Nafisi's memoir recounts her experiences in Iran from when she returned there with her husband just prior to the Revolution until she left for the United States in the mid-nineties. A unique blend of literary criticism and personal narrative, the book is framed around her responses to literature as an English literature professor and how it interwove with her experience. The book allows for a unique insight into the realities of women living in Iran and Nafisi's own conflicts over the country she knew, the country that currently exists, and the realities that such a regime forces on its people. Nafisi's work is just as much about the internal space, her thoughts on literature, and her discussions with her students as it is about the experiences she had in Iran. A study in complexity, the book is profound, moving, and thought-provoking.

This book should be read by women in western countries, if only to shut our mouths about how pathetically easy our lives are and how easily we take our freedom for granted. Nafisi is a beautiful writer and she broke my heart numerous times with this book, specifically when she writes about the bombings and the mirror feelings of knowing it is not you who has died, the happiness of not being blown up, but knowing that someone else has been, and the sorrow and guilt you feel because of your own elation.

A very unusual book. Some of the facts of life for the narrator/author were hard to read. Such arbitrarily imposed changes, such wild swings in what is allowed or not allowed; the contrast between life outside and inside Iran. I found that aspect of the book moving and would recommend the first hundred pages or so -- just for that aspect of the book. I have read many of the books they discussed (except Nabokov) but still grew impatient with the constant literary commentary. Clever idea as our frame to view the "students" and their lives, but it felt overused, The allegory and parallels I think Nafisi was trying to make us see (via the commentary on the books) just became too much work and too much repetition.

I wanted to like this book more. However, I felt almost like I was reading a book report...and since I'd never read any of the books the group was looking at, I had a hard time following along.

this book wasn't what I was expecting, but it was will very good. i thought it would be more about the stories and lives of the women in the reading group, but instead it is much more about how the books were being interpreted and what the novels came to symbolize to these women. its a book about the importance of literature... i enjoyed it!

I knew nothing about Iranian history when I started this book. Sometimes I read with my computer close at hand so I could google things as I went. Normally this would detract from my reading experience, but I loved the main character so much that I was happy to do it, if only to understand her world a bit better.

In the repressive atmosphere of Tehran under strict Islamic rule, author Nafisi -- a former university professor -- secretly gathers a group of women to discuss works of literature. The women shed their veils when they meet, and eventually shed their shyness as well. Despite stellar reviews, this book didn''t really move me. I think the fact that I haven''t recently read many of the books the women discussed affected my response to READING LOLITA, as well as my general dislike for literary analysis.