Book Review of Funny in Farsi

Funny in Farsi Book Review

By: Meseret Ghirmai

I read the book Funny in Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas. This book is about an Iranian girl named Firoozeh Dumas and she is an immigrant from Iran. She is the narrator of this book, so she talks about how her journey was like coming to America and some of the obstacles she had to overcome while coming to America. Firoozeh’s other siblings and her dad were the first ones in the family to come to America, because they were educated, and in order for Firoozeh and her mom to settle here in America, they needed someone in the family to be there in America. In my book review, I will talk about why I recommend this book, why I chose to read this book, and some interesting quotes/scenes from the book.

I would recommend this book to people who like to read about immigrants and their lifestyle in their home country. This book talks about America and Iran and how Firoozeh was affected by living in those two countries. I liked this book a lot because it’s something that happens today and it’s pretty interesting to hear about somebody’s life through immigration, when she is your age. This book gives you an idea of what immigrants go through in their home country and how they struggle just to come to America. This book definitely tells you a lot of push and pulls factors about America and Iran.

I chose to read this book because I wanted to learn more about Iranians lives and how their traditions and culture are like. I wanted to know why Firoozeh’s family wanted to come to America. I know that immigrants come to America for freedom, opportunities, and education but I wanted to know more about why it’s different here than in Firoozeh’s home country. Even if we didn’t have to read a book about immigration, I would’ve still picked this book because when I read the summary about it, I was eager to read it. I also thought that this book would give me a good understanding of how thankful I should be, for living in a country where you have access to everything and you have freedom.

One quote that struck me was when Firoozeh said, “During our Thanksfiving meal, my father gives thanks for living in a free country where he can vote. I always share gratitude for being able to pursue my hopes and dreams, despite being female.” This quote means that back in her home country, she couldn’t vote because she was a female and now she can vote whether she is female or male and she can still pursue her dreams. Another quote that struck me while I was reading this book was when Firoozeh said, “After spending an entire day in America, surrounded by Americans, I realized that my father’s description of America had been correct. The bathrooms were clean and the people were very, very kind.” This quote means that Firoozeh already likes Americans and she thinks that what her dad thought about America was right. The thing that she doesn’t know about Americans is that they can be nice, racist, rude, etc. but she will know soon.

To conclude my book review, I just want to say that this is a good book. You can really connect to them even though you are not an immigrant because your family may be one. The theme of this book is to be glad your in America and don’t take that for granite. I hope you get a chance to read this book.