Nylon Road back

"In the tradition of graphic memoirs such as Marjane Satrapi's PERSEPOLIS, comes the story of a young Iranian woman's struggles with growing up under Shiite Law."

First off, that's a pretty lofty comparison! The book doesn't quite live up to that particular billing, but Bashi's sense of humour does keep everything moving along at a pace that makes it easy to stay with her, even when the subject matter gets a little heavy. As she struggles to fit in to her new life in Switzerland feeling isolated and useless she becomes introspective and grumpy. She sees herself as having regressed back to a spoilt teenager, explaining that all she ever does is sit "round smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee". But she's a bright, intelligent woman and something has to give. Cue the hallucinations.

Over the course of the book Bashi doesn't just describe the various times in her life, she discusses, argues and laughs about them with the various versions of herself who visit her. And it's not always a cozy chat; her child-self wonders how she ever got so old and sad, her teenage self wonders how she got so bourgeois, her young adult self wonders how she became so westernised and her hysterical, young-mother self berates her for ever leaving her child behind. At first she feels like she's going crazy (well... yes) but after a while she begins to welcome these visitations as a chance to view herself from many different angles and actually argue her own point back. One thing it seems she won't stand for is preachy-ness (thank goodness) so along with the dark and heart-rending moments we get plenty of vigour and life; some of it with art reminiscent of Roberta Gregory which is no mean comparison.

I'm not sure how authentic the whole hallucination device is; I'd love to imagine this woman having Hunter S. Thompson-esque experiences in her bathroom but I'm not totally convinced. However, if you suspend your disbelief and go with it there's a lot to enjoy here. Bashi has lived a varied life: a childhood in post-war Iran, trying to study at University under an increasingly strict regime, the emigration of her friends one by one, marriage and divorce in a strictly religious society, even a street-preaching Marxist phase(!). With self-effacement and wit she takes us through these times; in turns arch, tender, angry and wistful but always honest and lively. I came away from the book wondering what my past selves might say to me today and how cool it would be to have those conversations.