Compelling ... The Issa-Nasser-Mehran plot is the novel’s most intriguing, but it’s hampered by other competing dramas ... Consequently, Issa, and our emotional investment, sometimes feel splintered among too many concerns ... Raises the possibility that love — or more vitally, connection — can still be forged in a difficult world.
Plenty of bed-hopping, both considered and consummated, happens on Iranian-born, New York-based professor Abdoh’s provocative pages, resulting in a poignant dark, dark dramedy exposing the elusive, performative nature of never quite true love.
