The Saffron Kitchen

A reviewer

This is a beautiful and touching story. The description 'lyrical prose' was never more true. The literary emphasis is on setting and characters. May this amazing writer give us many more novels.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Good storytelling

In London, Iranian expatriate Maryam hits her nephew Saeed who lives with her and her husband Edward since his mother died. Saeed runs away to avoid a beating, but Maryam¿s pregnant daughter Sara chases him and then miscarries. While Sara despondently recuperates in the hospital, Maryam, feeling guilt, runs away to the village in Iran where as a child she spent the happiest moments of her life.----------------- Maryam looks back to the moment everything changed for her. She and her two sisters enjoyed an upper class lifestyle due to their father being a General loyal to the newly installed Shah. Her sire hired a tutor Ali, whose teachings include Arnold's 'Dover Beach', which led to the teen dreaming of far away places. However, her strict father catches her and Ali committing an unacceptable though innocent transgression he throws her out. Maryam became a nurse, moved to Arnold¿s England, married kindhearted Edward, had a daughter while pining for her Ali, until she finally leaves behind those who cared about her.------------------ This is a wonderful character driven mid twentieth century clash of cultures. Edward is a stiff upper lip Englishman who knows his wife will never return to him Sara cannot comprehend her mother¿s soul searching yearning for what she lost three decades earlier finally Maryam is enigmatic with her need to go home even though her memories are no longer there. Though her desires are not fully understandable as a longing is different than a doing, fans will appreciate this deep look at a woman pulled by two cultures.--------------- Harriet Klausner

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Disappointing.

I've really started to enjoy Mid Eastern based fiction. I was looking forward to this one but was fairly disappointed. In fact, I just abandoned it after reading half the book. It didn't really hold my interest. I usually enjoy books which jump back and forth between characters, locales, and/or timeframes as this one did but the writer has to employ some distinctive tactics to keep the reader from being confused during this process. This author didn't really succeed in this. I was constantly trying to figure out character/place/time she was writing about and since I wasn't interested I decided it wasn't really worth the effort to continue.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

a good summer book

I enjoyed the book very much, it was touching and reflective.

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