Sara Farizan: If You Could Be Mine
Nov. 18th, 2018 07:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bibliogrammaIf You Could Be Mine, the debut novel by Iranian-American writer Sara Farizan, is that very important thing, a story for young adults about queer and trans characters in non-Western cultures. Set in modern Iran, the novel explores a variety of aspects of queer and trans life under the ayatollahs, where same-sex attraction can lead to death, but being transgender is considered a medical problem and gender confirmation surgery is paid for by the state - though trans folk do experience discrimination in many areas of life.
The main character is Sahar, a young woman from an impoverished branch of a wealthy family. She is serious, studious, takes care of her father who is emotionally adrift after the death of his wife, is studying hard for the entrance exams to get into the best university in Tehran so she can become a doctor. She is also in love with Nazrin, who’s been her best friend since childhood. Nazrin the pretty, somewhat vain, and to my mind rather selfish and shallow daughter of a wealthy family. She says she loves Sahar, and they share modest physical intimacies, but she has accepted the marriage proposal of Reza, a young and ambitious doctor favoured by her family, and she expects that Sabar will continue being her devoted lover even after she marries Reza - in short, she wants the best of both worlds without thinking about Sabar’s feelings or future.
Sabar in determined to prevent the marriage snd find a way that she and Nazrin can be together. After meeting Parveen, a trans woman who is a friend of her wealthy cousin Ali, who is gay and, thanks to his wealth and ability to bribe the police, able to live almost openly as gay, Sabar hits upon the idea of transitioning to male in order to marry Nazrin herself.
As Sahar explores the options for transgender people in Iran, all the while knowing that, unlike Parveen and the other trans men and women she meets, she is not really transgender, the day for Nazrin’s wedding grows closer and Sahar becomes more desperate to find a way to be with Nazrin. Yet at the same time, she begins to see that while Nazrin may love her, she also wants the security and conventionality of a family, a professional, financially well-off husband, and children, things that Sahar cannot give her now.
This is no fairy-tale romance. It ends honestly, with no one getting everything they want, but everyone a little wiser and more self-aware. The story drags at times, but is strong enough to hold the reader’s interest. The writing has many of the flaws of an inexperienced writer, but that is something that time will rectify. And the light it casts on queer and trans issues in Iran is truly interesting.
The main character is Sahar, a young woman from an impoverished branch of a wealthy family. She is serious, studious, takes care of her father who is emotionally adrift after the death of his wife, is studying hard for the entrance exams to get into the best university in Tehran so she can become a doctor. She is also in love with Nazrin, who’s been her best friend since childhood. Nazrin the pretty, somewhat vain, and to my mind rather selfish and shallow daughter of a wealthy family. She says she loves Sahar, and they share modest physical intimacies, but she has accepted the marriage proposal of Reza, a young and ambitious doctor favoured by her family, and she expects that Sabar will continue being her devoted lover even after she marries Reza - in short, she wants the best of both worlds without thinking about Sabar’s feelings or future.
Sabar in determined to prevent the marriage snd find a way that she and Nazrin can be together. After meeting Parveen, a trans woman who is a friend of her wealthy cousin Ali, who is gay and, thanks to his wealth and ability to bribe the police, able to live almost openly as gay, Sabar hits upon the idea of transitioning to male in order to marry Nazrin herself.
As Sahar explores the options for transgender people in Iran, all the while knowing that, unlike Parveen and the other trans men and women she meets, she is not really transgender, the day for Nazrin’s wedding grows closer and Sahar becomes more desperate to find a way to be with Nazrin. Yet at the same time, she begins to see that while Nazrin may love her, she also wants the security and conventionality of a family, a professional, financially well-off husband, and children, things that Sahar cannot give her now.
This is no fairy-tale romance. It ends honestly, with no one getting everything they want, but everyone a little wiser and more self-aware. The story drags at times, but is strong enough to hold the reader’s interest. The writing has many of the flaws of an inexperienced writer, but that is something that time will rectify. And the light it casts on queer and trans issues in Iran is truly interesting.