Mahloudji writes with a wisdom and confidence rarely seen in a debut, and her sharp observations are humorous and poignant ... As you would expect in a novel of migration and revolution, identity is a huge theme, but this is more than a tale of Middle East meets west. Mahloudji is exploring where identity comes from ... The Persians earns a place alongside...heavyweights. It is as funny as it is moving, as perceptive as it is pithy.
Breathless, overwhelming ... An occasionally madcap, moving, relentlessly entertaining exploration of three generations of the descendants of Babk Ali Khan Valiat ... The characters’ many reconciliations with their past, in all their many clashing styles, is where the novel’s tension lies, not in any sort of awareness of the urgent politics of collective Iranian womanhood. This myopia doesn’t cost the narrative much, curiously enough ... Yet, no matter which way you approach it, there are some glitches in how the saga lands. What does impress is how little you may care about wanting more depth from a novel along the way ... Provid[es] a marvellously distracting and ungrounding plot twist ... I appreciated the few surreal flourishes in the prose ...
When the plot veers into more serious subject matter, Mahloudji risks losing us, but she is at her most secure when firmly entrenched in comic realms. It is in these passages that her saga holds the high-lo glitz and gutter appeal of the best immigrant epics such as Marjane Satrapi’s chronicles. All in all, I mourned the end of this universe far more than I fussed over its shortfalls.
Highly entertaining ... A novel full of outrageous laughter, retaining its fire even in tender moments, and relishing the challenge of locating beauty and complexity within outright gaudiness. If it falls short, it is in its depiction of contemporary Iran, which lacks the solidity of Mahloudji’s evocation of the pre-revolutionary country.
The glitz never outshines the heart here ... By turns comic and affecting, the saga of the Valiat women conveys hard truths about women’s lives along with a healthy dose of couture and jewelry.
