I’m offline this week, but am re-posting some of my old favorites. The subject of this post, the book Laughing Without an Accent, by Firoozeh Dumas, is still one of my absolute favorites. I originally posted this in 2008 sometime.
I have a fantastic memory of my childhood. My brothers believe I even make up some of our family’s history because they can’t remember details that I pull out whenever we get to reminiscing.
I have one vivid memory as a little girl of walking into the grocery store with my mother. Two Hispanic ladies were walking out speaking in Spanish. This was nothing new for me to hear. But then, they laughed. I was SHOCKED! Their laugh sounded just like my laugh. All I could think was, “What? Spanish people laugh in ENGLISH?”
When I was in the library last week, I passed by a book and glanced at the title, Laughing Without an Accent. My memory came flashing back and I had to snatch up the book!
Sometimes when you pick up a book you know nothing about, it can be scary. But I was NOT disappointed by this fabulous memoir by Firoozeh Dumas. She shares stories of growing up in Iran and America with such wit that you wish she could narrate your own life. She gives such great detail that you feel you are a part of her family.
She describes the obsession and competition between her father and uncles to own the best and most velour jogging suits, her father’s weakness for good deals that leads him to buy desks and chairs that aren’t needed and don’t even fit in their house, her mother’s tendency to buy really bad designer knock-offs as gifts, her husband’s childlike reaction to removing the TV from the house, the monkey that escapes to her family’s window and befriends her.
Some of the chapters had me laughing out loud. I even had my husband read to me some of the chapters again after I had already read them, so we could laugh together.
Amidst all the humor and great story telling, she shares such great insights about the important things that unite all humankind. I loved this book and can’t wait to read her previous book, “Funny in Farsi.”
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oh! I am excited to check this one out!
i loved this post. i’m heading over to amazon right now! thank you for the story and the intro. cheers.
I think I’m going to love your blog. I’ll check the book out when I’m at the book store this weekend.
Isn’t it interesting how we think we are all different and yet something like humor or our idiosyncrasies can pull us into the same place?
Great little book review. I’m going for it. Always happy to get a recommendation on a good book. And I always need and appreciate a good laugh.
I read this 2 months ago because of your recommendation. I loved it!