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From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)

Three generations of Iranian and Iranian American men confront secrets and difficult truths in a novel that spans eight decades. In 2019, 17-year-old Moud and his father are traveling to Iran to visit Moud’s grandfather, who is dying. He’s overwhelmed to be going “home” for the first time, and to be spending so much time with his father, who barely acknowledges that Moud is queer. Worried about Iran’s treatment of LGBTQ people, Moud scrubs his social media of all evidence of his gayness before leaving, only to be surprised to discover a community of queer people in Iran, many of whom his grandfather knows. In 1978, Moud’s father, Saeed, is a young man forced to leave Iran for participating in protests. In the United States, Saeed is distraught to learn that his parents are both gay and married each other to keep their true identities hidden. In 1939, Bobby—Saeed’s father, Moud’s grandfather—is a child actor in the United States; his controlling mother pushed him into the industry. When he signs a contract with MGM, Bobby—who is gay, closeted, and in love with his best friend—meets queer adults who offer him both hope and, when he’s outed, support. As the three men gather in Iran in 2019, their secrets and pasts are confronted for the first time in a moving novel that delves into not only queerness and homophobia but Iranian history, conflict, and politics. (Age 14 and older)

CCBC Choices 2024 © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2024. Used with permission.

From School Library Journal

August 18, 2023

Gr 9 Up-This complex book spans three generations and 80 years of an Iranian family whose story is told in three voices and lengthy chapters. Moud-whose story is told in the year 2019, initially in Los Angeles-is a gay Iranian American teenager who has a boyfriend. His mother is dead, his father quiet and withdrawn, and he is afraid to tell his father about his sexuality. Moud's father Saeed's story takes place in 1978 where his participation in a demonstration in Tehran puts his life in danger, so his father sends him to Los Angeles to live with a grandmother he has never met. The third voice, that of Bobby in LA in 1939, gives the backstory of what it was like to be gay then, and of his mentoring Saeed's father, and Moud's Iranian grandfather, in accepting his sexuality. The grandfather, Baba, and the issues of being gay during dangerous times, are the links that join the three narratives. When Moud travels with his father to Tehran because Baba is ill and dying, the interconnection of family and their individual stories becomes evident. The book paints an informative and interesting picture of a family, of acceptance, and of taking chances when being who you are is dangerous. The four main characters (because Baba must be included, even though he is not a narrator) are well drawn, compelling, and strong. VERDICT While probably more appealing to older teens and new adults because of the ages of the characters, the strength of the writing warrants this book a strong recommendation.-Janet Hilbun

Copyright 2023 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

From Publisher's Weekly

Starred review from May 15, 2023
Nazemian (The Chandler Legacies) combines myriad interconnected narratives spanning three generations of an Iranian family in this ambitious read. In 2019, 17-year-old Mahmoud Jafarzadeh, who is queer, is visiting Tehran from Los Angeles for the first time to spend time with grandfather Baba, who is terminally ill. When Moud confides his complicated feelings about his family and culture to his white boyfriend Shane, he claims that Moud is "defending a regime that wants you dead." In a 1978-set plotline occurring during the Iranian Revolution, 18-year-old student activist Saeed, Moud's father, falls for Shirin, a fellow protestor. But Saeed's parents, fearful for his life, send him to America to complete his education away from the tumult. And in 1939 Hollywood, Moud's Baba, 17-year-old Bobby, yearns to tell his Mexican American best friend Vicente that he loves him. The day he plucks up the courage, Bobby's overbearing stage mother sweeps him away for a once-in-a-lifetime film opportunity that drastically changes the course of his life. Via the trio's intimately realized alternating perspectives, Nazemian paints a transcendent and complex portrait of generational grief and self-discovery, expertly interweaving the boys' individual experiences with homophobia, racism, and U.S.-Iranian relations to deliver a touching family drama. Ages 13â€"up.

From Booklist

Starred review from May 1, 2023
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* When Moud flies from Los Angeles to Tehran to visit his dying grandfather, it's a welcome reprieve from his pop-culture-saturated day-to-day. Unfortunately, he's traveling with his father, Saeed, with whom he shares a strained relationship stemming from the death of Moud's mother and Moud coming out as gay. He has always taken his father's coldness as a culturally derived prejudice, which he expects to see reflected in Iran. The truth reveals itself to be far more muddled as Moud explores the secret underground enjoyed by Tehran's gay youth and is shocked to learn how his grandfather's own homosexuality has shaped the fates of his father and himself. This story, told in three points of view from three generations of the same family, is nothing short of masterful. Moud and his family are multifaceted and exquisitely crafted, and the setting of Tehran is suffused with sumptuous food, dance, and poetry. The subject of prejudice against LGBTQ+ people in both America and Iran is woven into all three characters' stories, but Nazemian takes pains to highlight the courage borne by individuals in the face of oppressive regimes, holding them up as exemplars. This is the kind of story that young-adult literature is made for: a story of the heart, of the very real human struggles young people face and that adults try to--but never truly--forget.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

From Kirkus

Starred review from April 1, 2023
A textured novel that uncovers secrets spanning three generations of an Iranian family. It's 2019. Seventeen-year-old Moud Jafarzadeh is removing all traces of gayness from his social media before he leaves Los Angeles for Tehran. He'll be visiting Iran with his dad, Saeed, to spend time with Baba, his terminally ill grandfather. As they're visiting a country where gay people are confronted with violence or worse, this trip is a source of conflict between Moud and Shane, his White boyfriend. The perspective then shifts to that of 18-year-old Saeed Jafarzadeh in 1978, during the Iranian revolution. He's going to a student protest, a risky activity he conceals from his parents. It's there Saeed meets and starts to fall for beautiful Shirin, a fellow protester. The novel then flashes back to 1939. In Los Angeles, 17-year-old Babak "Bobby" Jafarzadeh, Moud's grandfather, desperately wants to tell Vicente, his Mexican American best friend, that he loves him. Today was supposed to be the day--until Mother picked Bobby up from school and whisked him away for a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer screen test, his ticket to becoming a movie star and fulfilling her own disappointed dreams. The Jafarzadeh men's narratives alternate, intriguingly unveiling family secrets. Nazemian expertly bridges the past and the present, exploring racism, homophobia, and relations between the United States and Iran along the way. His elegant prose propels this historically resonant and culturally nuanced family drama. A stunning intergenerational coming-of-age story. (author's note) (Fiction. 14-18)

COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

From AudioFile Magazine

Three gripping narrators come together in a transcendent performance. The story of three generations of an Iranian family starts with Moud, an out gay teen from America who is visiting Tehran. Scared of exposing his sexuality in a new culture, Moud explores his family history from his father's political activism back to his own grandfather's journey as a gay man. Vikas Adam's, Fajer Al-Kaisi's, and Iman Nazemzadeh's performances will capture any listener. Their narrations are as different as their respective characters yet carry the same compassion. All performances are raw and stunning. As the story weaves moments of joy and anguish, the core of the performances captures the steadfast hope that these family members will finally reach mutual understanding. G.M. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine