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Things I've Been Silent About by Azar Nafisi
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Things I've Been Silent About

Memories of a Prodigal Daughter

By Azar Nafisi

By Azar Nafisi

By Azar Nafisi

By Azar Nafisi

By Azar Nafisi
Read by Naila Azad

By Azar Nafisi
Read by Naila Azad

By Azar Nafisi
Read by Azar Nafisi

By Azar Nafisi
Read by Azar Nafisi

Best Seller
Paperback $18.00

Mar 02, 2010 | ISBN 9780812973907

Ebook $6.99

Dec 30, 2008 | ISBN 9781588367495

Audiobook Download $22.50

Dec 30, 2008 | 808 Minutes

Audiobook Download $15.00

Dec 30, 2008 | 390 Minutes

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    Things I've Been Silent About by Azar Nafisi
    Paperback $18.00
    Mar 02, 2010 | ISBN 9780812973907

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    • $18.00

      Mar 02, 2010 | ISBN 9780812973907

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    • Dec 30, 2008 | ISBN 9781588367495

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    • Dec 30, 2008 | ISBN 9781415958261

      808 Minutes

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    • Dec 30, 2008 | ISBN 9780739317549

      390 Minutes

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    Buy the Audiobook Download:

    About Things I’ve Been Silent About

    “Absorbing . . . a testament to the ways in which narrative truth-telling—from the greatest works of literature to the most intimate family stories—sustains and strengthens us.”—O: The Oprah Magazine

    In this stunning personal story of growing up in Iran, Azar Nafisi shares her memories of living in thrall to a powerful and complex mother against the backdrop of a country’s political revolution. A girl’s pain over family secrets, a young woman’s discovery of the power of sensuality in literature, the price a family pays for freedom in a country beset by upheaval—these and other threads are woven together in this beautiful memoir as a gifted storyteller once again transforms the way we see the world and “reminds us of why we read in the first place” (Newsday).

    Praise for Things I’ve Been Silent About

    “Deeply felt . . . an affecting account of a family’s struggle.”—New York Times
      
    “A gifted storyteller with a mastery of Western literature, Nafisi knows how to use language both to settle scores and to seduce.”—New York Times Book Review
     
     “An immensely rewarding and beautifully written act of courage, by turns amusing, tender and obsessively dogged.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
     
    “A lyrical, often wrenching memoir.”—People 

    About Things I’ve Been Silent About

    “Absorbing . . . a testament to the ways in which narrative truth-telling—from the greatest works of literature to the most intimate family stories—sustains and strengthens us.”—O: The Oprah Magazine

    In this stunning personal story of growing up in Iran, Azar Nafisi shares her memories of living in thrall to a powerful and complex mother against the backdrop of a country’s political revolution. A girl’s pain over family secrets, a young woman’s discovery of the power of sensuality in literature, the price a family pays for freedom in a country beset by upheaval—these and other threads are woven together in this beautiful memoir as a gifted storyteller once again transforms the way we see the world and “reminds us of why we read in the first place” (Newsday).

    BONUS: This edition contains a Things I’ve Been Silent About discussion guide.

    Praise for Things I’ve Been Silent About

    “Deeply felt . . . an affecting account of a family’s struggle.”—New York Times
      
    “A gifted storyteller with a mastery of Western literature, Nafisi knows how to use language both to settle scores and to seduce.”—New York Times Book Review
     
     “An immensely rewarding and beautifully written act of courage, by turns amusing, tender and obsessively dogged.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
     
    “A lyrical, often wrenching memoir.”—People 

    About Things I’ve Been Silent About

    I started making a list in my diary entitled “Things I Have Been Silent About.” Under it I wrote: “Falling in Love in Tehran. Going to Parties in Tehran. Watching the Marx Brothers in Tehran. Reading Lolita in Tehran.” I wrote about repressive laws and executions, about public and political abominations. Eventually I drifted into writing about private betrayals, implicating myself and those close to me in ways I had never imagined.
    –From Things I Have Been Silent About


    Azar Nafisi, author of the beloved international bestseller Reading Lolita in Tehran, now gives us a stunning personal story of growing up in Iran, memories of her life lived in thrall to a powerful and complex mother, against the background of a country’s political revolution. A girl’s pain over family secrets; a young woman’s discovery of the power of sensuality in literature; the price a family pays for freedom in a country beset by political upheaval–these and other threads are woven together in this beautiful memoir, as a gifted storyteller once again transforms the way we see the world and “reminds us of why we read in the first place” (Newsday).

    Nafisi’s intelligent and complicated mother, disappointed in her dreams of leading an important and romantic life, created mesmerizing fictions about herself, her family, and her past. But her daughter soon learned that these narratives of triumph hid as much as they revealed. Nafisi’s father escaped into narratives of another kind, enchanting his children with the classic tales like the Shahnamah, the Persian Book of Kings. When her father started seeing other women, young Azar began to keep his secrets from her mother. Nafisi’s complicity in these childhood dramas ultimately led her to resist remaining silent about other personal, as well as political, cultural, and social, injustices.

    Reaching back in time to reflect on other generations in the Nafisi family, Things I’ve Been Silent About is also a powerful historical portrait of a family that spans many periods of change leading up to the Islamic Revolution of 1978-79, which turned Azar Nafisi’s beloved Iran into a religious dictatorship. Writing of her mother’s historic term in Parliament, even while her father, once mayor of Tehran, was in jail, Nafisi explores the remarkable “coffee hours” her mother presided over, where at first women came together to gossip, to tell fortunes, and to give silent acknowledgment of things never spoken about, and which then evolved into gatherings where men and women would meet to openly discuss the unfolding revolution.

    Things I’ve Been Silent About is, finally, a deeply personal reflection on women’s choices, and on how Azar Nafisi found the inspiration for a different kind of life. This unforgettable portrait of a woman, a family, and a troubled homeland is a stunning book that readers will embrace, a new triumph from an author who is a modern master of the memoir.





    About Things I’ve Been Silent About

    I started making a list in my diary entitled “Things I Have Been Silent About.” Under it I wrote: “Falling in Love in Tehran. Going to Parties in Tehran. Watching the Marx Brothers in Tehran. Reading Lolita in Tehran.” I wrote about repressive laws and executions, about public and political abominations. Eventually I drifted into writing about private betrayals, implicating myself and those close to me in ways I had never imagined.
    –From Things I Have Been Silent About


    Azar Nafisi, author of the beloved international bestseller Reading Lolita in Tehran, now gives us a stunning personal story of growing up in Iran, memories of her life lived in thrall to a powerful and complex mother, against the background of a country’s political revolution. A girl’s pain over family secrets; a young woman’s discovery of the power of sensuality in literature; the price a family pays for freedom in a country beset by political upheaval–these and other threads are woven together in this beautiful memoir, as a gifted storyteller once again transforms the way we see the world and “reminds us of why we read in the first place” (Newsday).

    Nafisi’s intelligent and complicated mother, disappointed in her dreams of leading an important and romantic life, created mesmerizing fictions about herself, her family, and her past. But her daughter soon learned that these narratives of triumph hid as much as they revealed. Nafisi’s father escaped into narratives of another kind, enchanting his children with the classic tales like the Shahnamah, the Persian Book of Kings. When her father started seeing other women, young Azar began to keep his secrets from her mother. Nafisi’s complicity in these childhood dramas ultimately led her to resist remaining silent about other personal, as well as political, cultural, and social, injustices.

    Reaching back in time to reflect on other generations in the Nafisi family, Things I’ve Been Silent About is also a powerful historical portrait of a family that spans many periods of change leading up to the Islamic Revolution of 1978-79, which turned Azar Nafisi’s beloved Iran into a religious dictatorship. Writing of her mother’s historic term in Parliament, even while her father, once mayor of Tehran, was in jail, Nafisi explores the remarkable “coffee hours” her mother presided over, where at first women came together to gossip, to tell fortunes, and to give silent acknowledgment of things never spoken about, and which then evolved into gatherings where men and women would meet to openly discuss the unfolding revolution.

    Things I’ve Been Silent About is, finally, a deeply personal reflection on women’s choices, and on how Azar Nafisi found the inspiration for a different kind of life. This unforgettable portrait of a woman, a family, and a troubled homeland is a stunning book that readers will embrace, a new triumph from an author who is a modern master of the memoir.





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    Listen to a sample from Things I’ve Been Silent About

    Also by Azar Nafisi

    The Republic of Imagination
    Reading Lolita in Tehran
    See all books by Azar Nafisi

    Also by Azar Nafisi

    The Republic of Imagination
    Reading Lolita in Tehran
    See all books by Azar Nafisi

    Also by Azar Nafisi

    The Republic of Imagination
    Reading Lolita in Tehran
    See all books by Azar Nafisi

    Also by Azar Nafisi

    The Republic of Imagination
    Reading Lolita in Tehran
    See all books by Azar Nafisi

    About Azar Nafisi

    Azar Nafisi is the critically acclaimed author of Reading Lolita in Tehran, a long-running #1 New York Times bestseller published in thirty-two languages, and Things I’ve Been Silent About, also a New York Times bestseller. A fellow at Johns Hopkins University’s… More about Azar Nafisi

    About Azar Nafisi

    Azar Nafisi is the critically acclaimed author of Reading Lolita in Tehran, a long-running #1 New York Times bestseller published in thirty-two languages, and Things I’ve Been Silent About, also a New York Times bestseller. A fellow at Johns Hopkins University’s… More about Azar Nafisi

    About Azar Nafisi

    Azar Nafisi is the critically acclaimed author of Reading Lolita in Tehran, a long-running #1 New York Times bestseller published in thirty-two languages, and Things I’ve Been Silent About, also a New York Times bestseller. A fellow at Johns Hopkins University’s… More about Azar Nafisi

    About Azar Nafisi

    Azar Nafisi is the critically acclaimed author of Reading Lolita in Tehran, a long-running #1 New York Times bestseller published in thirty-two languages, and Things I’ve Been Silent About, also a New York Times bestseller. A fellow at Johns Hopkins University’s… More about Azar Nafisi

    Product Details

    Category: Biography & Memoir

    Paperback | $18.00
    Published by Random House Trade Paperbacks
    Mar 02, 2010 | 368 Pages | 5-3/16 x 8 | ISBN 9780812973907

    Category: Biography & Memoir

    Ebook | $6.99
    Published by Random House
    Dec 30, 2008 | 368 Pages | ISBN 9781588367495

    Category: Biography & Memoir | Audiobooks

    Audiobook Download | $22.50
    Published by Random House Audio
    Dec 30, 2008 | 808 Minutes | ISBN 9781415958261

    Category: Biography & Memoir | Audiobooks

    Audiobook Download | $15.00
    Published by Random House Audio
    Dec 30, 2008 | 390 Minutes | ISBN 9780739317549

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    Praise

    “Absorbing . . . a testament to the ways in which narrative truth-telling—from the greatest works of literature to the most intimate family stories—sustains and strengthens us.”—O: The Oprah Magazine
      
    “Deeply felt . . . an affecting account of a family’s struggle.”—New York Times
      
    “A gifted storyteller with a mastery of Western literature, Nafisi knows how to use language both to settle scores and to seduce.”—New York Times Book Review
     
     “An immensely rewarding and beautifully written act of courage, by turns amusing, tender and obsessively dogged.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
     
    “A lyrical, often wrenching memoir.”—People

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