For the Sun After Long Nights is a poignant and deeply personal collection that intricately weaves together the individual experiences and broader political landscapes through the unique perspectives of Fatemeh Jamalpour and Nilo Tabrizy. The entries offer an intimate glimpse into the authors' thoughts, reflections, and observations, creating a powerful dialogue between their inner worlds and the external realities they navigate. This collaborative work transcends mere storytelling, evolving into a significant commentary on resilience, hope, and the enduring human spirit in the face of prolonged challenges.

For those who may be unfamiliar with the pivotal 2022 women-led protests in Iran, the narratives contained within this book will undoubtedly strike them as a fictitious novel. These are not just imagined tales; they are the stark realities experienced by the authors, deeply personal and often unacknowledged in the broader discourse of American media. The book delves into the very fabric of these untold stories, shedding light on the courage and resilience of women who rose up against oppressive regimes, demanding fundamental human rights and freedoms.

Readers are encouraged to approach the book with an open mind, particularly those who are new to the intricate and multifaceted history of Iran. The narrative offers captivating glimpses into various periods of Iranian history, presenting them not as isolated events but as interconnected threads in a grand tapestry. It is crucial for the reader to actively synthesize these historical snapshots, integrating them within a broader, more holistic worldview. This approach will allow for a deeper understanding that transcends a narrow, often myopic, Western-centric perspective.

Approaching this book, I initially felt intimidated by the unfamiliar aspects of Iran and its language so reading it felt like a feat. However, as a poet, I found solace and encouragement in the embedded poetry, with its vivid imagery and romantic narrative, which truly empowered me to engage with the entire text. The poems were truly the highlight of the book for me. Lastly, my only bit of advice I wish the book had was the visuals (i.e. maps, photographs, and an infographic timeline).

💭 ⓂⓎ ⓉⒽⓄⓊⒼⒽⓉⓈ
This book has completely shaken me to my core, and I don’t say that lightly. Being fully Iranian, I knew I needed to read it, but I didn’t realize how much I would learn or how deeply I would relate, even though I was born and raised in the US. This is a book for everyone, regardless of sex, gender, religion, or ethnicity, because every reader will take something meaningful from it. It is equal parts vulnerable and informative. The stories and history within will fill you with anger, sadness, and most importantly empathy. These are the stories of the people of Iran, people whose incredible qualities often go unseen because of the way media spins narratives or because of the extreme dangers of reporting the truth. I hope that one day soon we will see a different version of Iran than the one portrayed here. This book resonated so deeply with me, and I believe it is an important and timely read that I truly hope you consider picking up.

📚 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎:
👊🏼Female Solidarity
💪🏽Fight against oppression
🥹Vulnerability
😢Emotional reads
🙏Hope and resistance
💔Sacrifice for justice
💭Reflection reads
🗣️Dual POV

✂️𝕄𝕐 ℝ𝔸𝕋𝕀ℕ𝔾✂️
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

💕Q U O T E: “𝒜 𝓅𝑒𝓇𝓈𝑜𝓃 𝓌𝒽𝑜 𝒻𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉𝓈 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓇𝑒𝓋𝑜𝓁𝓊𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓉𝒶𝓀𝑒 𝒶 𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝒾𝓂𝑒, 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝓈𝒽𝑒 𝒹𝑜𝑒𝓈 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝒻𝒶𝒾𝓁. 𝒮𝓉𝒶𝓃𝒹𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝑒𝒹𝑜𝓂 𝒾𝓈 𝓂𝑜𝓇𝑒 𝒷𝑒𝒶𝓊𝓉𝒾𝒻𝓊𝓁 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓃 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝑒𝒹𝑜𝓂 𝒾𝓉𝓈𝑒𝓁𝒻.”

🙏Thank you NetGalley, Pantheon , Nilo Tabrizy, and Fatemeh Jamalpour for this ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts.💕

We get an amazing primary source retelling of the recent women's uprising in Iran, both from women who actually participated and escaped execution, and by a journalist who focused on their story as it unfolded. Highly recommended read.

For the Sun After Long Nights is a book about the Women, Life, Freedom movement in Iran, told by Iranian American journalist Nilo Tabrizy and Iranian journalist Fatemeh Jamalpour. Both authors report from their own experiences covering Iran. While Nilo speaks about the grief of a country she can no longer return to and having to witness some of the atrocities from afar, Fatemeh speaks about going out to protests, being watched, interrogated, and being told she’s going to go to prison.

I struggle to think of how to review this book. I have a PhD researching North Korea and, lately, I’ve been intrigued by Iran because of some vague similarities (exile activism, sanctions, nuclearization, complicated international relations, limited social rights, rampant human rights abuses), with the big difference that Iran doesn’t necessarily block international travel. During my career, I’ve often seen the two countries compared, with the conclusion that North Korea is worse. And now, having finished this book, I wonder. Is it?

Not that I think the countries should be compared or that one should be crowned the less awful, but I don’t think I was ready for what I read. It took me a long time to finish because the chapters are packed with details about protests, littered with names of people executed, persecuted, disappeared, and shot by the Iranian regime. I googled them all. I tried to read more into the background of everything. And while I’m sure this book didn’t even scratch the surface, it does make me wonder how Iranians can carry this weight.

The book is divided into three sections: Women, Life, Freedom. Women covers the death of Mahsa Jina Amini and the protests that unfolded. Life explores the lives of Nilo and Fatemeh, both in their journalism, in how it impacted them, and in their friendship. Freedom is perhaps one of the most overwhelming sections, as it focuses on some of the many lives lost. My heart was very heavy throughout the book, which I think speaks volumes about its content, because the writing isn’t melodramatic, it just presents facts. Bits and pieces of protests, of interrogations. It was just so hard to read.

As usual, my review is going to be a bit all over the place. I’ll just ramble about what I loved.

- I adored how Baraye by Shervin Hajipour was added into the story and influenced each chapter’s title. I’ve also been listening to Shervin and Toomaj for a few weeks during my morning runs (and y’all need to listen to Toomaj’s new song and read the lyrics cuz, my dude your balls are bigger than Iran for putting this out when you're still there: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPiq8...).

- I loved Nilo’s chapters. But Fatemeh had me in awe with her fierceness and courage. At one point, the book mentions how Fatemeh was told her voice was too loud. And I’m here thinking: the world needs more angry women. No woman should be afraid her father might kill her in an honor killing, like she briefly was. I wish I could read her articles in the newspaper Shargh, some of which sounded so interesting. I’m just in awe of her. All the book I worried about her, because she wrote as if she was in Iran and I was just HOW are you publishing this book? But this is addressed at the end so I'm no longer internally screaming.

- Linking this to my comment about music earlier: I’m a runner. Fatemeh includes a short chapter on women and sports in Iran. Swimming and bodybuilding are banned for women, and they cannot use the same facilities as men, which impacts the quality of training and also salaries. I just loved that this was a chapter. It made me think of the Iranian-Israeli movie Tatami about an Iranian judoka threatened by the Iranian government (highly recommended).

- The amount I learned from this book was overwhelming: from April 20, 2000, when Khamenei canceled all reforms and intensified repression tactics, to Bloody November, to how minorities are treated in Iran, to how Evin's bad but Qarchak is hell, to the history of hijab laws in Iran (i.e., maghnaeh at schools, the unveiling of 1936, kashf-e hijab). I liked to read about the paranoia and paralysis that comes from internalized authoritarianism, it reminded me of North Korea stuff.

- My eye twitched at the bit where they explain Khomeini called women 'human makers' oh and this brilliant sentence where a woman explains why women should wear hijabs: "Our religious husbands fall into sin when they see women without hijab."

- The authors didn’t let the people become just names on a page but they explained what happened to those who resisted the regime and its gender-based apartheid: Mahsa Jina Amini, Neda Agha Soltan, Nika Shakarami, Mohsen Shekari, Hadith Najafi, Khodanur Lojei, Javad Heydari, Niloufar Bayani, the twins Elaneh and Elnaz Mohammadi, and SO many more who faced repression or were killed. I especially loved that the book included good things to remember them by. Not Khodanur Lojei shackled and thirsty with a water bottle out of reach, but Khodanur dancing. Mohsen gaming and singing. Nika's last brave words to her auntie.