This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at for further information. For more great books from this year, search © 2020 NPR. And I think it is a shame to be so unclaimed - this idea that the collective work that any family does of telling each other their own story can't be done.ĬHANG: Daniel Nayeri's book is also infused with big love, delicious food and so many laughs. And when you take one chunk of the family - a small chunk - and immediately remove them, you're breaking that line. Whatever these traditions, these ideas are, they're a linear path. Your uncle might pull you aside in the holidays and gift you his dad's pocketknife, or your grandfather might teach you how to make yogurt properly. And what that really implies is the collective effort of keeping family tradition and family memories alive.
NAYERI: When we look at family histories, we often use metaphors of the family line or the family tree. And at one point, Nayeri writes that, quote, "a patchwork memory is the shame of a refugee." And that is her faith.ĬHANG: The story moves back and forth through time. To that end, the book even says when you look at her, you have to say, wow, this person is completely unhinged and crazy, or there is something that she has deeply and sincerely valued above all this. And she will tell you she would do it all over again. A life being very well-to-do in Iran becomes a life of abject poverty and abuse. It was something for which all of it was relinquished. It was very clearly not a cultural agreement.
My mother converted to Christianity because that is her belief. NAYERI: This whole book doesn't happen if my mother doesn't give up everything in the world - her medical practice, her very high social standing, her marriage, her family, her home, her home country.
I spoke with him earlier this year and asked what kept her going on their journey. It's a novelistic take on the author's own life, and his mother emerges as the true hero of the story. And it hooks you right from the opening line.ĭANIEL NAYERI: (Reading) All Persians are liars, and lying is a sin.ĬHANG: This book takes you on a journey through myth, youth and culture clash as the main character and his family flee from Iran to Oklahoma. It's called "Everything Sad Is Untrue" by Daniel Nayeri. Well, one of my favorite books on that list was actually written for kids ages 10 and up. You get to click on these gorgeous covers, all to find the best books from 2020. It's got this cool way to sort by topics. We know you readers love NPR's Book Concierge.
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