Top Amazon Reader Reviews from the United States
5.0 out of 5 stars A memoir of unrelenting personal honesty and candor
I read this memoir over the long and COVID-isolated Christmas holiday; I had to put it down often and take breaks because Ms Majidi's personal story becomes emotionally intense in many places. The book is wholly engrossing, and it is haunting; the writing is propelled by an unrelenting degree of personal honesty and candor.
I came away with the sense that the reader is spared nothing; in fact, I felt almost challenged by Ms Majidi to look through her eyes and to feel, as she did, the full dimension of things like betrayal, cruelty, self-absorbed indifference and sexual/emotional exploitation; as well as the depression, anxiety and breakdowns — the madness — that follow in their wake.
Because so many individuals in her constellation over so many decades, through combinations of sustained malice and passive betrayal, couldn't crush Afarin Majidi out of existence, she emerged as something closer to an edged weapon than a victim. That unsparing personal honesty — the final credential of any writer, I think — is the source of the strength of her writing in this memoir, in my opinion.
I think that often abusers (and those who abet them), rely on the mute and confused withdrawal from life on the part of their victims in order to hide their cruelties and acts of personal darkness. It is as though the abuser wishes to enter into a perverse agreement of silence-through-shame with those they abuse: "Do not EVER be truthful or open about what I've done to you, and you will be able to hide the hurt and damage just as I have hidden it within me".
But Ms Majidi, through the narrative detail, courage and poise of this book, has destroyed that customary victim's agreement and destroyed any sanctuary of inner-hiding for the perpetrator (or indifferent friend/family member).
The powerful fact of existence of "Writing and Madness in a Time of Terror" strips away that safe haven-of-consciousness of Ms Majidi's abusers, as well as those who collaborated in that abuse by succumbing to the cowardice of inaction and silence. The existence of this memoir, varyingly, is a gorgeous-dark-poignant-terrifying thing, depending upon which end of the pages you find yourself.
Highly recommended!
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 20, 2022
Afarin’s account of her life up to her mid-forties was absolutely riveting. I truly admire her courage to pursue her journey of self-love. Must read.
5.0 out of 5 stars Writing and Madness in a Time of Terror is Intense and Honest
Afarin Majidi's Writing and Madness in a Time of Terror book was an incredible, sad, courageous, complex, and real depiction of survival. It reminded me of a feminist Bildungsroman. The title sounded promising, but Majidi surprised me with her depth and sincerity. My favorite memoirs lay the truth bare, and that's exactly what Afarin Majidi does. She speaks about her family's journey after the fall of the Shah of Iran and the tough adjustment that they made within this country. Majidi also writes about her complex family dynamics with her mother, father, brother, and siblings. She also speaks about the challenges she faced after a sexual assault. Majidi also writes about treatment as a Muslim woman in this country. The entire book is a crazy, yet wonderful journey. I highly recommend this book.
5.0 out of 5 stars Writing and Madness in a Time of Terror
Afarin Majidi is a tour-de-force author who takes us with her on an odyssey of whirlwind mind unravelling from girlhood to her pre-middle aged breaking point. Starting out in Iran with the fall of the Shah's government, her family exiles from their country and comes to the shock of New Jersey, where they are thrown into American culture and a tumultuous scene in and out of the home. Majidi's studious silence is broken when she becomes sexual at fourteen. Sex gives her strength and power in the chaos of her family's house, but also awakens a strained relationship with her mother that rides throughout the book. In this memoir, Majidi's body is her homeland, her people, beautiful and powerful and abused and bludgeoned. As the storyline moves, we move with her in her genius wordcraft. When Majidi is disoriented, we are disoriented. When she is stoned, we are stoned. When she is determined, we are determined…The author in her unrestrained honesty brings you in to her vivid thoughtful world, and her vivid thoughtful madness. Her self-aware observations of a mind on the brink are deep, at times humorous, and extraordinary. Do read this stormy, extraordinary jewel!
5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyed the Ride!
What a thrill! Loved racing through the crazy life of this first generation Iranian-American! Thank you for this fun memoir! Really enjoyed the ride!
5.0 out of 5 stars Dark and Poignant Memoir
Writing and Madness in a Time of Terror: a memoir contains very serious subject matter told in a unique, straightforward voice. It is full of tearfully poignant, intimate accounts of physical and emotional abuse all the way from early childhood, in family, friendships, and romantic and professional relationships. The narrative is framed within the revealing context of Iran's political turmoil from the 70s to present, and affected many areas of the author's life, across the globe to her new life in America, passing along to generations, within families and within communities. The narrative is paced evenly and the flashback structure is effective in relaying some insight into the tragic events. The scenes of cruelty and abuse can be very rough to read through, but many readers can appreciate the insights and many universal themes, such as racism and identity, reminiscent of books like Ellison's Invisible Man.
4.0 out of 5 stars Women in Crisis Are Rarely Offered the Respect and Help They Need, This Must Change!
Imagine for a moment that everything you know about your world has always been in a whirl of uncertainty and loss, no true compass for you to focus on and no clear support for you to build from, what would you do? What can you change when you work terribly hard to come out of the ashes of this life only to fall deeper and deeper as the whole world seems to have gone mad? Is it you, or did people you trusted really hate you so much as to leave you for dead? Is it only in your mind that these fears about conspiracy and destruction dwell, or is there something more to it? What would you do if there was no way to truly know and it only became deeper and darker no matter how you fought to regain your freedom and sense of self? There are many things Afarin Majidi could have done under the circumstances and a great many more ways it might have gone more wrong than it did in the end.
Writing and Madness in a Time of Terror is a glimpse into the mind of a woman swallowed whole by her crumbling mental health and scrambling for some sense of hope that this nightmare will cease. Here you will find a strong narrative account of victimization, the broken homes created in the face of crisis, and the hostile experience of marginalized women even in academia and the publishing world. While I'm not certain its a book that all can read and appreciate, I do see it as a strong example of what it is to be lost in an experience with no hope of consistent support and a clear case for better treatment of women who suffer from mental illness, particularly marginalized women of color.
5.0 out of 5 stars Raw and insightful view inside growing up in a new world
I thought this was a fascinating and engrossing insight into growing up in New Jersey and the U.S. especially in my generation. I recognized the different milestones and stages of being a child, teenager, then leaving for the "big city" to make it and finding mostly a bunch of fakers not makers. It reveals being within a family that doesn't quite fit into your new life, in your new world, yet they didn't fit the old one either [so you] had to flee. Maybe we all feel like that growing up but I assure you it probably wasn't like this [story]. This was the rare book that I had to read as fast as possible until it was done. For me, I'd like to continue getting into this family dynamic it seemed so familiar and yet exceptional. I recommend this book.
5.0 out of 5 stars I love this story
I love this story! Here is a review I put some time into because I don't think reading this is only for those who are scared of fascism. This story is set in 1980’s New Jersey and it’s about Afarin Majid and her mother Mama Shirin who is light skin and who's eyes are lined in black. Afarin Majid is a capital A&M. Her three sisters and brother campaign America to grow. Between the television, their classmates, and the alien broadcasts of violence from her father’s radio, Afarin Majid weaves a story of sexual violence. The desperation of this family is described in matter of fact detail. Each detail is a silken thread that could break. Mama Shirin’s beautiful family web is at once revealed and punctured. Read this book for a cathartic glimpse into a very American coming of age novel dealing in themes of sex, drugs, violence, mental disorder, class and Iranian diaspora that is just now emerging in mainstream discourse.
5.0 out of 5 stars A Sad But Beautiful Story
I felt both sadness and excitement while reading the book. The author reminds me of Carrie in the show Sex and the City. I recommend it.