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The most beloved Iranian novel of the twentieth century "God forbid, I've fallen in love with Layli!" So begins the farce of our narrator s life, one spent in a large extended Iranian family lorded over by the blustering, paranoid patriarch, Dear Uncle Napoleon. When Uncle Napoleon s least-favorite nephew falls for his daughter, Layli, family fortunes are reversed, feuds fired up and resolved, and assignations attempted and thwarted.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17308 in Books
• Published on: 2006-03-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 528 pages

Review
''A gift both to readers fascinated by other cultures and to lovers of fiction for fiction s sake.'' --The Washington Post Book World

''Readers can gain a more balanced impression of Iran from this novel, which looks at life from the kind of humorous perspective few Westerners may associate with the current regime in that country.'' --The Christian Science Monitor

''Howlingly funny . . . [a] tender, salacious and magical Iranian import'' --Cleveland Plain Dealer

''Readers can gain a more balanced impression of Iran from this novel, which looks at life from the kind of humorous perspective few Westerners may associate with the current regime in that country.'' --The Christian Science Monitor

''Howlingly funny . . . [a] tender, salacious and magical Iranian import'' --Cleveland Plain Dealer

About the Author
Iraj Pezeshkzad was born in Tehran, Iran in 1928 and was educated in Iran and France, where he received his degree in Law. He served as a judge in the Iranian Judiciary for five years prior to joining the Iranian Foreign Service. He served as a diplomat until the Iranian revolution in 1979, and left the Foreign Service to reside in France after the revolution.

Customer Reviews

A World-Class Comic Masterpiece!
Americans have become so accustomed to seeing televised images of dour Ayatollahs and grim-faced Iranian demonstrators shouting "Death to the Great Satan" that we have forgotten that Iran is also the land of Omar Khayyam. Pezeshkzad and his characters have more in common with the 12th century poet than the religious revolutionaries who overthrew the Shah would like, and the readers will give thanks with laughter. Early in World War II, the unnamed 15-year-old narrator becomes infatuated with his first cousin Layli, the daughter of the narrator's uncle, derisively nicknamed Napoleon for constantly voicing admiration for the French general. At a family gathering, the narrator's father vents annoyance with Uncle Napoleon's unending inflation of his military record (Uncle Napoleon's four-man gendarmerie squad over the years had been transformed into dozens of army battalions thwarting the plans of British imperialism). For his father's offense, the narrator is banned from seeing his beloved Layli, who Uncle Napoleon betrothes to the narrator's horse-faced cousin Puri. The narrator turns to his cousin Asadollah, a bon vivant and womanizer extraordinaire, for advice in stopping the wedding and winning Layli. The action builds to a climax when the British occupy Tehran. The results . . . well, I won't give it away. But if you like laugh-out-loud farce mixed with sharp-eyed satire, you owe it to yourself to read this book. It belongs on a very short list of comic masterpieces of world literature.

Perhaps the funniest book ever written
Th book is increadibly funny. I cannot reccomend it enough. It tells of a young boys love for his cousin and the way he fights of attention from his rivals. Whilst this battle for her heart rages so does the world war and his increasingly paranoids unces delusions about the British whom he believs to be after him. Will make you laugh out loud many times and yet although this book is one of the funniest I have ever read it is also one of the saddest.

Great comic novel
This is a wonderful book -- totally unexpected for those of us raised in the States since the Iranian Revolution. Broad humor -- think of "Good Soldier Schweick" set in the Middle East and you'll get the idea.