Chapter 1
Then came 1980: the year it became obligatory to wear the veil at school. (1.4)
Chapter 2
The revolution is like a bicycle. When the wheels don't turn, it falls. (2.4)
Chapter 3
"I love the king. He was chosen by God. […] That's what it says on the first page of our schoolbook." (3.6, 3.10)
Chapter 4
I realized then that I didn't understand anything. I read all the books I could. (4.40)
Chapter 5
We had demonstrated on the very day we shouldn't have: on "Black Friday." That day there were so many killed in one of the neighborhoods that a rumor spread that Israeli soldiers were responsible f...
Chapter 6
"His father did it, but it's not Ramin's fault." (6.34)
Chapter 7
"Don't you know that when [parents] keep saying someone is on a trip it really means he is dead?" (7.7)
Chapter 8
"I was 18 years old when my Uncle Fereydoon and his friends proclaimed the independence of the Iranian province of Azerbaijan." (8.9)
Chapter 9
"Marji, run to the basement! We're being bombed!" (9.60)
Chapter 10
I wanted to be an educated, liberated woman. And if the pursuit of knowledge meant getting cancer, so be it. (10.14)
Chapter 11
"Dad […] are you going to war? Are you going to fight? We have to teach those Iraqis a lesson!" (11.11)
Chapter 12
"Soon, it won't just be food. With all those sluts out there, we're going to have to watch our husbands." (12.42)
Chapter 13
"They told him that in Paradise there will be plenty of food, women, and houses made of gold and diamonds." "Women?" "Yeah. Well, he's fourteen years old. That's exciting." (13.39-13.41)
Chapter 14
"You think I'm stupid?!!!... I can tell by your tie! Piece of westernized trash!" (14.33)
Chapter 15
If I wanted to be friends with 14-year-olds, I had to do it. (15.7)
Chapter 16
"Get real. Up to a certain age, you need your parents, then later, they need you." (16.9)
Chapter 18
"I don't want to die!" (18.6)
Chapter 19
"It's against the law to kill a virgin, so a guardian of the revolution marries her and takes her virginity before executing her. Do you understand what that means??" (19.19-19.21)
Chapter 20
It had been four years since I'd seen such a well-stocked store. […] Even today, after all this time, you can always find at least a dozen boxes of good-smelling laundry powder in my house. (20.3...
Chapter 21
"It's wonderful to have international friends." (21.47)
Chapter 22
"It's true what they say about Iranians. They have no education." (22. 32)
Chapter 23
In my culture, parents were sacred. We at least owed them an answer. (23.8)
Chapter 24
I was distancing myself from my culture, betraying my parents and my origins. […] I was playing a game by somebody else's rules. (24.29)
Chapter 25
My eight housemates were eight men, all homosexuals. (25.4)
Chapter 26
The communal life went hand in hand with the use of all kinds of mood enhancers: weed, hash… I tripped every weekend, and you could see it on my face. (26.49)
Chapter 27
I was very scared. It was the end of my career. (27.23)
Chapter 28
Where was my mother to stroke my hair? Where was my grandmother to tell me that lovers, I would have had them by the dozen? Where was my father to punish this boy who dared hurt his daughter? Where...
Chapter 29
From the moment I arrived at the Mehrabad airport and caught sight of the first customs agent, I immediately felt the repressive air of my country. (29.1)
Chapter 30
A part of me understood [my old friends]. When something is forbidden, it takes on a disproportionate importance. (30.12)
Chapter 31
I didn't understand why the mother-in-law [on TV] hated the hairdresser so much. Much later, I got to know a girl who dubbed television shows. She told me that Oshin was in fact a Geisha and since...
Chapter 32
Since we weren't married, we couldn't kiss each other in public, or even give one another a friendly hug to express our extreme joy. We risked imprisonment and being whipped. (32.46)
Chapter 33
Suddenly, from the other side of the street, I saw a car full of guardians of the revolution arrive, followed by a bus. When they came with the bus, it meant a raid. "If they see me with this lipst...
Chapter 34
"It's fear that makes us lose our conscience. It's also what transforms us into cowards." (34.37)
Chapter 35
Between 1980 and 1983, the government had imprisoned and executed so many high-school and college students that we no longer dared to talk politics. (35.22)
Chapter 37
In 1994, the year of my marriage, Iraq attacked Kuwait. (37.1)
Chapter 38
Since the night of September 9, 1994, I only saw [Grandma] again once, during the Iranian New Year in March 1995. She died January 4, 1996… Freedom had a price. (38.88)