After I finished reading “Yalda” I felt different. It had been a while since the last time I read a book not in English. It was an Iranian story, it was the best book I’ve ever read. It brought me to tears and it made me laugh out loud. It was strong, deep, full of sorrow, full of love, full of energy. I was truly inspired. It took me only a week to read it. It was about 400 pages. I am much faster when I read in English, that’s why this was surprising. It means it was very good. Anyway, I am bringing it up because it was full of meaning. I learned a lot from it. Some things were sad to know, but helpful. I wish they would translate it to English. Everything in it was real. Nothing was a lie, though I believe it was a work of fiction. It wasn’t just a story, it was reality.

There was love in it. It was basically a comparison of two very different lives. One was about a girl named Yalda-in Farsi meaning the longes night- she was raised in America, but without the care of her parents, and she took some wrong turns. The other girl was in Iran, she was poor, she had a terrible life, full of fights, and her dreams were ruined. These things we are pretty much familiar with, but there’s more. She ended up having Aids, she ended up dying, but before she died, she told a friend she loved her whole story and said she wished it had never happened, she wished she could be in Yalda’s place to have him. She didn’t sell herself because she was an idiot, she did it to take revenge. That’s because they never told her that men and women are equal. They taught her that she is weaker than men.
My point is, most societies tell you men are stronger and better than women. Why is it like that? Why can’t they, like they do here in America, tell you that both are equal and deserve the same thing.
I loved this book. After I finished, I suddenly felt home-sick, I wanted to be back in Iran so much. Suddenly everything looked unfamiliar. Anyway, I just loved it.