Review of I Will Greet the Sun Again by Khashayar J. Khabushani

*I Will Greet the Sun Again* by Khashayar J. Khabushani (2023). Published by Hogarth.

Something I’ve reflected on throughout my time as a blogger is the fact that I spend a ton of time at the library trying to find something new to read. Although I have a penchant for literary fiction, I try to be as open minded as I possibly can in an attempt to try and learn new perspectives and about the people living in this diverse world.

One of the best places to source new books has always been the new fiction section for me. I always like the new sections because it keeps my finger on the pulse of the literary publishing world right now. Not in 2008, or 1921. Right now. As a writer and author myself, this is so important.

I was wandering this section when I spotted I Will Greet the Sun Again, and when I saw the author’s name, I immediately began to sense they were Iranian.

So I picked up the book, flipped to the synopsis on the book cover’s inner jacket, and nodded when I spotted I was right. But it was the synopsis that made me want to pick this one up for sure—an LGTBQ+ tale in the Iranian context? Count me in.

Here’s my review!

K, when he is young, is taken forcibly to Iran with his brothers by his father.

Our protagonist in this novel is K, and this is a story that’s split into distinct narrative sections. We learn of the family’s life in Los Angeles, as his family immigrated to the United States and settled there like so many other Iranians. They call LA Tehrangeles for a reason.

We get a sense of the family dynamics from the get-go. One of the defining earlier passages that stood out to me, as someone who spent a lot of time researching and studying Iranian women’s history, was about how K’s mother tried to get an education and a job, yet was discouraged by her husband.

One night, K’s father rouses the three boys and takes them to Iran, without really even telling them where they were going. The boys, who were raised in the US and are already straddling two different identities, have to now survive in this world where they were taken away from their mother.

Their father, who we learn was abusive, did not bring their mother with them in an attempt to take them away. The Iran that is before their eyes is a completely different place than what they know, and this severance from their home and mother becomes a catalyst for something more later on in the novel.

After a couple of months, they are allowed to go home to California, but something has changed. We then see their coming-of-age, and the ripple effect going to Iran has created within them.

K especially has an interesting story to tell, especially as we dig deeper into how he is a gay man. I honestly have not read any Iranian based literature dealing with queer themes before, so I found this to be so compelling and interesting.

Like this is a taboo topic in the culture, and the fact his father took them away before would signal to me he is extremely traditional and would never approve of this.

All in all, this is a novel very much seeped in character studies, so if you’re into that, this is definitely to pick up sometime in the near future.

Overall Thoughts

I thought the writing in this novel was excellent, but I didn’t love or hate it because of the fact it was pretty much an extended character study. It was very easy to read for me, but I wanted less subtle tones and something more direct at times.

But like I said before, this is a perspective I have not really seen in Iranian or Iranian American literature before, and I want to see more of this in the near future. Lots to appreciate with how this story is in terms of representation for our communities.

Go pick this one up if you’re interested and are not afraid of less plot and more character development.

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