That Year By Sevda Khatamian
Sevda Khatamian nineteen eighty nine her family was already living in Tehran when she was born in the month of July Although her parents were in touch with friends and other members of the family it was mostly the four of them hanging out together Her father used to run his own business and her mother worked in a hospital Later she became a lawyer Soheil her older brother moved abroad right after he graduated from high school Sevda took the same path and moved out of the country by the time she was eighteen. After six years of living in Ankara studying working and eventually living an unemployed life concentrated on personal creative projects she decided to move to Istanbul and discover life on another level and back up new e Sevda Khatamian nineteen eighty nine her family was already living in Tehran when she was born in the month of July Although her parents were in touch with friends and other members of the family it was mostly the four of them hanging out together Her father used to run his own business and her mother worked in a hospital Later she became a lawyer Soheil her older brother moved abroad right after he graduated from high school Sevda took the same path and moved out of the country by the time she was eighteen. After six years of living in Ankara studying working and eventually living an unemployed life concentrated on personal creative projects she decided to move to Istanbul and discover life on another level and back up new experiences for the future. She now travels as an artist in residence and lives in different countries for short periods of time She believes creativity dawns as she moves along with the road site_link That Year by Sevda Khatamian is largely a book about self discovery This memoir finds Sevda striking out on her own and trying to figure out life It feels like you re viewing the world through the eyes of an artist as the chapters go along I loved Khatamian s insights and descriptions of ordinary life All around a beautiful read 1517088658 
That year is the first book written by Sevda Khatamian which is a story of her new apartment and a bunch of misfortunes in life She jokes about stories in her past and believes that time changes the feelings All the incidents happen in one year and it starts with moving in her new apartment That YearI received a free copy of this book in return for a frank appraisal. Well it was certainly something of mind blowing experience and I couldn t quite make out exactly what I thought of it In a way it was like being in William Burroughs Naked Lunch or in Last Exit to Brooklyn as you find yourself in a scatological world with the narrator in mental and physical chaos as she bumps around from flat to flat getting drunk and taking drugs with equally dysfunctional friends and at the same time able to get occasional work It isn t made clear where the year takes place I assume it s Iran but it could be Turkey or anywhere but in a way it doesn t matter The author is on an internal journey and as was said of Burroughs all the action is derived from an algebra of need Like Burroughs too the narrator is entirely self absorbed yet sees everything including her own actions with existentialist objectivity It s an extraordinary combination and deserves considerable literary praise It is an extremely forceful book and written with huge energy The writing itself is brilliant though in need of some proofreading and despite there being hardly any dialogue passages sparkle and flash as you are taken stumbling along through this amazing shambles of someone s life There are even some wonderfully nutty but delicate doodles and drawings of the places she lives in dotted throughout the narrative not something one usually encounters in what is quite a literary work. In many ways it s a remarkable work of literature and again as with Burroughs you can pick it up anywhere and be whirled into its vortex 1517088658 I enjoyed the book a lot and I almost felt everything was happening to me as I was reading the bookMy favourite chapter was Grandpa it was so emotional and I loved it the mostbut I didn t like the last two chapters as much as the rest. The story follows a young woman s first year of independence from her family assembling a life and the furnishings of an apartment in a foreign country Just where she is from or where she has come to remain unnamed underscoring the universality of her coming of age tale The book is further enhanced by the use of sketches and the unusual technique of inserting handwritten text to emphasize certain passages usually her inner thoughts. Khatamian s straightforward no frills writing endears the narrator to readers while both reflecting the subject matter and magnifying the significance of small adventures such as getting caught in a torrential rain drinking wine and smoking pot with strangers in park or waiting in an endless Kafkaesque line at the immigration office Her observations on her own faults is spot on and will resonate with readers who share one of her biggest problems I am aware I sometimes don t listen to people when they say their names yet very engaging till the end this book is a must read 1517088658 Boy what can happen in a year This book is about how life can take us for a ride It is about things that can happen in just one year I think it was a good book I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review 1517088658
| That Year By Sevda Khatamian |
| 1517088658 |
| 9781517088651 |
| English |
| 202 |
| Paperback |
Andmy brain mutes out some parts of the conversation Page 123: I was also quite captivated by the cover It was one of those books where the cover attracts you and almost promises you that you are about to get into an artist s mind. Great work Sevda 1517088658 Reminiscent of the existential style of Henry Miller or Jean Paul Sartre Khatamian turns the everyday minutiae of daily life into literature