City of Lies: Love, Sex, Death and the Search for Truth in Tehran : Navai, Ramita: Amazon.com.au: Books

City of Lies: Love, Sex, Death and the Search for Truth in Tehran : Navai, Ramita: Amazon.com.au: Books





City of Lies: Love, Sex, Death and the Search for Truth in Tehran
by Ramita Navai (Author) Format: Paperback
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars (912)

Welcome to Tehran, a city where survival depends on a network of subterfuge. Here is a place where mullahs visit prostitutes, drug kingpins run crystal meth kitchens, surgeons restore girls' virginity and homemade porn is sold in the sprawling bazaars; a place where ordinary people are forced to lead extraordinary lives.

Based on extensive interviews, CITY OF LIES chronicles the lives of eight men and women drawn from across the spectrum of Iranian society and reveals what it is to live, love and survive in one of the world's most repressive regimes.


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Review

Ramita Navai's City of Lies is gripping, a dark, delicious unveiling of the secret decadent life of Islamic Tehran, deeply researched yet as exciting as a novel

Review

Ramita Navai's City of Lies is gripping, a dark, delicious unveiling of the secret decadent life of Islamic Tehran, deeply researched yet as exciting as a novel

Book Description

An award-winning, utterly gripping and revealing portrait of ordinary people living extraordinary lives in contemporary Tehran

From the Publisher

Ramita Navai is a British-Iranian journalist and writer. For Channel 4's foreign affairs series, UNREPORTED WORLD she has reported from over twenty different countries, including Sudan, Afghanistan, Egypt, Nigeria, El Salvador and Zimbabwe. She was awarded an EMMY for her undercover report from Syria. She has also worked as a journalist for the United Nations in Pakistan, northern Iraq and Iran. While working as the Tehran correspondent for THE TIMES from 2003 to 2006, Ramita Navai began interviewing ordinary people about their lives, and she continued to collect these stories long after most foreign media had been banned from Iran. CITY OF LIES is her first book and won the ROYAL SOCIETY OF LITERATURE JERWOOD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION and the DEBUT POLITICAL BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD.

@ramitanavai

About the Author

Ramita Navai was born in Iran and grew up in London, but returned to live in Tehran in 2003. She spent three years as the Tehran correspondent for The Times, covering everything from the Bam earthquake to the escalating nuclear crisis. Since leaving Iran, she has worked as a reporter for Channel 4's primetime and award-winning foreign affairs series, Unreported World, and so far has made nineteen documentaries for the series. Ramita has also worked extensively as a journalist for the United Nations, covering crises in Iran, Pakistan and Iraq and has also written for many publications including the Sunday Times, Irish Times, Independent, Guardian and Marie-Claire and has recently started to blog about her work for the Huffington Post.

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ W&N

Publication date ‏ : ‎ 11 August 2015

Edition ‏ : ‎ 1st

Language ‏ : ‎ English

Print length ‏ : ‎ 320 pages

ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1780225121

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1780225128

Item weight ‏ : ‎ 238 g

Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 13 x 2.2 x 19.6 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 170,729 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

76 in History & Philosophy of Anthropology

85 in History of Iran

271 in LGBTQ+ Biographies (Books)

Customer Reviews: 4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars   (912)

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From Australia

Kerrie Obst

5.0 out of 5 stars a great insight into life in Iran through story telling based ...

Reviewed in Australia on 9 October 2014

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a great insight into life in Iran through story telling based on first hand anecdotes. Brought the city to life

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Roger Mendelson

4.0 out of 5 stars I couldn't put this down.

Reviewed in Australia on 11 September 2019

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Having visited IRAN recently, I was amazed at the difference between perception and reality.

The people are friendly, smart and love having visitors.

However, what I was sanitized.

The stories in this book bring Tehran to life and demand to be told.

The world needs to understand Iran better.

ROGER MENDELSON

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Margaret Davy

4.0 out of 5 stars City of Lies

Reviewed in Australia on 1 July 2014

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Very interesting to see how the middle east treats women kind. I am wondering if they will ever get into the 21st century and treat women as equals. They purport to be very religious, but clearly that is not the truth, according to this book.Thank goodness we live in a blessed nation here in Australia, where we are all treated as equals and accept people from other countries with open arms and the hope that they will assimilate to our lifestyle and not try and bring their conflicts to our bonny shores.

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Tony H

3.0 out of 5 stars A good read

Reviewed in Australia on 4 July 2014

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Not a normal choice. Took some time to get into the story but became addicted and had to finish it.

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Harvard3014

4.0 out of 5 stars Tehran life expose, wide ranging and personal experiences

Reviewed in Australia on 9 July 2014

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A fascinating insight into this little understood middle eastern country. The personal experiences make the reading all the more poinant.

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Sydney1981

1.0 out of 5 stars A poor account on modern Iran.

Reviewed in Australia on 27 December 2015

Format: Kindle

A poorly written fictionalised account of "modern" Tehran. There are much better books on Iran which I would recommend over this. Not entirely sure how/why this book is classified as non-fiction?

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From other countries

Dina

5.0 out of 5 stars An ontology of urban life through narratives of its habitants

Reviewed in the United States on 17 December 2016

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Ramita Navai is my hero! I was lucky to visit Ramita's talk in King's College London when I was a student there. She had just launched the publishing of this book and shared stories about how she was collecting these stories, meeting these people, and what it meant for her to write this book. One thing I can say for sure, Ramita has a huge heart, and each character in this book used to be part of her life. She is crafting a story of the city by sharing these stories, and in the end, a beautiful palette of Tehran's past is present gets created. It became one of my favourite books!

If you enjoy Khaled Khosseini, you will definitely like "City of Lies".

And if you want to hear more stories by Ramita, look for "Unreported World" episodes with Ramita Navai on YouTube.

She is an extremely brilliant journalist and writer! I am very looking forward to reading more of her books.

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Bejarano

5.0 out of 5 stars A deep intimate vision of Tehran's invisible world

Reviewed in Spain on 12 November 2020

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The prose is so beautiful and precise that you cannot stop reading. The stories are compelling, tender, crude, dramatic. A must read. Already waiting for her new book.

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ishpreet

5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars

Reviewed in India on 13 November 2014

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Beautiful novel

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J. Wickens

5.0 out of 5 stars Optimal blend of journalism and storytelling

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 August 2014

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This is a remarkable piece of writing. Each personal story is as gripping as a work of pure fiction, yet all are as close to fact as RN can safely make them. There is a wealth of detail about everyday life in Tehran, as well as helpful explanatory reminders of the recent historical context, woven into the narratives.

Some might be irritated by the liberal use of Farsi words (always accompanied by their meaning in English), but since they are italicised you can simply ignore them if you wish; for me they were a plus, as were the pages at the end on 'Sources', which added yet another layer of authenticity.

I am hugely impressed by RN's skill in not only unearthing these stories but presenting them in such a readable and informative way. It is a real page-turner, but at the same time I feel I learnt so much about Tehran on so many levels (I have not been to Iran myself). I would recommend it highly, while warning any sensitive potential readers about the frank descriptions of sexuality as well as the reality of corruption, intimidation and repression.

RN's tone is not judgmental; she lets the facts speak for themselves. In the face of such overwhelming evidence, one can draw one's own conclusions - not least that when moral strictures are imposed from above, they are likely, just as they were in Prohibition-era America, to be counter-productive.

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Gerhard Mersmann

5.0 out of 5 stars Tehran's underworld

Reviewed in Germany on 7 August 2016

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Although not so distant geographically, the metropolis of Tehran has moved far from being perceived in Europe and the world since Ayatollah Khomeini's return from exile in Paris in 1978. This was due, on the one hand, to the more religiously doctrinal revolution and, on the other hand, to the very strong self-centeredness of the classical West. Journalistic reports about life in Tehran did exist and continue to exist, but either they are highly restricted due to strict censorship or they shine through the foreigner's ignorance and ignorance. Now, finally, a book has been published by a Persian woman who grew up in exile in London and learned the journalistic trade there and who has returned to Tehran. It is Ramita Navai, born in Tehran in 1973.

The book that Ramita Navai published in 2016 is titled City of Lies. It is the product of years of patient, highly professional and dangerous journalistic work. Navai took as orientation the city's main traffic artery, which cuts through Tehran from north to south and where the various social milieus are strung together like pearls in a chain. She has conducted interviews with residents over months, sometimes covertly, in order to hear, document and decipher the stories of the interviewees. And these stories, which she strings up in a row in the book like the milieus on the big street, these stories have a lot to offer and they tell something completely different than readers from afar suspect.

They are stories that radiate anything but what would be expected of a regime portrayed as autocratic. They are stories that represent immense wealth and immense poverty, and they are stories that document what people are capable of, whatever the conditions, to fulfill their wishes or escape from misery. Two factors play a major role in this, sex and drugs. And in this city, which is bursting with impulsivity, it is precisely the sex and drug business, although illegal and flanked by the repeatedly practiced death penalty, precisely that in which the life of the metropolis takes place. Along the big street, the various social environments also meet again and again during the sex and drug trade. Business is thriving, no matter what time, and the prison in which the candidates of death are sitting never has to complain about a lack of occupancy.

Ramita Navai succeeds in making the individual life stories shine in their authenticity. At the same time, by cleverly stringing them together, she succeeds in creating a moral painting of Tehran that astonishes, scares off and enchants at the same time. For the first time, readers get a contemporary impression of the psyche of Tehran residents, which confirm anything but the clichés with which people trade on the media market. The book is a grandiose contribution to understanding Iranian society and politics, although it only deals with this in passing. It is human needs that are particularly shaped by decades-long dictatorships that did not start with Khomeini, but took a different direction with him. The most important thing is that it is possible to understand the people living there from a human aspect.

And Ramita Navai wouldn't be a good journalist if the stories weren't followed by a glossary explaining the Persian terms used and a short, tabular history of Iran. A great, highly recommended book!

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Raffaela Bucci

5.0 out of 5 stars Beyond Ayatollah (Beyond the Ayatollahs)

Reviewed in Italy on 9 July 2025

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Very useful book as well as interesting and well done. It's nice to enter into the complexity of existence, through some people who live their lives; even more beautiful and interesting because they are people who have lived in a country that has been governed for almost 50 years by a theocracy that oppresses citizens, in particular oppresses women.

I highly recommend reading this book, we are people, very similar, we try to understand the overall and variety of everyone's lives also through these short stories of ordinary people in a country that seems so far away to you but perhaps it is not and, I hope, it will be less and less so.

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Ann Bank

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent stories!

Reviewed in Canada on 7 June 2023

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If half of this book is true, it makes me really reconsider going to Iran. Fascinating.

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Angela Muller

5.0 out of 5 stars amazing book

Reviewed in Spain on 16 January 2016

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it was one of my favorite books about Iran, and I have read a lot in this theme. You just can't put it down...

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Kim Hyers

4.0 out of 5 stars Good contemporary glimpse of life in Tehran

Reviewed in the United States on 9 December 2014

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Nice to have an insider's contemporary view into a fascinating culture that we in the west don't always get to hear about from the human interest angle. I picked it up because NPR (I think?) had interviewed the author and I was compelled. I think the stories were good, yet I was often left waiting for a little more...maybe that was the point, it was a slice of life and sometimes that's all there is to report. I enjoyed the book and the writing style, and anyone who puts forth an effort and outcome like this is impressive in my view. I do feel I learned a new level of appreciation for life in Tehran and that I value. I wish there was a 4.5 option.

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Sanaz Alizadeh

4.0 out of 5 stars it a good book

Reviewed in Canada on 4 September 2014

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I always wanted to read about Iran from the point of view of someone from another country ; it a good book

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HansBlog

4.0 out of 5 stars City of Freaks - Told in Style, and Splinters

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 June 2014

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The storytelling is professionally slick and captivating. Navai delivers surprising insights into an unknown Tehran, each time well told, never with happy ending. She smoothly includes statististics, bizarre press releases and sociology. Navai reports from a very unique country about the most unique figures an ambitious journalist in the very competitive anglophone press market can find. You'll even learn a little Farsi (Persian) and current events such as the failed Green Revolution of 2009 and Rohani's election of 2013 appear occasionally.

But Navai's fictionalized reports do feel a bit "writered" or manufactured: She hunts for dramatic story introductions, writes in present tense, keeps a cool voice, in some stories jumps between different eras. And story after story, Navai fishes for attention with: Prostitution, execution, homosexuality, transexuality, anal sex, anal rape, heroin, porn production, porn language (occasionally), big money, horny mullahs, beating militants, crying soldiers. And all that in Tehran, Iran, a country that many see (unjustifiedly) as inaccessable.

In spite of her trained reporter's muscle, Navai doesn't have full control of her material; her love for Iran and some subjects is stronger than her writer's discipline. The stories splinter:

- each fictional report gets an extra page at the book's end with more backgrounds

- even more explanations follow in an additional afterword, a time table starting from 1921 and a glossary

- one story gets yet another, dedicated epilogue on the book's last pages

- often Navai packs too many facts and figures into one story, the focus shifts and blurs - perhaps a problem of fictional reports

- overconscientously, Navai mentions Vali Asr Avenue here and there and again in one of the afterwords; Tehran's longest and most famous street was perhaps meant as a connector for all stories, but this function isn't fully realised.

- the book's title and subtitle are a tiring convolution of clichés

A little more editing and smoothing could have made for a better-rounded reading experience.

If you do like Youtube, MTV, comedy and Secret Diary of a Call Girl, you will happily consume Navai's market-conforming reporting. I personally would have preferred more about "normal" people and in a less professional voice - yet Navai often prefers bandits, prostitutes and gross fanatics. There is no story centering on a high mullah. For excellent reading about less excentric figures in Tehran, you could turn to Azadeh Moaveni (who praises City of Lies in the FT) and to V.S. Naipaul's islam books.

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prashant kumar yadav

4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars

Reviewed in India on 10 December 2015

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Mina

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Book

Reviewed in Canada on 4 March 2026

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Amazing book! Easy read and so thought provoking.

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S.Glr

5.0 out of 5 stars A History master piece on contemporary Tehran

Reviewed in Germany on 15 June 2017

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Knowing the society that is pictured in this book, I think, it is a complete map of ideological, psychological, and social life of EXTREMES in Tehran. the book couldn't cover all other layers of the society: villagers, tribes, middle-class Iranians, intellectuals, migrants, minorities, people who live in other big and small cities and towns but it's a historical documentary about extreme Tehranis.

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Marquis de Saniette

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly informative, fun read!

Reviewed in the United States on 14 September 2014

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Being old enough to remember the Pahlavi dynasty and then witness the cultural change, I was eager to compare the stories in this book with my own interactions with Iranians online over the past decade. Just like the author notes, there are official restrictions on internet use -- especially for women -- but most everyone knows ways of getting around them, even in internet cafes. It's a damn weird thing that the US government has its own policy against Iran when Iran has long been willing to work with Washington, just not accept all of Washington's bull hockey that comes with such a relationship (see Egypt, Turkey, Jordan, etc.). Iranians are surprisingly friendly and well educated, and unlike most other people in the Middle East, the first and last words they speak doesn't have to do with the Quran. Navai's accounts illustrate how far Iranians go to live on their own terms, and then put on the mask in public to please the latest religious leaders when needed, much like Americans straighten up and slow down when the cops are around. I really enjoyed this book and can't wait to read it second time. I gladly recommend it.

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shabnam

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books I have ever read.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 November 2017

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I'm a persian woman who grew up in Iran and lived there for 27 years. I have been here in England for 11 years now. I bought this book because of my polish friend's recommendation. I loved the book for a few reasons.

I think it's very well written . I liked all the details as it makes it easy to imagine all the places and people.

It might be tricky to track all those Persian names for those who aren't familiar with the language but I still think the author has done a great job by explaining all these words in English. I still think they have made the book very special, interesting and different.

The book containes some short stories and each of them are about someone's life in Tehran. I like the fact that these people are very very different . So you read some very different stories but they still have things in common which makes the book more interesting.

I'm very surprised that the author could write so beautifully about the city that she didn't grew up there. I think she knows even more than me who grew up in Tehran.

I loved these true stories.

I recommend this book to who ever wants to know more about Iran and specifically Tehran.

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Dr. Wolfgang P. Osten

5.0 out of 5 stars Well written!

Reviewed in Germany on 27 April 2017

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Reads fluently and opens up deep insights into a very unknown and foreign country. Exciting and interesting at the same time Worth reading!

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Bassim Hilmi

5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars

Reviewed in Canada on 11 October 2014

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Great stories about life and death in modern Tahran.

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Graham

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting Insight to the Iranian Culture

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 June 2014

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I just found the various different tales in the book rather disjointed and rather confusing after a while.

A good read but you need to concentrate on the names.

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AlanT

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating look at the hypocrisy of Iran's government, a must-read

Reviewed in the United States on 9 November 2015

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A fascinating book that should be read by every American. Exposes the reality of life in Tehran: they're just people, like all of us, with the same hopes, fears, goodness and failures as people anywhere. The religion-fueled government tries to pretend that they're better than the rest of us, but instead of turning everyone into saints, they've turned them into liars. Everyone in Tehran lies, hypocrisy abounds. But in the end, the citizens are just doing what we all do: laughing, loving, trying to make a living, stealing, having families, and dying. I normally don't care for short stories, but the stories in this book weave together into a whole that is fascinating. I would have given it five stars except but for one thing: the author "head jumps" too many times, taking you from one person's thoughts into another person's head with no warning. It left me confused a number of times, where I'd have to go back and re-scan and say, Oh, OK, now I'm in this person's head. But in spite of this, it's a page turner, a must-read for anyone interested in Iran and the politics of the region.

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Noel

5.0 out of 5 stars Surprising and shocking

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 6 February 2017

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This is a book about life in Islamic Republic of Iran. The book opens with a description of Vali Asr Street, the long street built nearly 100 years ago, lined with 18,000 sycamore trees which are now slowly dying from drought. It links the poorest southern districts of Tehran which is the heartland of the core support for the regime to the affluent, rich, formerly Westernised, northern suburbs.

Having set the context with a map of the city and the introduction to Vali Asr Street, the author then tells us in 8 chapters of the lives of eight Tehranis living along the length of this street, from the poorest to the most wealthy. Of necessity the true identity of each of the characters in the book is disguised to prevent their recognition and some are composite characters. The "Sources" chapter at the end of the book explains in detail the information source for each of the characters.

These people are all very different, but the factor which links them all, is that they stand out in some way from what passes as the norm in Tehran. They all display a shocking independence from and passive or active resistance to the regime. I am not sure what shocked me most as I read this book. The lives the people live, the nature of their rebellion, the role of the basiji (youth paramilitaries) or the strange decisions of what is or is not haram (forbidden) by the regime.

A truly surprising and shocking book and impossible to put down. I found the story of Amir in Chapter 3 the most painful and touching in a book packed with things to cause you to weep.

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Andy Madajski

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting Read

Reviewed in the United States on 27 June 2015

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This is a collection of stories from the uses of individuals living in Tehran. While the variety of different people covered is noteworthy - we learn about a gay man, a prostitute/porn star, a gambler, a young wife - I didn't really get all that involved with any of them. Intellectually, I was intrigued; emotionally, I was distant. 

The guiding thread of all of these stories was that lying and hypocrisy were survival traits in Tehran. I think this came through quite strongly. None of the people in the book seemed evil, even though some of their actions were. That's the complexity of the culture they live in.

Some of the stories were a bit longer than I would have liked. I found my mind drifting and my attention wandering, especially at the beginning of the book. 

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FADI SHAWTAH

5.0 out of 5 stars Fadi

Reviewed in Germany on 25 November 2016

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One of the most interesting and important books about modern Iran.

Written in a very smooth language through personal stories.

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RNJ

5.0 out of 5 stars Truth about Lies

Reviewed in the United States on 1 November 2014

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Ramita Navai’s thesis seems to be that the political atmosphere in Iran, particularly in the capital city, Tehran, is so repressive that its citizens are forced to lie about their lives. She says in her very first sentence:

“Let’s get one thing straight: in order to live in Tehran you have to lie. Morals don’t come into it: lying in Tehran is about survival. This need to dissimulate is surprisingly egalitarian—there are no class boundaries and there is no religious discrimination when it comes to the world of deceit. Some of the most pious, righteous Tehranis are the most gifted and cunning in the art of deception” (xi). Whoo.

Yes, citizens present a public face that is a lie. They live with false documents on their person. The must lie to stay out of prison, and often they lie for such a long period of time that they begin to believe the lies. Navai’s book is told by primarily through the portraits eight Iranian personalities whom she profiles: a highly paid prostitute who services a mullah (Muslim clergy) and leads an exotic life until she falls out of favor; a young man, secretly a member of MEK (Mojahedin-e-Khalq, Warriors of the People), who returns to his country in 2001 for the first time since his parents took him away in 1979. She limns six others, as well.

In essence, people are not allowed to be fully human. It is a fact we’ve always “known” or sensed about Iran, but Navai’s book brings alive this idea through the eight people she profiles. But she also has a deep love for Tehran, having spent at least a part of her childhood there. In the prologue she speaks lovingly of Vali Asr Street, the “one long, wide road lined on either side by thousands of tall sycamore trees,” (1) that runs throughout the entire center of the city. In fact, she says, there are over 18,000 sycamore trees that the former monarch, Reza Shah, planted in 1921. The effect, after ninety years, must be breathtaking, like a European city. The trees may be emblematic of a tortured city that desires to be like the rest of the world, and indeed is in many ways, but is still blighted by its past as well as its present. Eventually trees die. What will Tehran’s image be then?

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Maz1

4.0 out of 5 stars A good book to give you a window for looking into ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 May 2018

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A good book to give you a window for looking into the darker side of today's Iran. It's well written and it is not a difficult read. Some of the factual elements about recent history, persons and political groups may be not as accurate as you'd hope. But they were, I thought, not impinging on the stories. I have already recommended it to a few more people who have read it or are in the process. So, well done Ramita Naval!

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carina beineke

5.0 out of 5 stars Everything is great

Reviewed in Germany on 29 August 2018

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great book

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Orson Tells

5.0 out of 5 stars Disturbing and Engaging

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 April 2024

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City of Lies is engaging, disturbing and well written, offering a Hogarthian perspective of people and place. For me it was an interesting counterbalance to the 'drier' socio-economic material available on Iran and Iranian society.

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Wayne & Sarah

4.0 out of 5 stars Come, stay awhile, and listen...

Reviewed in the United States on 13 January 2016

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What is truth? The prologue has a soliloquy about Iranians living different lives, with different levels of truth involved therein. To me, after reading it, it might have been a bit of a glimpse into the authors own handling of the truth in this book.

As an American trying to understand the Iranian psyche, this book opens it in a way that I have not seen before. It shows the strains that ordinary Iranians live through, and how their culture is a resilient one -- surviving invasions, revolution, and an oppressive theocracy. Three of the characters have sex featured rather prominently in their stories, and more than a few end in death.

Did I believe them all? No. There was a moment where a story seemed so incredible that I had to see if I was reading fiction or non fiction (this is non fiction, btw). An Iranian friend read it, and they thought parts were an outright fabrication (for example, a scene at an airport disagreed with their own personal experience at this airport).

But even if the truth is embellished, or stretched, it's all very Iranian. Someone, as I did, might think that Iranians are liars when they first become exposed to their culture. The truth isn't that simple. It's not that they lie, but that they are forced to live with different degrees of truth, and these degrees will color your and their interactions.

Read the book if you are at all interested in Iran. I could write paragraphs more about it, but the concepts and emotions that are generated when reading leave me feeling like I have my own gradations of truth to sift through.

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Jack

5.0 out of 5 stars A good read about a complicated Persian culture in the big city of Tehran.

Reviewed in the United States on 8 November 2014

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As a return Peace Corps volunteer who live a worked in Tehran Iran from 1973 -75, I found this book entertaining and realistic. I enjoyed the authors use of Farsi words (and their meanings) throughout the book. Farsi is a beautiful poetic language that any westerner could be wondering if the person talking to you is sincere or not. There is such politeness in the language and culture, white lies are common. I worked in southern Tehran, the poor section, and see today there is not much change. It would seem poor sections of cities are the same all over the world but Tehran has a unique life of it's own with it's Shia religious overtones, Evin prison and it's cronies and corruption in the name of religion, the drug problems and sexual repression, the poor and their religious zeal, the wealthy and their desire for freedom who live up the mountainside. It's a good read for one interested in Persian big city culture.

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John Hawker

5.0 out of 5 stars an insight into a beautiful historic but restricted land

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 November 2024

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An amazing insight into a passionate people who care about their history and fight against the over zealous religious oppression

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Ray Thorpe

4.0 out of 5 stars An intimate and insightful look "through the keyhole" into contemporary Tehran Society .

Reviewed in the United States on 13 August 2014

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Ramita Navai reveals an underworld of love sex and "sin" in the most unlikely place on the planet,

Written in a raunchy and page turning style,the book captivates and brings you to question your own morals,ethics and beliefs. It really reveals how humans act much like naughty monkeys that want what they are not permitted. Ramita brings all her characters to life to the extent we are sad when they leave their chapter

We want to know more! Her insights into all the personalities is awesome. Almost questionable. Then at the end in the summary on each protagonist ,we realize it is her skill as investigate journalist turning real life into exciting adventure tales of people,who in the main are living double lives in Tehran. This book is a must read for anybody wanting to understand how others endure adapt and pervert suppression of desire.

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Amazon Customer

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Informative but could use a bit LESS extremism too

Reviewed in the United States on 22 April 2015

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A very interesting account of the circumstances faced by Tehranis of many types, so many living vastly different public and private lives. The author does a great job of capturing the flavor of a city governed by extreme religious dictates but also by typical human desires and lusts. The groups that arise - the religious enforcers, the rebels, the underground, the hypocrites - are assembled as composites from interviews with living citizens of the Iranian capital giving each vignette a sense of realism.

The severity of the consequences for a misstep provides a chilling edge to the stories.

What is missing is a bit of balance from some boring lives going about more routine events while still under the shadow of surveillance and strict government judgment.

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Thomas88

4.0 out of 5 stars City of lies Ramita Navai

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 June 2014

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I think this is her third book. She writes a good plotted murder or serial killing in her

books. Combined with a quite, even excoriating account of a woman's rights in

Teheran. In Islamic society's. treatment of women in general. Even women

with a profession. It this this examination of women in Islam that gives her books added

interest. Fascinating background which is well worth discovering. I guess,

written with experience.

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AMASS

4.0 out of 5 stars An enjoyable read - slightly exaggerated image

Reviewed in the United States on 15 September 2014

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Very good storytelling. Having grown up and raised in Tehran until I was 25, It was an enjoyable read for me. As it is mentioned by the author the characters of the short stories are mostly people on the fringe of the society. Although all of the stories can be true (and particularly the source of the stories have been provided by the author at the end of the book was great), my concern is that the image of the Iranian society that the book offers may be a bit exaggerated and superficial. I other word the book does not provide an image of the life of the "ordinary" Iranians of any socioeconomic class. But all that said, it was a fun read.

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