(4 / 5) The Stationery Shop – Marjan Kamali
While romance/love stories are not my particular bag when it comes to reading, I can understand why people connect with and enjoy this story.
In many ways, Kamali is writing a love story that mirrors the chaos we feel today. Her story takes place in a tumultuous time of coups, revolution, and unrest in mid-century Tehran and while the current chaotic world looks different, in many ways, we are experiencing the same sense of ‘lack of control’ in a violent and unsteady world that her characters are experiencing. Her young lovers are caught up in their own overwhelming feelings while simultaneously being required to deal with family loyalty and obligation as well as the political unrest which surrounds their lives.
Ultimately, the young lovers are unable to overcome the various forces working against them and they each go their own way and live separate lives. However, by chance, they end up meeting again at the end of their lives and are able to reconcile their love, disappointment, and feelings of betrayal. The one issue I had with this book is that it glorified ‘young passionate love’ in a way that made it seem like the characters ‘settled’ for less in the love choices they made throughout their lives apart. Unfortunately, this is a common trope but one I do not ascribe to and thus was irritated that it was the main premise of the book.
Read on my friends!
-Haddi
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