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Community Reviews
This one was a DNF for me. I picked it up for book club, and while I really wanted to get into it — especially with such a powerful title and the promise of strong women in a tense political backdrop — it just didn’t hold my attention. The pacing felt slow, and I couldn’t connect enough with the characters to stay invested. Maybe I’ll come back to it one day, but for now, it just wasn’t the read for me.
The oppression of woman in Iran comes to life in this story about two woman who are besties from their first day at school. Reads a bit YA in the first half but develops into an engaging story with an interesting historical and political perspective.
The Lion Women of Tehran is such a beautiful read! It tells the touching story of two girls, Elaheh "Ellie" and Homa, whose lives cross paths from the 1950s to the 2020s. They first meet in Tehran as seven-year-olds and quickly become best friends. But as life goes on, they find themselves drifting apart—an experience that happens time and again as their journeys bring them back together.
Set against the backdrop of the Iranian Revolution and the changing world that follows, every character, even the less prominent ones, feels so real and relatable, thanks to Marjan Kamali's outstanding writing. The book dives into important themes like social class, feminism, women's rights, political activism, and the immigrant experience, giving a warm insight into Iranian life and culture.
Overall, I found this story engaging and thought-provoking. It explores friendship, courage, healing, empathy, acceptance, forgiveness, and redemption. The characters' experiences have stuck with me, and I'm sure that they will remain as pictures of the fight for freedom and empathy of brave women for a long, long, long time.
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