Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and most especially the author for sharing this copy with me in exchange for an honest review.

Written by Neda Toloui-Semnani, "They Said They Wanted Revolution" is a memoir about her life and experiences as an author, journalist, and as a daughter of Iranian activists. The writing style varies, tying in the author's background as a journalist to meld memories, research, interviews, and notes to tell a her story through the lens of the political upheaval she experienced as an Iranian emigrant, specifically through the lens of her family's experiences.

I enjoyed this book despite not typically reading memoirs or non-fiction, and found the author's writing style to be really easy to follow despite the different types of styles used in this work. Thanks so much for sharing your experiences with us.

A great biography of Neda’s parents. She dives into their past after the passing of her mother. Her parents met in the Iranian Student Group on the Berkeley campus. They both protested about the Shah’s rule in Iran. After the overthrow of the government, her parents moved back to Iran to be a part of this new regime. But the infighting that started in the student groups continued in Iran. The new regime wasn’t what they were hoping for and her father got wrapped up in a group that attempted an attack on a small village. He was arrested and eventually put to death, while she and her mother had to go into hiding and then leave Iran. They ended up back in California with Neda’s grandmother, where her mother shortly gave birth to her younger brother. Neda’s writing is wonderful, jumping timelines between her parent’s younger years and her following the stories. She interviewed family and friends of her parents to understand them.

My first book to read by this author but definitely not my last! Such a gripping novel that made it hard for me to put his book down once I started it. Highly recommend!!

They Said They Wanted Revolution is a memoir written by Neda Toloui-Semnani, an author and journalist, and a daughter of Iranian revolutionaries and activists. Toloui-Semnani’s father was executed by the Iranian state, which promoted her mother to flee with her family to the US in 1982, while she was 7 months pregnant.

It’s a quick read that merges a lot of information about Toloui-Semnani’s parents and how they got to the point of being prosecuted by the state and the fallout. It’s a story about grief, loss, overcoming the worst hardships, but also about rediscovering the past, understanding the choices our loved ones make, and trying to move on without forgetting. I did find some parts denser because of how big of a part the history and the politics of Iran play, but it was truly a fascinating glimpse into a country I admit I don’t know much about. I found it also very moving and personal, and filled with love and longing for Toloui-Semnani’s family.

TLDR: They Said They Wanted Revolution is a beautiful, lyrical memoir in which the author tries to understand and make peace with her parents’ beliefs and choices.

This was a heart wrenching narrative about the author's parents. This book talks about history in Iran and in the U.S. The writer, Neda Toloui-Semnani, wrote this book while trying to understand what drove her parents to do what they did. I really enjoyed this personal perspective of events that took place and how the author was trying to understand her parents and try to move on from the grief that she felt.

I would like to thank Little A for providing me with an ARC.

With They Said They Wanted Revolution, Toloui-Semnani crafts an informative, complex. thought provoking, and poignant memoir. In order to understand her parents and the choices they made, Journalist Neda Toloui-Semnani retraces her parents’ journey from college activists to Iranian revolutionaries. The most pressing question she has is why they placed the revolution above everything else, including family. Readers may find her reaction to their reasons rather surprising.

In addition, Her travels take her back to Iran which, allows her to rediscover her family and the deep, vibrant Iranian culture. Along the way, she provides an insightful history of the troubled relationship between the United States.