Changes

Mandanipour frequently digresses for the sake of his Western readers to explain why certain phrases or actions are not allowed, and by doing so gives an extraordinary picture of modern Iran. Here is a story of a girl arrested watching sparrows with her boyfriend in a quiet park. Taken first to medical examiners to determine whether she is still a virgin, she is then confined to her house for a month. Browbeaten by her family, she reveals the boy's address. He is arrested, detained for twenty days, then beaten to a pulp by her uncles. Here is the tale of schoolgirls wearing brightly coloured shoes or buttons - a short rebellion. Here are the women in his childrenschildren' text books s' textbooks sprouting headscarves and long sleeves. Mandanipour tells how customs officers have now perfected the technique of blacking out Western models' naked arms and legs in imported magazines such as The New Yorker – they use a magic marker resistant to efforts to erase with water or nail polish remover. He describes how films are made, using a metaphor for physical contact, so two lovers sitting at a table take turns to stroke a sparrow's back – a description of enormous sensuality. He is very funny about the contradictions of modern Iran – his descriptions of registering the birth names of his children is glorious – and he is often angry, bitter and horrifying as he outlines the actions of the revolutionary regime.

This is a complex narrative. Mandanipour attempts to introduce the morés of modern Iran as well as themes and highlights of Iranian literature, history and mythology to a new audience, at the same time as telling a love story which becomes ever more mangled by an enthusiastic censor and whose characters wilfully willfully take on a life and actions of their own. Sometimes, I felt, the narrative suffered some loss of tension as a result. However, this was more than made up for by the wealth of story and insight that this book provides. There is a moment at which Sara, the woman at the centre of the love story, stops to talk to an old book peddler on the street. We discover he was one of Iran's most famous poets before the revolution. He offers to sell her a five-hundred-year-old handwritten copy of the narrative poem Khosrow and Shirin – in return for her headscarf. It is a testament to the skill with which Mandanipour had described the iron control of Iran's social police that this request sent a shiver of shock and fear down my spine.

It's almost impossible to find a book similar to ''Censoring an Iranian Love Story'' but if this book appeals to you then you might also enjoy [[Tail of the Blue Bird by Nii Ayikwei Parkes]] or [[Children of the Jacaranda Tree by Sahar Delijani]].