The Colonel

The Colonel is the latest book by the Iranian author, Mahmoud Dowlatabadi. This book is banned in Iran and was first published outside of Iran. Even though some of his books in Farsi are widely popular in Iran this was the first book I read by this author. The story is about a former colonel from the Shah era and his wife and five children after the 1979 revolution in Iran. The story is told through flash backs in time and by references to some of Iranian historic events and figures. This combined by his style of writing makes the story a bit harder to follow. The personal and family conflicts caused by the revolution and clash of tradition and modernity drives the family in different paths.

One of the reasons that I enjoyed this novel was that since I lived in Iran during the revolution I could imagine myself being any of the characters in the book.