Genre: Memoir
Description:
“‘It’s all about the story.’
So begins Babak Hodjat’s collection of tales
in The Konar and the Apple.
An eight-year-old boy assigned the task of
throwing flowers during the Shah’s visit. A teenager in boot camp eager to
catch episodes of a popular Japanese TV show. An adult coming to the Unites
States, ready to make his mark in the tech world.
These are just some of the personal
experiences shaping Hodjat’s intimate narrative of a boy growing up in
post-revolutionary Iran. The stories paint a picture of a middle-class,
westernized boy experiencing all the common—and uncommon—adventures of
childhood and self-discovery.
Blending both humor and insight, The Konar
and the Apple transcends culture to celebrate the fun, innocence, and
anticipation of growing up that unite us all.”
Author:
“Babak Hodjat is an Iranian-American inventor and tech entrepreneur
with a passion for storytelling, soccer, and Artificial Intelligence. Born in
London, Babak went to kindergarten in Idaho, attended middle school in London,
completed high school and undergraduate studies in Iran, and obtained his PhD
in Japan. He has been living and working in California since the late nineties.”
Appraisal:
At least in my opinion, the appeal of a memoir depends on some specific
qualities of the author and the reader. Some memoirs I enjoy specifically
because the author and I have a lot in common. I can look at how they handled
certain kinds of situations and compare it to my own thoughts and actions. But
other memoirs have authors whose experiences are so different than my
experience due to differences in when or where they happened, our age at the
time, culture, or other factors that I can’t easily put myself in their place.
But in many ways this kind of memoir is even better, because it gives me
insight that helps me to better understand someone who, at least at first
glance, is much different than me. This memoir definitely fits in that second
category.
The Konar and the Apple is the author’s story of his time growing up in
Iran. Although he spent some time in his younger years outside of Iran which
get brief mentions, the stories in this book focus on his time in Iran. For
various reasons, war being the biggest one, Babak and his family move around the
country, so we get insight into what life was like for him in places ranging
from remote backwaters to Iran’s capital city, Tehran. I said it was the author’s
story, but in reality the better way to describe it, the way he describes it
himself, is his stories.
Each chapter is a story about something specific. It reads something
like a series of short stories with the obvious differences, that the stories
are true and because they’re all about the author’s experiences they all tie
together. Each story stands on its own. At times one story might repeat a fact
or give some background needed to understand the story that was also included
in another story, but I didn’t find this bothersome because it reminded me of
something pertinent to the current story and I realized the positive of doing
this, enabling each story to stand alone.
Overall, I found this to be an enjoyable and enlightening read. I
think it gave me a better sense of how Iran changed over the period in question.
It drove home how much different living there is than my own life. But I also
saw some things, some trivial, but others not so much, that drove home that as
humans we still have a lot in common, even if there are massive differences in
the various cultures and places that we live in.
Buy now
from: Amazon US Amazon UK
Format/Typo
Issues:
No Significant Issues
Rating: ****
Four Stars
Reviewed
by: BigAl
Approximate word count: 85-90,000 words
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