Sofer So Good: The Septembers of Shiraz

Released in a year which witnessed Iranian-American intellectuals held for months in Iranian prisons, the country's Revolutionary Guard deemed a terrorist group by the U.S. government, and women in Sudan and Saudi Arabia face life-threatening beatings under Islamic law for contrived crimes, Dalia Sofer's The Septembers of Shiraz is right on time.

Loosely based on Sofer's own experiences in post-revolution Iran, the book is set in a world where seemingly ordinary decisions can suddenly have devastating consequences. The story follows the lives of Isaac Amin and his secular Jewish family, who had flourished financially under the Shah's regime. The country's growing Islamization does not appear to threaten the Amins until Isaac is jailed on trumped up charges of spying for Israel, while his family is left to imagine the worst.

Ideas of faith run throughout the novel, as the family's belief systems are constantly challenged. Rightly shunning sentimentality, Sofer unsparingly recounts the moments when the strongest faith is undercut by disloyalty or malice, while demonstrating the dangers of nihilism and despair through Isaac's incarceration.

If there is criticism to be had, it is that the novel's ending might seem contrived in light of the harsh realism which came before. This is a minor quibble, however, for a story whose themes are surprisingly universal given the often dire experiences depicted. It would be a shame to limit Sofer's book to the category of “Jewish Literature” when it deserves a much broader audience. The Septembers of Shiraz is a triumph, and Dalia Sofer a writer worthy of wide recognition.