5 Reasons to Read Song of a Captive Bird

Song of a Captive Bird by Jasmin Darznik 

Expected Publication Date: February 13th 2018

[[thanks Netgalley for letting me read this book!]] 

The bare bones: Song of a Captive Bird is a fictionalized memoir of Iranian poet Forugh Farrokhzad and I picked it up on Netgalley a month or two ago. It was a beautiful haunting read, and I have five reasons why you should put it on your TBR list immediately.

Reading diverse books is something I struggle with. After all, it can be easy to get stuck in a reading rut-- I loved this historical fiction so I look for more books just like that and so on and so forth.  When I saw this title pop up on Netgalley I knew it was the perfect addition to spice up my reading life. Not only is it about the life of an Iranian poet, the author is also Iranian.

Memoirs, even fictionalized memoirs like this one, just aren't really my cup a tea. Every now and then I'll read an autobiography but only if the person is a comedian. It's hard for me to get into nonfiction which is why I was shocked at how riveting this book was. Obviously it is fictionalized but it still reads like a memoir. Even so, it is lyrical and beautiful and kept my attention from page one.

Iranian history is not my strong suit. I know a smattering of information-- mostly vague words like oil, dictators, veils, revolutions, green-- but apart from that I got nothing. This novel introduced to me a tumultuous, beautiful, contradictory country before and during a time of political upheaval.

"Whatever Iran wanted to be, I loved it. I'd found my life's purpose here. Every poem I'd ever written was entangled with my country's story. I loved its downtrodden, small-minded, generous people. I loved them; I belonged to them. They were my people, and I was theirs."

Interspersed in this novel were lines of Farough's poetry, translated into English. It was nice to hear her actual voice woven into the story.

We found truth in the garden
in the shy glance of a nameless flower,
found eternity in the moment
when two suns faced each other. 
-- from 'Conquest of the Garden' by Farough

This is a fictionalized piece. In some ways it is the story of Farough Farrokhzad. In some ways it is the story of any of the nameless Iranian women born into those harsh times. It is specific and universal but most of all it is beautiful and heartbreaking. It is educational without feeling pedantic; it shows a life that is difficult without feeling hopeless, a struggle that is at times tortuous but not unbearable.


Have I convinced you yet? What are some of your favorite books by diverse authors that I should check out next?