Not without my daughter

I had wanted to read this book since a long time but always thought it was better to read fiction than real life stories. Why invite stress and mental anguish during spare mements?

But one of my new year resolutions (which I hope will still hold by the time 2009 rolls by) was to read some serious meaningful books - that provide food for thought.So I picked up this book by Betty Mahmoody.

I knew the story vaguely - of an American woman married to an Iranian who visits Iran during 1984 with her husband and daughter only to find that she is never going back to US. But I was not prepared for the simply unbelievable incidents that the book brought forth. At some points I did wonder if Betty has exaggerated a bit like e.g. Moody's Iranian relatives splattering food all over walls while eating with their hands. Of course when someone is narrating his or her real life story we get to know only one side of it.

But on the whole, I read with growing disbelief and anger - also fear that one person can have such 2 totally different sides to his/her personality as her husband Moody. Also it seemed unbelievable that the US embassy just stood by and didn't do much to help US citizens - citing the laws of Iran. Then I reminded myself that it was the 80s. Maybe things were different then.

I don't know much about today's Iran but I hope and pray for the sake of women there that things are not as bad for them as they were in the 80s.

There is one reference - Betty thinks Moody is being paranoid when he says that the US is supplying arms to both Iran and Iraq during their conflict and making money in the process. Anyone who has watched Fahrenheit 9/11 will not think Moody was being paranoid.

Finally, Betty finds it amusing that her "Nasr" - a promise to God to do something in return for His favor - is to visit Jeruslem if she and her daughter can get back to US. She thinks it's a mixup of two religions. But I think that for someone who believes that all religions pray to the same God - no matter what they choose to call Him - it makes perfect sense. It did to me.