Disoriental

2016 novel by Negar Djavadi

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Disoriental (French: Désorientale) is a French-language novel by French-Iranian author Négar Djavadi, published by Éditions Liana Levi [fr] in 2016. Tina Kover translated the book into English, and this version was published by Europa Editions in 2018.^[1] It was the first novel written by the author.^[2]

The book is narrated by Kimiâ Sadr,^[1] who at age 10 flees Iran and goes to exile in Paris. She feels disoriented from her lack of status in the society, and the novel's title is a combination of the words "désorienter" and "oriental".^[3] Disoriental describes the history of her family, including her two older sisters, her six uncles, and her parents. Her father Darius, who does political advocacy,^[2] accommodates the narrator's tomboyish nature.^[1] Kimia is a bisexual.^[3] Her mother Sara is also an activist.^[2]

Kimiâ's second uncle, a gay man, lives in a country where homosexuality is illegal and has a heterosexual marriage that produced children. The other characters see him as the family mythologist.^[1]

Foreshadowing is a common device in Disoriental.^[2]

Reception

Azarin Sadegh of the Los Angeles Review of Books stated that the French original has a "rich, deep, lyrical, with cinematographic quality" while this aspect disappears in the English translation.^[3]

Dalia Sofer of The New York Times described this as a "rich" novel. She criticized the lengthy descriptions of Iranian history, arguing the passages are "weighing down" the content.^[1]

Robin Yassin-Kassab of The Guardian stated that "this novel compels the reader’s attention as consistently as it entertains."^[2]

The English translation of Disoriental has been shortlisted for the 2019 Albertine Prize^[4] and the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation,^[5] and won the Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Fiction at the 31st Lambda Literary Awards.^[6]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Sofer, Dalia (2018-06-08). "A Persian Turned Parisian Insists: I'm Not an Immigrant, I'm an Exile". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-12-25.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Yassin-Kassab, Robin (2018-12-25). "Disoriental by Négar Djavadi review – Iranian life in exile". The Guardian. Retrieved 2018-12-25.
^ ^a ^b ^c Sadegh, Azarin (2018-04-11). "The Dichotomy of Remembrance: Négar Djavadi's "Disoriental"". Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved 2018-12-25.
^ "Meet the Shortlisted Writers for the 2019 Albertine Prize". Literary Hub. 2019-04-03. Retrieved 2019-04-03.
^ "2019 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation shortlist announced". warwick.ac.uk. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
^ "Lambda Literary Award winners honored". Windy City Times, June 4, 2019.