Laughing Without an Accent: Adventures of an Iranian American, at Home and Abroad

Laughing Without an Accent: Adventures of an Iranian American, at Home and Abroad | Firoozeh Dumas | Laughing Without An Accent

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Laughing Without a...

	Laughing Without an Accent: Adventures of an Iranian American, at Home and Abroad Firoozeh Dumas Villard, 2008 - 240 pages average customer review:based on 17 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

In the bestselling memoir Funny in Farsi, Firoozeh Dumas recounted her adventures growing up Iranian American in Southern California. Now she again mines her rich Persian heritage in Laughing Without an Accent, sharing stories both tender and humorous on being a citizen of the world, on her well-meaning family, and on amusing cultural conundrums, all told with insights into the universality of the human condition. (Hint: It may have to do with brushing and flossing daily.)

With dry wit and a bold spirit, Dumas puts her own unique mark on the themes of family, community, and tradition. She braves the uncommon palate of her French-born husband and learns the nuances of having her book translated for Persian audiences (the censors edit out all references to ham). And along the way, she reconciles her beloved Iranian customs with her Western ideals.

Explaining crossover cultural food fare, Dumas says, ?The weirdest American culinary marriage is yams with melted marshmallows. I don?t know who thought of this Thanksgiving tradition, but I?m guessing a hyperactive, toothless three-year-old.? On Iranian wedding anniversaries: ?It just initially seemed odd to celebrate the day that ?our families decided we should marry even though I had never met you, and frankly, it?s not working out so well.?? On trying to fit in with her American peers: ?At the time, my father drove a Buick LeSabre, a fancy French word meaning ?OPEC thanks you.??

Dumas also documents her first year as a new mother, the familial chaos that ensues after she removes the television set from the house, the experience of taking fifty-one family members on a birthday cruise to Alaska, and a road trip to Iowa with an American once held hostage in Iran.

Droll, moving, and relevant, Laughing Without an Accent shows how our differences can unite us?and provides indelible proof that Firoozeh Dumas is a humorist of the highest order.

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Now in my top ten

This book is hilarious. As an Iranian-American with a large family who immigrated from Iran, i found myself reading them passages so they could laugh with me. I have re-gifted this book again and again so that my entire extended family can join in. I absolutely loved it and know that you will too!

Laughing Without An Accent

One needn't have read Mrs. Dumas' first book, Funny In Farsi, to enjoy this take on the ethnic translation into American culture, but it would certainly help to get you into the mood. Knowing a bit of the family and its ways means you can start smiling, even chuckling, before the stories unfold. An occasional outburst of pure laughter also happen. Mrs. Dumas, in this sequel, shifts the terrain a bit, with a heavier focus on Iranian ethnic life amidst the bits and pieces of American life. An occasional downward spin on some of our habits and mores is fair game, but doesn't spoil this never-ending story of confused Iranians coping with the "New World." After all, this "New World" is now Mrs. Dumas' as well.

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A delightful read!

This is a fast reading book with lots of humor about an Iranian family that comes to live in Southern California. It contains universal lessons of life and humor. Everyone can feel the love that Firoozeh has for her family, her birth country, and her new home in America. After reading Laughing Without an Accent, I felt as if Firoozeh's family were my own. I was fortunate to be able to meet this charming author in person. This book will lift your spirits!

A Breath of Fresh Air

I heard the author on NPR and immediately wanted to read her book. She did not disappoint. She provided a much-needed antidote to the current stereotype of people from Iran. She is smart, sensible, and very amusing. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about how her family has successfully adjusted to living in the United States.

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An amusing read with a good message in the last chapter

While not laugh-out-loud funny it is amusing, enjoyable book. So many of us can see pieces of our own family dynamics in her stories of gifts that you pretend to like, food you serve they won't eat, and those incidents you laugh at only in hind-sight. Her last chapter where she spends time with one of the Americans held hostage in Iran for 444 days is wonderfully poignant.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

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