Thank you, Jane, for sharing the book with us. Iran sounds like a true hell hole. Perhaps similar to what it was like to live under Mao or Stalin. When was the book written? Was she describing life under Ayatollah Khomeini? I imagine that it's becoming even worse today.

> I finished the book last night. The thing
> that is really interesting about this book
> is that it gives an inside look to the
> people of Iran. It shows how the women used
> to have more rights and how those rights
> were taken away from them. It also shows the
> desire that many people have to simply just
> be happy but how they had to put those
> desires aside because they weren't
> revolutionary.

> The woman writing the book was focussing on
> the secret book club that she held in her
> home. She had been a professor at the
> university but was rebelling against wearing
> the veil. So of course she lost her job, but
> she was so enthusiastic about teaching
> literature that she carried on secretly. It
> was amazing to see how she influenced her
> students, even the ones who were radically
> into the revolution and whom she thought
> were against her teachings.

> In the end when she decided to go back to
> the States and had to leave her students she
> grieved for those that had to stay. Others
> decided to leave their country also. Some
> were unable to obtain visas because they
> were being held hostage in Iran, but they
> escaped through Turkey. There was even a
> comment made about the book, Not Without my
> Daughter by one of the other students.

> Most of this womans students in the secret
> club were women but one man wanted so
> desperately to belong that he did the
> reading and studying on his own, turning in
> any written work outside of the meeting
> times. He couldn't be part of the club
> because of the very strict rules against
> mixing the sexes. The women during the club
> meetings would remove their chadors and
> veils. If they had been caught with a man in
> the room they would have gone to prison or
> worse. Some of the girls had already spent
> time in prison for very simple offenses.
> Some didn't come back but were executed.

> This book left me with a very profound
> sadness for the people of Iran, especially
> the women.