Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram

Iranian on his mother's side and white on his father's, high school sophomore Darius Kellner is a boy who feels caught between two worlds and who believes he doesn't fit into either. At a school with a zero tolerance policy toward bullying, Darius is the constant target of two school bullies who like to make fun of his name and refer to him as a terrorist. At home, Darius is convinced he's a constant disappointment to his father, with whom he has only two things in common - a love of Star Trek and a history of clinical depression.

When it is discovered that Darius' grandfather in Iran has a incurable brain tumor, the Kellner family decides to take some time to visit his mother's family in Yadz, Iran. But after a thirteen hour trip, Darius arrives at his grandparents home feeling like he once again doesn't fit in - he doesn't feel Persian enough and can't even speak Farsi very well, plus he takes medication every day and feels his grandfather's disapproval about it.

When his grandfather introduces him to Sohrab, Darius becomes Darioush, his name in Persian, and for once, he begins to feel some pride in his name, rather than the shame he felt at school. Sohrab and Darius become fast friends, playing soccer with other boys in the neighborhood, sightseeing both in Yadz and it's surrounding area, learning to play Rook, a Persian card game that even Darius' father knows how to play, and celebrating the Persian New Year Nowruz with other friends and relatives all open a new world to Darius, a world in which he begins to feel a part of. With Sohrab's help, Darius begins to bee like he fits in somewhere, but will his new found confidence about who he is carrying over when he returns home to Portland, and goes back to school?

Quite simply, Darius the Great Is Not Okay is a wonderful coming of age novel that really captures what it is like to be what Darius calls a "fractional Persian." And it is also an honest portrayal of a teen living with clinical depression.

Darius is one of the more interesting characters I've encountered in my reading lately. He knows his limitations - he's a little overweight, athletics is not really his thing, he'll probably never speak fluent Farsi. Yet, he is a wonderful older brother to his sister Laleh, caring and protective of her, he is able to sense when she is going to have a meltdown and knows exactly how to divert her from it, and he has an interest in tea, way beyond just liking it. In fact, he is also a tea purist and enthusiast, even working part time in a specialty tea shop. Tea and its rituals, the reader learns, are an important part of Middle Eastern life.

No only has Khorram written an eminently readable novel with a charming, if flawed main character, he has managed to include a lot of information about Iran and the Iranian people, including the way holidays are celebrated, different food that is enjoyed (with many mouth watering descriptions), what life is like for the average Iranian person and their family. The cultural and limited historical aspects of this novel are every bit as fascinating as Darius' coming of age.

Darius the Great Is Not Okay has all the usual tropes of a good Middle Grade/Young Adult novel, including friendship, loyalty, importance of family and finding one's place in the world, and gives them a fresh new look. Don't miss this novel!

This book is recommended for readers age 11+
This book was an ARC received from the publisher, Dial Books for Young Readers

Moon at Nine by Deborah Ellis

It's 1988 in Tehran, Iran, nine years after the 1979 Revolution that sent the Shah of Iran into exile and the country's spiritual leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, became the Supreme Leader of Iran.  For 15 year old Farrin Kazemi this meant living a lie.  On the first Monday of each month, her mother hosts a Bring Back the Shah Tea for Ladues of Culture, whose goal is to bring back the son of the Shah, since the Shah is already dead, and remove Ayatollah Khomeini.  Later, when the men join their wives there is dancing and alcohol, both illegal in the new Iran.  Farrin's family can afford many black market luxuries  like alchohol; her father is a successful businessman, building luxury homes, hiring illegal Afghans to do the building for little money and having them deported if they give him any trouble.

Farrin attends a private school for gifted girls.  The secret activites of her parents and her mother's attitude that those who support the Revolution are low-class rabble have left Farrin not just without any friends, but really disliked by Pargol, the power-weilding class monitor, who would like nothing better than to get Farrin in really serious trouble.

But then one day, Farrin hears beautiful music at school and discovers a new girl playing a santour, a forbidden instrument.  Her name is Sadira and by the end of the day, she and Farrin are friends.  And as time goes by, they discover they are attracted to each other beyond friendship.  But the girls must be extra careful.  Such things are illegal and the Revolutionary Guard is always on the look out for infractions of the country's strict laws.

The more Farrin and Sadira hang out together, the deeper their feelings for each other grow.  Farrin even feels she can trust Sadira enough to tell her about her mother's tea parties.  And finally, on a day the school is honoring an Iranian poet, Farrin chooses a is love poem to recite in assembly, hoping Sadira will understand it is her way of expressing her feelings.   When the assembly is abruptly ended, she recites the poem to Sadira when the two girls are alone in the gym.  Moved, the two girls embarce and kiss, just as Pargol enters the gym.

Needless to say, they are forbidden to see each other anymore.  And the principal strongly suggests to the parents that they should consider arranging a marriage for each girl - soon.  Still, Farrin and Sidera manage to find a way to write letters to each other.  But that just isn't enough.  An escape is planned and with the help of Farrin's family chauffeur, Sadira manages to sneak into her house during a tea party.  Planning to leave at daybreak, the girls fall asleep next to each other and that is how the Revolutionary Guard find them when they raid the house.

What's next for Farrin and Sadira in a country where their love is forbidden by law?

Farrin's story is based by the true story of an Iranian women that Deborah Ellis met, as she explains in her Author's Notes at the end of the book, a story that Ellis felt was important enough to tell.  Iran is a country where homosexuality is still punishable by death, as it is in seven other countries in the world.  In still other countries, it is punishable by imprisonment, as we have recently witnessed in Russia recently.  I think these events make Moon at Nine a story totally revelant in today's world, and not just an interesting piece of historical fiction.

That being said, I was a little disappointed in Moon at Nine.  Generally, I like Ellis's writing very much, but I found this book to be somewhat uninspired.  She presents us with a very concrete world, where everything is divided into good or bad.  The story is told from Farrin's point of view, and, for most of the story, I felt that she was a just spoiled brat who only wanted what she wanted and disregarded the possible consequences, rather than the strong-willed person I had expected.  I found when things got dangerous, I really didn't have much sympathy for her, and she didn't have much for anyone else other than herself and Sadira.  Sadira, on the other hand, seemed to be a strong girl who knew her own mind, until Farrin came into her life and suddenly she felt weak and disposable.  I started out liking her very much and, at the end, I did still feel some compassion for her.

Despite not liking this novel as much as I have liked Ellis's other works, for example, The Breadwinner books, I do think it is a very thought provoking and important books for teens to read, if only because it gives such a disturbing perspective of life in a very conservative country.  And it is definitely a welcome addition to the ever evolving body of LGBTQ literature.

NB: Following the Author's Notes is a very useful Book Club Reading Guide.  And, although Moon at Nine is a YA novel, there are some very graphic descriptions towards the end of the book.

This book is recommended for readers age 13+
This book was received as an eARC from NetGalley