh khadivi author biography, plus links to books by. Rezas fascination with birds from the boys flying fantasies to the captains pet falcon endures throughout his lifetime.
In the age of orphans, however, myths of unity are always violently undermined. The shah comes with tanks and armies of horses and men. The age of orphans by laleh khadivi, 9781408802533, available at book depository with free delivery worldwide. Free shipping and pickup in store on eligible orders. This acclaimed book by laleh khadivi is available at in several formats for your ereader. Khadivis debut spans almost six decades, during which the boy, renamed reza khourdi by the authorities, first proves his loyalty and his brutality and thenon the ground that his knowledge of kurdish deviousness will be invaluableis promoted to captain and sent. Before following his father into battle, he had been.
The age of orphans isbn 9781596916166 pdf epub laleh. The age of orphans npr coverage of the age of orphans by laleh khadivi. A beautiful novel that had me enthralled from the first page to the last. Laleh khadivi, winner of the 2008 whiting writers award, was born in esfahan, iran, in 1977, but fled with her family to the united states in the aftermath of the islamic revolution. Told with an evocative richness of language that recalls michael ondaatje or anita desai, the story of reza khourdi is t. Its a historical novel focused on one individual, and shows both the destruction of.
Here reza is responsible for policing, and sometimes killing, his own people, and it is here that his carefully crafted persona begins to fissure and crack. The age of orphans follows reza on his meteoric rise in ranks, his marriage to a proud tehrani woman and his eventual deployment, as capitan, back to the zagros mountains and the everdefiant kurds. The stunning debut of a gifted new voice in literary fiction, the age of orphans tells the story of a kurdish boy forced to betray his people in service of the new iranian nation, and its tragic consequences as he grows into manhood as a powerful military leader. Like her earlier books, its lyrical, and it works through many of. The age of orphans greenville county library system. They will be of a frightening size, but do not scare, run to give us warning and all will be well. The age of orphans by laleh khadivi book club discussion. The historical material has unmistakable power, but the book is somewhat.
The age of orphans book by laleh khadivi thriftbooks. It tells of the psychological damage to a young kurd boy who after witnessing the death of his father at the hands of the shahs army struggles to find his identity. The reader is taken back to 1920s, and is introduced to the kurdish culture where a routine coming of age ritual changes the lives of many, when the group is intercepted by the shah of irans army. The age of orphans, by laleh khadivi grabs you by the soul and leads you through a land of beauty and pain, wisdom and arrogance, histories lost and created. The poetic language used in this book is something of an antidote to the violence and turmoil surrounding the life of its main character.
The age of orphans ebook by laleh khadivi rakuten kobo. Laleh khadivis debut novel, remarkable for its beautiful and brutal poetry, tells the story of a lost kurdish child and the history of this invisible. This violence is the main theme of laleh khadivis first novel, the age of orphans. Chris abani, author of graceland and the virgin of flames laleh khadivi is genuinely gifted and ruthless with that gift. For fans of the kite runner and the bookseller of kabul the age of orphans is the fictionalized story of the authors grandfather and her attempt to reclaim her own buried history. The age of orphans is a lyrical novel that follows one kurdish boys rise to power during the birth of iran as a nation. I cannot wait to read laleh khadivis 2nd book of her triology. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. The age of orphans is an arresting, powerful, transformative, unflinching, epic and deeply affecting novel. Seventeenyearold saladin is an ethnic kurd and an iranian citizen.
Laleh khadivi, author of the age of orphans, on librarything. Her gift for language can be compared with michael ondaatje, anne michaels, j. The age of orphans by laleh khadivi is an exceptional work of literature. The age of orphans follows reza khourdi on his meteoric rise in ranks, his marriage to a proud tehrani woman and his eventual deployment, as capitan, back to the zagros mountains and the everdefiant kurds. Lyrical and restrained, khadivis second novel after 2010s the age of orphans spotlights the universal undercurrents of immigration through the exodus of two kurdish brothers, saladin and ali, in t.
Ironic, beautifully written, brutal and ugly, khadivis ambitious debut novel follows a kurdish boy who is tragically and violently conscripted into. Third in a trilogy of novels about successive generations of kurdish men, laleh khadivis a good country is brilliant. It is a profound and darkly poetic story of a land roughly sewn together under the ambitious imagining of a nation, and of the life of a boy, whose identity does not, can not, unite with this vision. Laleh khadivis debut novel, remarkable for its beautiful and brutal poetry, tells the story of a lost kurdish child and the history of this invisible thing called iran. She has also worked as a director, producer, and cinematographer of documentary films. Books on warriors and sieges laleh khadivis the age of orphans tells the story of a young kurdish boy forced to join the iranian army. His father was the protagonist of khadivis debut the age of orphans, 2009, a police captain who did the shahs dirty work. The age of orphans is the first novel in a projected trilogy that will trace three generations of a kurdish familybased loosely on her ownas they make their way to the united states and undergo the profound. Buy the age of orphans by laleh khadivi from waterstones today. We follow the kurdish tribe into battle against the shahs army, only to read khadivis brutal descriptions of their slaughter.
1210 1336 672 1399 1319 1067 1451 767 1486 701 473 93 402 1059 560 1522 683 532 783 1545 1134 255 1258 206 533 1224 945 316 430 1487 1357 145