Member-only story
Making peace with the cage: the woman in “Nashad (Unhappy)”
Reyhane Bayani* authored this review for the Zan Times in Persian, and it was translated into English by Rustam Seerat.
In 2010, Mohammad Hossein Mohammadi’s novel, Nashad (Unhappy) was published by Taak Publications in Kabul. It’s a continuation of his long story, Az Yad Raftan (Forgotten), which recounts a day in the life of Mirak Shah Agha and ends the day after he hears about al-Qaeda’s attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. In Nashad, the author also focuses on one day of a person’s life, this time the daughter of Mirak Shah Aha. (In 2016, Nashad was published with the name Siyasar (The One Who Wore Black) in Iran by Hekmat Kalam Publications.)
In the beginning of Nashad, Mirak Shah Agha is constantly worried as he listens to the radio news about the 9/11 attacks. Then the focus shifts to his daughter, who has been imprisoned by her father in their basement for five years to keep her safe from the Taliban, who are about to be thrown out of power.
In Nashad, Mohammadi uses a second-person point of view to make the reader a part of the story, and create a sense of intimacy and empathy with the girl. We accompany her for one day and one night, sharing her thoughts, feelings, fears, hopes, regrets…
