Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books (2003) | How Woke Is It?

Our VerdictNot Woke

15%

Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books2003

In a free society the right to critique art is essential and protected speech. These reviews reflect personal opinions and not statements of fact.

What We Think

This collection of global sermons cares more about spiritual depth than pushing any modern agenda. Diversity here is genuine, rooted in faith, not identity signaling. Not woke, just global, in the best, old-school sense.

Score Breakdown

Compromised:Narrative Integrity

Not Woke

What is this?

This collection focuses on sermons from diverse cultural and geographic backgrounds, but places primary emphasis on spiritual message and personal stories, not modern identity politics. The editorial choices seem to respect voices from around the world without obvious ideological insertion.

Compromised:Cultural Foundations

Not Woke

What is this?

The book largely supports religious tradition, promoting faith, family, and morality within a Christian context. There's little sign of undermining traditional values; if anything, the diversity serves to highlight global Christianity's foundational principles.

Compromised:Ideological Monoculture

Mildly Woke

What is this?

While all sermons are within a Christian framework, the collection features sincerely different worldviews and experiences, rather than demanding lockstep ideology. No sign of forced progressive unanimity or mockery of dissenting perspectives here.

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Disclaimer: In a free society the right to critique art is essential and protected as a form of free speech and freedom of expression. The reviews and commentary on this site represent personal opinions and interpretations. They are not statements of fact and should not be taken as factual claims about any individual, company, or creative work.

Synopsis

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • We all have dreams—things we fantasize about doing and generally never get around to. This is the story of Azar Nafisi’s dream and of the nightmare that made it come true. For two years before she left Iran in 1997, Nafisi gathered seven young women at her house every Thursday morning to read and discuss forbidden works of Western literature. They were all former students whom she had taught at university. Some came from conservative and religious families, others were progressive and secular; several had spent time in jail. They were shy and uncomfortable at first, unaccustomed to being asked to speak their minds, but soon they began to open up and to speak more freely, not only about the novels they were reading but also about themselves, their dreams and disappointments. Their stories intertwined with those they were reading—Pride and Prejudice, Washington Square, Daisy Miller and Lolita—their Lolita, as they imagined her in Tehran. Nafisi’s account flashes back to the early days of the revolution, when she first started teaching at the University of Tehran amid the swirl of protests and demonstrations. In those frenetic days, the students took control of the university, expelled faculty members and purged the curriculum. When a radical Islamist in Nafisi’s class questioned her decision to teach The Great Gatsby, which he saw as an immoral work that preached falsehoods of “the Great Satan,” she decided to let him put Gatsby on trial and stood as the sole witness for the defense. Azar Nafisi’s luminous tale offers a fascinating portrait of the Iran-Iraq war viewed from Tehran and gives us a rare glimpse, from the inside, of women’s lives in revolutionary Iran. It is a work of great passion and poetic beauty, written with a startlingly original voice. Praise for Reading Lolita in Tehran “Anyone who has ever belonged to a book group must read this book. Azar Nafisi takes us into the vivid lives of eight women who must meet in secret to explore the forbidden fiction of the West. It is at once a celebration of the power of the novel and a cry of outrage at the reality in which these women are trapped. The ayatollahs don’ t know it, but Nafisi is one of the heroes of the Islamic Republic.”—Geraldine Brooks, author of Nine Parts of Desire