March Books 6) Pomegranate Soup, by Marsha Mehran

[nwhyte]

I really wanted to love this novel about three Iranian sisters setting up a Persian cafe in a town in County Mayo in 1986, but I couldn't quite bring myself to. The bits about Iran during the revolution, and indeed about cookery, are heartfelt and well-written; the Irish scene-setting, which makes up the bulk of the book, is much less convincing (a

Comments

[bellinghman]

'cilantro'?

Are those recipes supposed to be in the context of the Irish setting? If so, the characters would surely have noticed that the local names for the ingredients aren't the American English ones. (Or the Parsi ones, come to that.) That would, indeed, be something that a character might muse upon.

Oh, and do they follow the American habit of using volumes for everything, rather than weights or volumes depending on convenience?

[raycun]

I had to find out more...
http://www.marshamehran.com/Pomegranate_Soup.htm

I love that the evil 'uncrowned king' of the village has been trying and failing for years to buy... the pastry shop. Talk about the decline of the Irish male.

The surprising thing is that the author has actually been to Ireland, and claims to live here and Brooklyn. How can you be a writer and not notice the differences?

[nwhyte]

Talk about the decline of the Irish male.

We are given to understand that his drive to dominate the village stems from his inability to satisfy his wife sexually. Make of that what you will.