Gorge Guide

AUTHOR READING WITH MAHBOD SERAJI, "ROOFTOPS OF TEHRAN"

Wednesday, July 22, 2009
7 p.m.
Hood River County Library Meeting Room
502 State Street
Hood River, OR 97031

Contact Information: Jenny at Waucoma Bookstore, (541) 386-5353, books@waucomabookstore.com

***Please Note: The reading in Hood River is the only Oregon event that Mahbod Seraji will be doing for "Rooftops of Tehran”***

Overview
Waucoma Bookstore and the Hood River County Library are hosting author Mahbod Seraji for a book reading at the Hood River County Library Meeting Room on Wednesday, July 22nd at 7:00pm. Seraji will be reading from his new book “Rooftops of Tehran”.

About the Book
(Lisa Recommends) This stunning literary debut paints a vivid portrait of growing up, discovering love, and awakening to the reality of life in a nation on the verge of revolution in the 1970s. “Rooftops of Tehran” opens in a middle-class neighborhood in Iran’s sprawling capital city. The rooftop of the narrator’s house – the tallest in their alley - is the perfect spot for sleeping on hot summer nights. It’s also the perfect location for stargazing, sneaking cigarettes, talking about American movies, and confiding, analyzing and agonizing through the typical trials of being a seventeen year-old boy, including being in love. This is the spot from which the narrator quietly watches his secret love, his beautiful next door neighbor Zari, promised since birth to his friend and mentor, nicknamed Doctor, a man adored and respected by the whole neighborhood. It is from this high perch that the narrator witnesses the SAVAK's brutal hunt and arrest of Doctor and realizes the oppressiveness of the regime under which he resides. And the rooftop is where the narrator and Zari ultimately find quiet refuge in each other after the shock of Doctor’s senseless faith ripples through their close-knit community and brings about terrible, unexpected repercussions. With the candor only an Iranian can offer, Seraji's narrative bares the enduring struggle between beauty and brutality infused into the centuries-old Persian culture while reaffirming the human experiences we all share: contentment, terror, love, helplessness, ferocity, and hope.

About the Author
Mahbod Seraji was born in Iran and moved to the United State in 1976 at the age of nineteen. He attended the University of Iowa, where he received a MA in film and broadcasting and a PhD in instructional design and technology. He currently works as a management consultant, and lives in the San Francisco Bay area.

Lisa's Review of the Book Rooftops of Tehran by Mahbod Seraji Penguin, $15.00
Rooftops of Tehran is an intimate portrayal of friendship, love, and political dissent in 1970s Iran. 17-year-old Pasha Shahed is torn between his love for his neighbor, Zari, and his loyalty to the man she is betrothed to. When that man is captured by the secret police for subversive political activities, his execution causes a chain of heartbreak, desperate acts of protest, and eventually, hope. The story is beautifully written and unforgettable. -Lisa