Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America

This new Readers Circle edition includes a reading group guide and a conversation between Firoozeh Dumas and Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner.?

In 1972, when she was seven, Firoozeh Dumas and her family moved from Iran to Southern California, arriving with no firsthand knowledge of this country beyond her father?s glowing memories of his graduate school years here. More family soon followed, and the clan has been here ever since.

Funny in Farsi chronicles the American journey of Dumas?s wonderfully engaging family: her engineer father, a sweetly quixotic dreamer who first sought riches on Bowling for Dollars and in Las Vegas, and later lost his job during the Iranian revolution; her elegant mother, who never fully mastered English (nor cared to); her uncle, who combated the effects of American fast food with an army of miraculous American weight-loss gadgets; and Firoozeh herself, who as a girl changed her name to Julie, and who encountered a second wave of culture shock when she met and married a Frenchman, becoming part of a one-couple melting pot.

In a series of deftly drawn scenes, we watch the family grapple with American English (hot dogs and hush puppies??a complete mystery), American traditions (Thanksgiving turkey??an even greater mystery, since it tastes like nothing), and American culture (Firoozeh?s parents laugh uproariously at Bob Hope on television, although they don?t get the jokes even when she translates them into Farsi).

Above all, this is an unforgettable story of identity, discovery, and the power of family love. It is a book that will leave us all laughing?without an accent. more

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ProductReviews93/100 (100 Reviews)

Recent Reviews

5/5: From: Amazon; Posted: Aug-05-2009; funny in farsi; This is the best book I have read in a long time.I would recommend it for anyone who is looking for sensibility in this otherwise insane world with the spice of laughter put in.; read full review | report as inappropriate

4/5: From: Amazon; Posted: May-08-2009; Endearing, funny and warm...; I read a lot of memoirs (something that makes my friends a little crazy sometimes I think). Most of them are pretty screwed up and I like that, but there are a few out there that are funny and/or heartwarming. This book was both. It had...; read full review | report as inappropriate

1/5: From: Amazon; Posted: Apr-24-2009; Superficial Understanding of American, and Western Culture; Ms. Dumas showed in her book that superficial people exists in every culture and she is the representation of it. She states over and over "I am a Muslim, but Don't get me wrong..." reference to alcohol, pork, and being naked in...; read full review | report as inappropriate

5/5: From: Amazon; Posted: Apr-24-2009; Laughter and self-reflection for all foreigners and Americans alike; I first heard of Funny in Farsi in a Chinese language website (of all places!) in America. My boyfriend is Iranian and I asked him whether he knows the book and he has not heard about it at that time. Got the book anyway, read it in...; read full review | report as inappropriate

Selected Reviews

5/5: From: Amazon; Posted: Aug-05-2009; funny in farsi; This is the best book I have read in a long time.I would recommend it for anyone who is looking for sensibility in this otherwise insane world with the spice of laughter put in.; read full review | report as inappropriate

3/5: From: Amazon; Posted: Apr-21-2009; Funny in Farsi; I thought that this book was mildly amusing but not a laugh out loud riot as advertised. It was a peek into the experience of this young Iraian woman's experience in American. It was sweet and an easy read. It is not a book that I...; read full review | report as inappropriate

1/5: From: Amazon; Posted: Apr-24-2009; Superficial Understanding of American, and Western Culture; Ms. Dumas showed in her book that superficial people exists in every culture and she is the representation of it. She states over and over "I am a Muslim, but Don't get me wrong..." reference to alcohol, pork, and being naked in...; read full review | report as inappropriate