Book Review - Book Tour - The Alley of Love and Yellow Jasmine - Shohreh Aghdashloo

Title: The Alley of Love and Yellow Jasmines 

Author: Shohreh Aghdashloo 

Review: If you are like me you will see this book is a memoir of an actress, arguably the most famous Iranian actress of all time; but the name did not ring any bells.  So like me you will hit Google image search  and when Shohreh’s picture pops up you will immediately say “Oh Her” because she is that one actress that you have seen in just about everything but you just didn't know her name.  Well now you do.  If you needed a gorgeous actress to play any Persian/Arabic part in a movie or show, Shohreh is the go to person (i.e. she has played a lot of Doctors).  As for me I recognized her mostly from her fantastic work on 24 season 4. 

We start off with her childhood in Iran, where she was raised in an educated family with high expectations.  Unfortunately for her those expectations did not include a career on the stage, as it was deemed beneath her family.  But she loved the stage and her family loved her and she found her way with a young acting collective.  What breaks my heart with every memoir of Iran that I read (and this makes 4 of them now) is how wonderful and cosmopolitan Iran seemed.  It was a country on the path to become the jewel of the region; the center of culture of Persian thought, science, and the arts.  And just before it took those last steps the Muslim revolution destroyed all chances of it happening.  Free thinkers were exiled if they were lucky, but most likely they were imprisoned and tortured, or at times they were executed.   

The book details how happy and promising Shohreh’s life in Iran had been, only to have it turned upside down by the revolution.  After much deliberation she recounts her hasty departure from Iran, as she got into her car and drove all the way to England.  She tells how she counter intuitively hid her valuables in the glove box of her car when crossing the Iranian border.  Most everyone else tried to hide them on their person, or in more devious locations in their vehicles.  But as the troops scoured everywhere and caught the would-be smugglers, they paid no attention to the obvious place she hid hers.  Why would anyone try to sneak out jewels in the glove box – it would be the first place they searched? 

Once out on her own in England is where the story takes an interesting turn. I think most of us would assume an actress would turn to more shallow pursuits if dislocated from their careers, but not Shohreh.  She got a job at a high-end boutique (At 60 she is stunning, one can only imaging what a 20 something Shohreh looked like) and then pursued a college degree in International Relations.  She sold her car and her jewels to pay her way through school, but at the end of the day she emerged with degree in hand.  It is an amazing story of not obsessing of all that you have lost, but taking what you have and just getting on with her life; very inspirational. 

Eventually she worked her way to Los Angeles, started her own business and began again as an actress. Along the way she utilized her college degree and hosted a talk radio program on Iranian politics and culture.  Her acting skills then landed her an Oscar nomination for the House of Sand and Fog, bringing the best of Iranian acting to the world stage.  Unlike a lot of acting memoirs she is not afraid to name names and discuss some of the challenges she has faced in Hollywood, whether that be her fellow actors or the business as a whole.  I guess receiving death threats as a radio host toughens you up a bit more than your average celebrity. 

This is a fantastic story that highlights the demise of a wonderful culture on the brink of greatness, the power of fundamentalism to destroy culture, a young woman displaced and her ability to overcome tremendous odds, and it also delivers on a juicy inside story of Hollywood.  You never realized how much substance are behind some people’s stories, and this book is a wonderful read that will educate and inspire you.  You cannot ask for much more from a memoir. 

Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 978-0-06-200980-7
Copyright: 2013 
Pages: 288
Quick Review: 5 stars out of 5 
Why I read the book: Enjoy books from other cultures. 
Where I Obtained the Book: Sent to me by the publisher for review. 

Synopsis: Oscar nominee and Emmy Award–winning actress Shohreh Aghdashloo shares her remarkable personal journey—from a childhood in the Shah's Iran to the red carpets of Hollywood—in this dazzling memoir of family, faith, revolution, and hope.

Enchanted by the movies she watched while growing up in affluent Tehran in the 1950s and '60s, Shohreh Aghdashloo dreamed of becoming an actress despite her parents' more practical plans. When she fell in love and married her husband, Aydin, a painter twelve years her senior, she made him promise he'd allow her to follow her passion.

The first years of her marriage were magical. As Shohreh began to build a promising career, Aydin worked at the royal offices as an art director while exhibiting his paintings in Tehran. But in 1979 revolution swept Iran, toppling the Shah and installing an Islamic republic under the Ayatollah Khomeini. Alarmed by the stifling new restrictions on women and art, Shohreh made the bold and dangerous decision to escape the new regime and her home country. Leaving her family and the man she loved behind, she fled in a covert journey to Europe and eventually to Los Angeles.

In this moving, deeply personal memoir, Shohreh shares her story: it is a tale of privilege and affluence, pain and prejudice, tenacity and success. She writes poignantly about her struggles as an outsider in a foreign culture—as a woman, a Muslim, and an Iranian—adapting to a new land and a new language. She shares behind-the-scenes stories about what it's really like to be a Hollywood actress—including being snubbed by two of Tinseltown's biggest names on Oscar night.

Lyrical and atmospheric, The Alley of Love and Yellow Jasmines is a powerful story of ambition, art, politics, terror, and courage—of an extraordinary woman determined to live her dreams.

Author Quote: “What I had learned from our encounter was invaluable. Never try to look like your character, leave some room for the director's imagination. Turn yourself into a blank canvas ready to be painted on. Give him the pleasure of discovering you rather than finding you.” 
― Shohreh Aghdashloo, The Alley of Love and Yellow Jasmines

Other Reviews: 

The Infinite Curio 

Take Me Away

Kirkus