Today I bought a Kindle.
I was searching around for a kindle copy of “Not Without My Daughter” by Betty Mahmoody (I own a paperback copy of the book). Some time ago, we watched the Finnish documentary “Without My Daughter” – it’s the other side of that story, her ex-husband, the father’s side – he died in 2009. You can find the documentary in several parts on Youtube, and there’s a website, too.
I wonder if anyone has written a book in the father’s defense? It’s a “he said, she said” case, in 1984, set just after the 1979 Iranian revolution when the shah left Iran, and was replaced by the Ayatollah Khomeini.
There is substantial Islamophobia in the book, and it goes on and on. In some places, Mahmoody (as the ghostwriter has made her the first-person narrator) attempts to backpedal and repair her “all Iranians are evil” stance, but it doesn’t really work, even though there are very obviously good people in all countries, particularly since it is Iranians who eventually help her escape.
It continues to not work, especially not when you’ve read her follow-up book, For the Love of a Child – which details numerous stories of other parents who are victims of international kidnappings, as she and her daughter were. It’s not always “dad is the bad guy” – sometimes the mother is the one who takes away the kid.
Parts of the book detail the writing process of Not Without My Daughter, and the making of the film starring Sally Field. I found those bits interesting – how does a book actually get written? It seemed to mainly consist of endless interviews, tape recordings and discussions.
The real daughter, Mahtob Mahmoody (who is of course, much older than her character in the film at the time) even has a cameo in the film – she is dressed as an Iranian female student in a scene where the character Mahtob becomes upset at having to go to Iranian school and be separated from her mom (she was four years old at the time). All of the female students at the school are dressed in a uniform of grey headscarf and trousers, so I have no idea which one is the real Mahtob.
It was mostly shot – ironically! – in Israel, which at the time the events in the book took place, was an enemy country of Iran. Serious mindfuck. Mahmoody and her daughter were invited to the home of Sheila Rosenthal, the little girl playing Mahtob, for a Passover seder.
But speaking frankly, I like Not Without My Daughter, and I return to read it often – not for its content (which is at times very disurbing), but for the excellent writing quality of the ghostwriter, William Hoffer. His choice of varied words, his descriptions of environments, are all evocative, and you feel as if you’re there with Mahmoody and her family.
Whether or not what she says is completely true is left up to you to decide. I just enjoy the book for its style, and I have to admit, its wonderful descriptions of various Iranian food dishes:
Lavash – unleavened bread.
Taskabob – a spicy meat casserole, heavy on the curry.
