The. Pomegranate Lady and Her Sons

The Pomegranate Lady and Her Sons: Selected Stories by Goli Taraghi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I thoroughly enjoyed these short stories about contemporary Iranians dealing with war and immigration (mostly to France). Her first stories are the weakest, I felt, but the later ones made up for it. Not only did I gain a perspective from a new and interesting point of view, there were timeless themes such as what makes us happy, how do we tolerate and treat our fellowmen in an age where we keep to ourselves and are too busy to think of anyone else's point of view, and what risks are we willing to take and why. Very interesting read.


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"But we three women were like mute, motionless beings in a deep coma.  We were waiting for something to happen or for someone to seek us out."

"minutes later the artificial redness had been wiped off and replaced by a ubiquitous gray, the color of  swallowed words and unspoken sorrow"

"Life was a photocopy of events past, a mechanical reproduction of things that had lost their original form."

"In this modern building overlooking a church and a courtyard, dozens of wolf-like sheep are sitting in ambush, blaming each other for their miseries; tired, hopeless wolves with petty desires and illusory dreams, waiting for better days."

"A glass wall separates those inside from the others outside.  Those who stay and the others who leave.  Both groups looks sand and forlorn.  Their unspoken words and meaningful looks pas through the thick glass and settle on our faces like a layer of gray dust"