Customer Reviews:
 A fascinating read... difficult to put down June 14, 2006
LondonCaspian (London/Tehran)
23 out of 24 found this review helpful
Ms. Ebadi's book "Iran Awakening" is one of the best English books about Iran that I have read. The book is essentially a memoir of Ms. Ebadi's life from the time she enters Tehran University and graduates as the top Law student up to a few months ago when she was representing the reporter Akbar Ganji as his lawyer.
The book is concisely and clearly written with detailed first hand accounts of her life in pre and post revolution Iran. Ms Ebadi's work is independent of any political organisation and as such she has pointed out many of the faults she saw and experienced in the Shah's regime, the Islamic Republic and the United States. However, saying that, the majority of the criticism is levelled at the Islamic Republic's poor record of Human Rights and the incredible gulf between rights of men and women.
Reading the book it was more than clear to me that the Nobel Prize committee made the best decision they could have to award the Peace prize to Ms Ebadi. Being a lawyer in Iran is difficult enough, but being female and a lawyer and working for Human Rights is not only an uphill struggle but more like a free climber dangling freely knowing that any minute now consciousness could be taken from you. In addition to this, let's not forget that she is a wife and a mother too which as she writes so passionately about in her book, has provided her with many equally challenging dilemmas.
There are many English books written about Iran but this book is different. This book is authored by an Iranian who has lived every day of her life in Iran; who has got to know the system both from the inside, as a civil servant, and from the outside, as a lawyer for its victims; has specifically written the book for an English audience.
I'm sure there will be critical reviews of the contents for her lack of criticism at the various political factions that have at some point been either popular or held power over the Iranians. Ignore that! This book is written by a woman who has fought discrimination in its ugliest form and has maintained an independent and balanced view of all aspects of Iran. She is a Muslim not blindly loyal to any regime or party and as such I'm sure - as she has recognised - she will be criticised at the same time for being pro-regime or anti-regime by Iranians because of their different political agendas.
Ms Ebadi says that this is her first book aimed at an English audience, but I think Iranians, especially the diaspora, can learn much from this book as well. Lastly, as this book is banned in Iran, I hope people outside will appreciate the risk and effort it has taken for Ms Ebadi to get this published.
Memoir of a Country May 19, 2006
Fadi Fahes (Beirut, Lebanon)
14 out of 15 found this review helpful
I have been eagerly awaiting the release of Shirin Ebadi's book, as I have been intrigued by her character and modesty ever since she won the Nobel Prize in 2003.
This is a book that says so much in a simple and classy language; A story of a woman's struggle- a very devotedly stubborn woman's struggle - to stand steadfast at her career, society, and family- in a country that had changed face and direction in a glimpse.
"Fortunately or unfortunately," [Ebadi's favourite opening statement], this is not a much awaited book of scandal, neither it is a recount of tragedy, reproach, or blame. It is a book where Ebadi -despite all she's been through- heralds in the future, and the awakening of Iran. It is a book of fundamentalism in its most beautiful form: of love, of patriotism, of unyielding will, and of upholding principles.
Critical but not offensive, inspiring but not patronizing. It is Shirin Ebadi's "private" memoir of a whole country.
Women's Iran June 1, 2007
Anna Abrahamyan (Belgium)
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
No matter where you are when reading Shirin Ebadi's account of events in the Iran of past three decades, you'll see and feel the vivid streets of Tehran, people's whispers of hope and fear and take a glimpse 'behind the veil'.
Being forced into a career fallback from judgeship to a clerk, Madame Ebadi doesn't allow the authorities the luxury of enjoying the ousting of yet another female intellectual. An activist at heart, she doesn't give up, becomes a human rights defender and in an atmosphere of neverending closures of basic freedoms and rights for women, she nevertheless achieves to awaken her fellow citizens' minds pointing to the absurdity of rules that embed the evryday lives of the women amongst them.
Her account is a fresh reminder for all of the value of democratic rights and freedoms that can co-exist with Islam or any other religion for that matter for it's all about true and moderate interpretation of religious rules that a society can pull itself into a new age appealing to all generations. She earned a Nobel Prize for this unbiased Iranian take on universal values.
An Amazing Journey May 14, 2008
Freya Goldie (Yorkshire, UK)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book makes you feel as though you know the author and share with her the experiences as she tells you of both the dreadful and good things that have happened to her. I want to tell everyone to read it and learn how such a lot of people have to struggle to obtain rights that we take for granted in our democracy which is far from perfect but better than the alternative.
Accurate account and beautifully written... February 2, 2008
Dr. P. GHANBARI (UK)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I was fascinated by Ms Ebadi's account of her life both prior to the Revolution working as a succesful young woman in her own right, then the struggles she faced in the post-Revolution years and how she has corageously battled on to try and improve the Rights of Women and Children in Iran. Ms Ebadi is a credit to our nation and a postive force to be reckoned with!... I hope to read more of her work in the near future....
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