Add Dumas, Firoozeh:Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America (Reader's Circle (Prebound))
- Paperback 2006, ISBN: 9780756983628
Hardcover
Viking. Very Good. 6 x 1 x 8.5 inches. Hardcover. 2006. 272 pages. <br>At the heart of Meg Mullins?s debut novel is one o f the most touchingly believable characters in recent ficti… More...
Viking. Very Good. 6 x 1 x 8.5 inches. Hardcover. 2006. 272 pages. <br>At the heart of Meg Mullins?s debut novel is one o f the most touchingly believable characters in recent fiction, a gentle soul in the body of an Iranian exile in New York. Ushman K han sells exquisite hand-woven rugs to a wealthy clientele that h e treats with perfect rectitude. He is lonely, and his loneliness becomes unbearable when he learns that his wife in Iran is leavi ng him. But when a young woman named Stella comes into his store, what ensues is a love story that is all the more moving because its protagonists understand tragedy. The Rug Merchant will sweep readers away with its inspiring, character-rich tale about shakin g free from disappointment and finding connection and acceptance in whatever form they appear. Editorial Reviews From Publishers Weekly New York City teems with quiet desperation in this lucidl y written but languid debut novel. The titular carpet salesman, U shman Khan, has left his mother and his wife, Farak, in Iran in o rder to make a new start in America. Told from Khan's perspective , the narrative traces his subtle acculturation into Western life while he sets up shop and develops loyal customers like the weal thy socialite Mrs. Roberts. He plans for his wife to join him, bu t learns that she has divorced him for a Turkish salesman. Crushe d, Ushman buys plane tickets to Paris he will never use and finds temporary, self-loathing comfort in a prostitute. Only when he m eets Stella, a Barnard freshman, does he begin to see a way out o f his isolation. Like him, Stella is an outsider struggling with loss and looking for connection, but Ushman must first resolve hi s conflicted feelings about women and sex and American culture. O riginally developed as a short story that appeared in The Best Am erican Short Stories 2002, this melancholy novel droops under the weight of a sympathetic but tentative, passive protagonist who c an find no real solution to his profound alienation. (Mar.) Copy right Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc . All rights reserved. From Booklist Ushman Khan lives a lonely and anonymous life in New York City, selling the exquisite handwo ven rugs he imports from his home in Iran. He waits for the day w hen he has enough money saved to send for his wife, Farak, to joi n him. But Farak, embittered by her fifth miscarriage and weary o f caring for Ushman's demanding elderly mother, leaves him for an other man--a devastating act, barely comprehensible to Ushman, wh ich leaves him stuck in America with his lousy sham of a life. A chance encounter at Kennedy Airport introduces him to Stella, a B arnard student half his age who has recently experienced the firs t sorrow in her young life--her mother's failed attempt at suicid e. The two are intuitively drawn to one another, each one sensing the other's unspoken bereavement--an emotional bond leading to a powerful sexual relationship that transforms them both. Ushman l ingers in the reader's mind--a wounded soul, comfortable in his r outine of solitary misery, who is able to transcend sorrow, howev er fleetingly. Deborah Donovan Copyright American Library Associ ation. All rights reserved Review [Mullins] has imagined a tale as nuanced and alluring as the hand-woven patterns of the rugs th at are at the heart of Ushmans American life. (Chicago Tribune) About the Author Meg Mullins earned her MFA at Columbia. The stor y that formed the basis of this novel appeared in the Best Americ an Short Stories in 2002. From The Washington Post Any matchmake r will tell you: Opposites attract. In Meg Mullins's sensitive bu t flawed debut novel, The Rug Merchant, opposites form bonds of l ove and friendship that are as powerful as they are short-lived. Ushman Khan, the title character, is an Iranian businessman who' s recently immigrated to America to set up shop on Madison Avenue , leaving behind his wife, Farak. His business gets a huge boost from a major client, an Upper East Side socialite named Mrs. Robe rts, who commissions Ushman to cover all the floors of her new ap artment in Persian rugs. Mrs. Roberts is fickle and demanding, bu t she is also caring and genuine. She worries about Ushman's lone liness and reaches out to him during a moment of acute sadness. A nd Ushman, too, gives her emotional support during her husband's illness. Based on a mix of empathy and pragmaticism, the relation ship between Ushman and Mrs. Roberts is both unusual and believab le. Ushman would like to bring Farak to the States, but she resi sts: She has taken up with a Turkish merchant and files for divor ce. Devastated, Ushman wanders into Kennedy Airport, watching cou ples meet, as though witnessing their reunions could somehow brin g about the one he wishes for. There he meets Stella, a 19-year-o ld student at Barnard, who has just said goodbye to her parents. She is young, smart, funny, beautiful, and Ushman finds it nearly impossible to believe that she would be interested in him. But a n incident in Stella's life propels her into his store one day, a nd the two begin an improbable affair. Like the sun and the moon, which are in eclipse when they become lovers, Ushman and Stella belong to different worlds. And they remain that way; Stella, as a character, is far too perfect, far too one-dimensional to reall y engage the reader. Narrated in the present tense, from Ushman' s point of view, The Rug Merchant moves along at a deliberately s low pace, allowing Mullins to explore the effects of loss, whethe r real or potential, upon her characters. Farak's infidelity is p articularly painful for Ushman, for it represents a betrayal of h er womb as much as of her heart: She is pregnant by her lover and well past her first trimester, while all five of her pregnancies by Ushman ended in miscarriage. Meanwhile, Mrs. Roberts's husban d is bedridden, in the throes of a never-revealed but terminal di sease, and so she, too, must live with the constant threat of los s. The Rug Merchant is meant to be a meditation on how relation ships between people can both transcend and be hampered by cultur e and class. Mrs. Roberts can appreciate the preciousness of an A rdabil rug, but she also requires Ushman to tell her exotic stori es about his homeland or about himself before she buys them from him. When Ushman shows her a Ghiordes rug, she asks that he demon strate Muslim prayer for her. Without understanding its purpose, Ushman feels that her request must be some form of subjugation. S ome reminder of his relation to her and her country. Likewise, Ushman's relationship with Stella is at once tender and tense. He spends a great deal of his time marveling at her mix of innocenc e and confidence -- the latter of which he views as a direct cons equence of her Americanness. When he catches a glimpse of her wit h a male student, he thinks that the blond boy is a better match for her. Anyone would be. This feeling that he doesn't quite meas ure up is keenly apparent even in moments of shared intimacy. Th e Rug Merchant is based on a short story by the same name that ap peared in the Iowa Review and was later anthologized in Best Amer ican Short Stories (2002). The delicate, subtle style that highli ghted that work can frequently be found in the novel. But the lon g form also reveals shortcomings in the consistency of the narrat or's voice. In addition, Mullins appears to have trouble creating full lives for her characters. Although we hear that Ushman has a successful business, we never see him interact with any clients except Mrs. Roberts. He never chats with a neighbor, doesn't mee t any friends, doesn't have any employees. Indeed, the only relat ionships he appears to have are those that serve the plot. The R ug Merchant chronicles one man's relationship with two very diffe rent women -- one a friend, the other a lover. The more successfu l rendering is the least romantic. Ushman's friendship with Mrs. Roberts reveals a darker and affecting side to both of them, a to uch that remains missing from the love affair with Stella. This i mbalance makes the world that Mullins has created engaging, but n ot fully rewarding. Reviewed by Laila Lalami Copyright 2006, T he Washington Post. All Rights Reserved. ., Viking, 2006, 3, Readers Union, 1980. book club edition.. Hardback. Cloth, dj, VG/VG. 192pp, 16pp b/w plates, index, spine rather sunned, otherwise fine. The author tells of his initial visit to Persia in the 1950's, on the trail of a rare blind fish said to live in underground water channels in the Zagros Mountains, and of his return to the Country 25 years later after much change in the country., Readers Union, 1980, 0, US: Routledge, 1996. Paperback. Very Good. Who's Who in Military History looks at those people who have shaped the cou rse of war. Broad in geographical and chronological scope, it concentrates on all the major periods and conflicts in history, from 1453 up to and incl uding the Persian Gulf War. It provides: * detailed biographies of the most interesting and important figures in mil itary history * a series of maps showing the main theatres of war * a glossary of common words and phrases * a unique and valuable source of information for both the student and the general reader., Routledge, 1996, 3, UsedGood. The book may have minor cosmetic wear (i.e. creased spine/cover, scratches, curled corners, folded pages, minor sunburn, minor water damage, minor bent). The book may have some highlights/notes/underlined pages - Accessories such as CD, codes, toys, may not be included - Safe and Secure Mailer - No Hassle Return, 0<
