Mohammadi, Kamin. The Cypress Tree

Mohammadi, Kamin. The Cypress Tree, Bloomsbury, London, 2011 (Pages 288, paperback)

Rating: 1/10

I have always enjoyed Iranian films. The newspapers create one image of Iran, and the Iranian films create another. When my book club suggested we read a book written by an Iranian woman, I looked forward to it. To truly enjoy a book (or a film for that matter), I like to know as little as possible. I don’t read the back cover, don’t read the reviews. Let the novel unfold itself to me through its pages.

In this case, after the first few pages I realised what I was reading was not a novel but an autobiography. Or rather a family tree book. In India, we have family tree books which draw the generational pyramid maps, and then below them is a factual biography of each member of that tree – the name, where and when born, education, married to whom and so on. It’s an exceedingly interesting book – for those who belong to that family.

This is the case with Kamin Mohammadi’s the Cypress Tree. The book has no real plot or drama. The language is mediocre. It is painful to drag your way through lots of data filled with dozens of unpronounceable names.

It is disappointing to learn the author moved to England at the age of nine. How can a person safely ensconced in an English home express true Iranian sentiments? Granted the author has a family back in Iran, and that she visits them from time to time, it is still a perspective of an outsider. As Ms Mohammadi candidly admits, she was loath to visit Iran during crisis times to ensure her relatives in Iran did not find themselves in trouble as a result of her visits.

I expected a lot more ‘insider’ information, or views on the Ahmadinejad regime. I couldn’t find anything not in Wikipedia. Ms Mohammadi is reportedly a co-author of Lonely Planet on Iran. She could have even adopted the Lonely planet format to make this book more readable. The only reason why Bloomsbury could have opted to publish this book is to exploit the curiosity about Iran generated by the geopolitical world of today.

The person who recommended this book had met Ms Mohammadi at the Jaipur festival in January this year. She found her an extremely charming woman, and the talk convinced her that the Cypress Tree is interesting. The only conclusion I can draw is: never judge a book by its author!

Verdict: Hard to read, ordinary language, no drama. To learn about Iran watch Iranian films.