Not Without My Daughter

It was a hectic saturday and after checking all the items on my To-Do list, I reached for my "If-Possible" list. The only item on that list was to visit the library. Happy that we had completed all the tasks planned for the weekend on a single day - we went to the library. After picking up 3 books (all fiction), I was drawn to a book on the Non-Fiction section titled "Not Without My Daughter". I added that book to my collection and the Arien added 1 magazine to this collection and we were all set.

It was Wednesday when I got around to reading "Not Without My Daughter". As I read it, I was reminded of one of my childhood nightmares that would occur everytime I saw a horror movie. It is a sunny evening and I am happily walking hand-in-hand with a frend into a huge crowd. Suddenly, the crowd disappears, there is a huge storm and I am all alone with my friend.. who is now a monster. The fear that wud grip my heart was smthng I wud feel even after I woke up frm the nightmare. There are many places in this book that feel like I am walking into the same nightmare only in slow motion.

The story begins with Betty, an american woman married to Mahmoody, an Iranian doctor, going on a two-week vacation to Iran with Mahtob, their daughter. From the beginning of the vacation, Betty feels that they may never come back to America. Betty, Moody, and Mahtob stay at Amee Bozorg's house. Amee Bozorg is Mahmoody's respected older sister. Betty finds the entire stay at their place very difficult but is willing to compromise as it is only a two week holiday. On the day of their departure, Betty is all dressed to leave when she realizes that there is some issue with the tickets and that they will leave in a few days time. Days change to weeks, and Betty learns that Mahmoody has lost his job in the US and has no plans of returning to the US. He also wants to admit Mahtob to an Iranian school. The rest of the story is about how Betty gets back to the US.

The story evokes a lot of sympathy for Betty, especially the sections where she describes how her various escape plans are thwarted time and again, when she is not allowed to call her family in the US and find out how her kids from her former marriage are doing, how her dad, diagnosed with terminal cancer, is doing. And also, towards the end where she has described her perilous journey from Iran to the US. While Betty has potrayed herself as an intelligent, astute typical american, she has potrayed Mahmoody as an evil, illogical, violent Iranian man prone to fits of depression. I feel she was playing it safe by sticking to stereotypes. The book was also made into a movie starring Sally Field, Roshan Seth and others.

Mahmoody has also presented his side of the story in another movie titled "Without my Daughter". His grouse is that he can never enter the US - thanks to Betty. And he states that he is the one without the daughter. Betty has not allowed Mahmoody to contact her or Mahtob.