Moonlight on the Avenue of Faith

Looking for works of fiction by contemporary Iranian authors, I chanced upon Gina Nahai's novel quite by accident. And while I was not tremendously drawn in by the blurb on the back cover, reading the first two pages proved my first impressions wrong. This book is a phenomenal example of modern magical realism found in a society that one would normally not associate with that genre. But moreover, it really brings to light the plight of two groups of people: Iranian jews confined to the ghettos in their own country, and Iranian exiles forced to begin a new life in the United States. Nahai is able to expertly weave the history of her homeland with the fantastic, but does so in a way that is both easy and enjoyable to read.

The first voice heard in this epic novel, is that of Lili, eighteen and haunted by her motherless past. Her mother, Roxanna the Angel, was "once a young woman with watercolor eyes and translucent skin...she could stop the world with her laughter.." and most importantly, "had been so light and delicate, so undisturbed by the rules of gravity and the drudgery of human existence, she had grown wings, one night....and flown into the star-studded night of Iran that claimed her." Lili was five when she saw her mother grow wings and disappear from her life only to return when Lili is eighteen. Nahai's spellbinding imagery and vocabulary capture readers into the world of Iran and into the life of Roxanna the Angel who was destined to run, before she was even conceived. We readers enter the world of characters such as Shusha the Beautiful, Miriam the Moon, Alexandra the Cat, and Mercedez the Movie Star...where sunflowers can light up a person's existence and the sorrows of destiny and history will hold you captive forever.I highly recommend this to everyone who likes GREAT books!

Just wanted to mention that the ending is... well... After all the magic realism, she abandons the realism part... and delves into the completely abstract. I was enjoying myself fancying that the story was "real" and not just a metaphor for her essentially essay-like study of exile (author is a scholar of exile).... but, near the end, she makes it clear it's a metaphor. Darn. I was enjoying the illusion. Still, a really powerful and highly engaging read. You're not going to waste your money here, I promise.

Nahai captures through beautiful prose the madness and magic of the Jewish ghetto in Teheran, mother and daughter relations and love vs. death. Her surrealistic portraits are truer than snapshots, capturing the essence of each character. Interwoven throughout this painfully lovely tale is the history of modern Iran as lived by its citzenry. Nahai examines the role of the outsider on many levels: unlucky child, unwanted daughter-in-law, social outcast, stranger in a strange land. She concludes that the transcendent power of faith and love is stronger than any code - real or imagined. This is a feast of a novel.

"Moonlight on the Avenue of Faith", Gina Nahai's second novel, recounts the story of Iranian Jewish women, first in Tehran's ghetto and later as immigrants to Los Angeles. This novel continues what Nahai started in her first novel, "Cry of the Peacock". Although the two novels can be read and enjoyed independent of each other, a few of the charachters of "Cry of the Peacock" reapear here. "Moonlight" starts early 20th century in Iran, and takes us all the way to the other side of the globe. It shows us a glimps into the soul of the Iranian Jewish woman who has struggled for survival for thousands of years in a country that never accepted her as a part of itself, to her struggles to make a new life in the "land of chances" because her home didn't even tollerate her presence on it's soil anymore. This is a must-read for anyone curious to find out what happens to people before they come to the United states. It is a wonderful window into the entrapped soul of the Eastern woman and her similarities to the woman of the west. For those of us who are Iranian Jewish exiles living in Los Angeles, this is a clear mirror reflecting how we are seen by each others and forces us to take a look at ourselves with a more objective eye and come out of denial. For those of us who know the people in the book weather in reality or as a representation of something familiar, this is a must-read.