The Stationery Shop of Tehran
The Stationery Shop of Tehran is a lovely and relevant examination of devastating loss, family devotion and reconciliation, the utterly overpowering force of love, tenacity, and the absurdity of fate. Iranian-American author Marjan Kamali's debut book, Together Tea, was released in 2013 and was a nominee for the Massachusetts Book Award. The Stationery Shop of Tehran on the surface appears to be a charming but understated, enticingly romantic narrative that spans six decades and involves both heartbreak and eternal love.
The Stationery Shop's exquisite writing captivates you from the very first page. It takes place in Tehran in 1953 during a time of political instability. Through rich imagery and excellent writing, I was instantly transported to Tehran.
The tender story about young love is painstakingly created with believable characters who live and breathe through a turbulent time in Iran's history without becoming stereotypes for a country or a generation. Roya is a dreamy, idealistic teenager and a bookish schoolgirl who frequents a local bookstore.
In the stationery store, Roya meets Bahman, a young man who is driven by a strong sense of justice and a desire to make a difference in the world. Bahman, a fiery political activist who is drawn to Roya, contrasts with Roya's timid perception of the constrained environment she lives in with Zari, her younger sister, and parents who are progressive and have dreams for their girls. In the privacy of a store run by the affable Mr Fakhri who plays Cupid, their shared love of literature and Rumi's poetry grows amidst the nation's simmering turmoil.
Through Roya’s smitten eyes, we see her world and its possibilities open up from the safety of Bahman’s arms. As she meets him for dates at Cafe Ghanadi, where he introduces her to pastries and brings her to parties where she witnesses boys and girls interacting freely while attempting to dance the tango, her naivete gradually gives way to surprise at his sophistication. But even in the early stages of their relationship, the young lovers can already taste the harshness of life that would eventually overtake them. The book spans continents and decades as the country's political future interacts with the charming love story and transports Roya and Zari to distant America, where they enroll in college and work to realize their father's ambitions of scientific and literary careers for his daughters.
What does Roya's future hold? What became of Bahman? Why didn't he show up?
All unanswered questions take us to a more straightforward narration that is not as evocative as the previous part in Iran.
The two sisters are described as having distinct reactions to transferring from a safe family life to a foreign nation in Kamali's straightforward writing that depicts California in the middle of the 1950s. Without resorting to over-the-top exotic narration, the tale subtly introduces the process of adjusting to new ways of being (shaking hands, wearing shoes inside the home), new foods (burgers and fries), and of course, learning the intricacies of a new language. The story, which centres on Roya's life, smoothly incorporates several allusions to Nowruz, the Persian New Year, and thorough explanations of dishes using saffron and rose water. The scenes are expertly built up by the author, who makes them vivid without giving the impression that they are there only to lay everything out for readers who aren't aware of cultural quirks.
Over sixty years later, a stroke of luck brings her back to Bahman and provides her with the opportunity to ask him the concerns that have troubled her for more than 50 years: He left, but why? How did he get there? How did he manage to forget her?
I'm not sure when this book appeared on my TBR list. But I do recall seeing its blurb when browsing through my Goodreads list recently. The premise of the story seemed unrealistically simple. Being startled by a book may be a modest source of delight. I enjoyed reading about the cherished stationery store, the traditions, the cuisine, the political strife, and the interesting personalities. The language draws you into the believable people's lives as well as the August 1953 political crisis, culture, and challenging family dynamics.
Much of the book's early portion discusses in detail how this monumental era irrevocably transformed Iran and laid the way for the Iranian Revolution of 1979, which occurred just 26 years later, and how it influenced many of the characters, all of whom are compelled to take sides in some manner. While this is an extremely intimidating background, the book's actual core is Roya and Bahman's great love story.
Roya's family life and relationships are unremarkable and rock strong, both with her sister in the early years and with her husband, Walter, in the latter years. Even with political turmoil brewing, there are no clear villains or saviours, no unequivocal heroes. Some of the primary characters who track the arc of the love story rise beyond petty greed and societal constraints to improve the plight of others, while others are unable to break free from the bonds of their personal anguish and tragedy.
The relationship between Roya and Bahman is exceptionally touching, as seen by the scenes in which both of them appear. Can someone fall in love so passionately at the youthful age of seventeen and bear the burden of the love as well as the mystery of their separation while living fully involved lives without contacting each other? In today's world of constant touch and communication, it appears impractical. Perhaps the beauty of the story lies in the inability and unwillingness of the protagonist to rip apart the reason for her heartbreak and her capacity to carry on.
Kamali spins a narrative of lost love that, like all genuine love, is never truly lost, seizing your heart and imagination in ways that feel very real and poignant. After all, everyone struggles in various ways with life's biggest regrets, and there's a lot to empathize with in a book that tackles in deep and emotionally-resonant detail what it's like when those Sliding Doors moments aren't what you expected them to be.
While there is plenty of romance in The Stationery Ship of Tehran, there is also the agony and grief of life's twists and turns, which frequently take you to unexpected places.
But, nearly as awful as losing what you thought would always be yours, which is exactly what happened to Roya and Bahman's blighted love (though, in fact, it was never lost to them), is discovering that they lost it due to events beyond their control.
What kind of anguish does this produce six decades later?
Enormous, but there is some closure that comes with Roya and Bahman's reunion, and while it is laced with sorrow, it is also a blessing to know the starkness of reality after living in the shadows of not knowing for so long.
In an interview, Kamali discussed the inspiration for this work.
“This story came from a very special experience I had when I was promoting my first book, Together Tea. I was asked to read at an assisted living center and after the reading, we all sat down to a wonderful Persian lunch organized by the center (there is a lot of food in both my books!). An elderly man in a wheelchair at our table kept saying how he’d met the prince of Spain and traveled with Charles De Gaulle. Others weren’t interested in hearing his repetitions. But before I left, I asked what his name was and was surprised that it was an Iranian name. Weeks later when I visited my parents, I told them about this elderly man. When I said his name, my father said, “He was one of our most decorated foreign dignitaries. He met the prince of Spain. He traveled with Charles de Gaulle.” I was stunned. That night I kept thinking about what it meant to be an elderly person in an assisted living center with a past that no one believed. Or, a past people believed but just didn’t care about. I knew then that I had the kernel for my next book. I started with just the image of an elderly man in a wheelchair. But then I added the story of a great lost love and letters passed in books in a stationery shop.”
The novel concludes with an unexpected twist that pulls all of the characters and their relationships into focus. Kamali closes the loop in the very end, when Roya and Brahman meet, repair shattered hearts, and review all that went wrong in Iran when they were young and in love.
“In the bed, beneath the toothpaste sheets, Roya stroked his chest, searched for his arms, the muscles she had known so well. She kissed his eyes, his cheekbones, his lips. She pressed her cheek against his heart and lay there, grateful for the time she’d had with him, however, short or long it had been, grateful she had known him, grateful that once, when she was young, she had experienced a love so strong it did not go away, that decades and distance and miles and children and lies and letters could never make it disappear. She held him in her arms and said to him all she needed to say.
For that fraction of time, he was entirely hers.” (P. 288)
Recommendation: I highly suggest The Stationery Shop to those who enjoy a poignant and interesting historical fiction love tale, a well-written novel set in Tehran, fans of varied literature, and book groups.