Peeking inside Iran

The news out of Iran has heightened my interest in a new novel, "Censoring An Iranian Love Story" by Shahriar Mandanipour. It is a fascinating look at life, love, and censorship. It's a love story that has been censored so you see what the author has crossed out or merely imagined, knowing that certain things can never be published. This young couple takes extreme measures to express their feelings without bringing the wrath of the government down on themselves. Dara initially expresses his feelings for Sara by making purple dots under letters in a banned book to spell out his message. The novel is as witty as the censorship is horrifying.

This is Mandanipou's first novel to appear in English. His work was censored in Iran in the mid-1990s. He's been living in the States for a few years now.