Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Two For Tuesday: Persepolis

I've been following the protests in Iran over the recent election with particular interest since I recently read Marjane' Satrapi's memoirs of her childhood and young adulthood in Iran under the Islamic Revolution. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, a highly-acclaimed graphic novel, covers her life from age 10 when the Shah was overthrown until age 14 when she was sent to Vienna. She followed it with Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return.

Here are two sentences from Persepolis about the mood of the country during the war with Iraq:

The walls were suddenly covered with belligerant slogans. The one that struck me by its gory imagery was: "To die a martyr is to inject blood into the veins of society."

Later on, when one of her friends dies, she realizes how empty the slogan is.

I thought this sentence from a recent blog by Steve Clemons at The Washington Note summed up the current situation perfectly. The words are those of a "well-connected Iranian" he met in London.

A gaping hole has been ripped open in Iranian society, exposing the contradictions of the regime and everyone now sees that the democracy that they believed that they had in Iranian form is a "charade."

Perhaps we should send Katherine Harris to Tehran to explain to the mullahs how to steal an election without making it blatantly obvious you're stealing an election. ;)

Another quote I liked is from High Definition Democracy: "The revolution won't be televised, it will be Twittered." This is an interesting analysis of the effect of the internet and social networking sites on democracy.

My heart goes out to the people of Iran in these scary and turbulent times. Iran is an ancient land with a proud history. I hope this will be a turning point for the good of the people, but I'm sure the theocracy will not yield up power easily.

Now for two (or a few more) sentences I wrote. This bit of description is from my historical romance, Rogue's Hostage, set during the French and Indian War. It's in the point-of-view of my hero who was with a raiding party that took the heroine captive the day before.

He took a deep breath of cool, clean air and forced himself to look away. The early morning light slanted across the clearing, catching the sparkle of dewdrops on the grass. There was a special beauty to the dawn. The world seemed born anew, as if nature were trying to wipe clean the violence wrought by man in her peaceful domain. But he could not forget the events of the previous day.

I'm also blogging today at A Slice of Orange on mid-year's resolutions and staying focused.

Linda

Check out the wondrous Women of Mystery blog for more Two Sentence Tuesday posts.

13 comments:

David Cranmer said...

I've been wanting to read Persepolis and you just convinced me. "...to inject blood into the veins of society" is very powerful prose.

Teresa said...

Great post, Linda. I loved the Persepolis books, especially the first one, and your book, Rogue's Hostage, is wonderful.

pattinase (abbott) said...

Just read and saw this for my book group. One sad story. All stories emanating from that part of the world are and my group seems to read all of them.

Linda McLaughlin said...

David, I think you'll enjoy it. It's a powerful story, but at times amusing, too. Marji was such a feisty little girl.

Teresa, thanks for giving me your copies of Persepolis and for the kind words about Rogue's Hostage.

Patti, why do so many book clubs always read sad stories? Another interesting but sad book I read is MY FORBIDDEN FACE about life under the Taliban written by a young Afghan woman. Can't remember her name off hand.

Leah J. Utas said...

Persepolis is new to me. Interesting.
Love your morning light description.

Linda McLaughlin said...

Leah, thanks for dropping by. I enjoyed your Two-fer today, too.

Barbara Martin said...

Persepolis is now on my TBR list.

Very descriptive prose from your own work, Linda.

Clare2e said...

Nice, refreshing sentences, profound thoughts, and GO GREEN!

Anonymous said...

I loved your exerpt. Your muse is quite the lady!

Lyndi Lamont said...

Beth, lol, right now she's an AWOL lady!

Barrie said...

I do like reading these Two Sentence Tuesdays!

Kathleen Rowland said...

Linda, you always have valuable information with a broad perspective.

Linda McLaughlin said...

Thanks, Kathleen. I'll be doing a more detailed review of the Persepolis books on Wednesday.

Linda