Reading Lolita in Tehran by

Emotional Impact: AML 4--I want to rate it rather low.  I didn't care very much about the characters, but something brought me to tears at the end, the last paragraph from one of her students.  HD 2: I had very little involvement emotionally.  I kind of cared about the magician, I wondered if he might get killed or imprisoned. I already knew that she got out.  I wasn't involved with the narrator.  That is a problem.

Literary Style (How well was it written)--AML 7--I appreciated the specific and literary metaphors she used to move the plot along.  I loved her reference repeatedly to the view of the mountains through her mirror. I think what she did with using literature as a metaphor for life and tension in Tehran was masterful.  Although the writing was cumbersome and clunky at times. HD 7--She wrote well and clearly.  Many sentences did their job.  Obviously, she could write.

Content: AML--7 I loved the meat of the book, around what life was like as a professional woman or aspiring student during the 80s and 90s.  I wanted to skim her over emphasis on explaining many famous plots to us, and I also couldn't follow nor care about her students.   I could never follow who was who.  In fact, I think this was a result of her needing to mask their identities.  HD 7, The content was important useful information that people need to hear.

The best books have strong character development, hard hitting emotional impact, and have to be well written.

Overall score 6, for Amy and 4 for HD

New overall ranking

Bastard
Tattoos

Orange (HD)
All Over

Autobiography
Truth and Beauty
Orange (Amy)
Reading Lolita in Tehran
Liars Club
Dont Lets Go to the Dogs
Wild