''Disoriental'' (french: Désorientale) is a French-language novel by French-Iranian author

Négar Djavadi Négar Djavadi (born 1969) is an Iranian- French novelist, screenwriter and filmmaker, most noted for her 2016 novel '' Disoriental (Désorientale)''.Dalia Sofer"A Persian Turned Parisian Insists: I’m Not an Immigrant, I’m an Exile" ''The New ...

, published by in 2016.

Tina Kover Tina Kover (born March 20, 1975 in Denver, Colorado, USA) is a literary translator. She studied French at the University of Denver and the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, and attended the Next Level Language Institute in Prague, Czech Repu ...

translated the book into English, and this version was published by

Europa Editions Europa Editions is an independent trade publisher based in New York. The company was founded in 2005 by the owners of the Italian press Edizioni E/O and specializes in literary fiction, mysteries, and narrative non-fiction. Europa has published ...

in 2018. It was the first novel written by the author. The book is narrated by Kimiâ Sadr, who at age 10 flees Iran and goes to exile in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. She feels disoriented from her lack of status in the society, and the novel's title is a combination of the words "désorienter" and "oriental". ''Disoriental'' describes the history of her family, including her two older sisters, her six uncles, and her parents. Her father Darius, who does political advocacy, accommodates the narrator's

tomboy A tomboy is a term for a girl or a young woman with masculine qualities. It can include wearing androgynous or unfeminine clothing and actively engage in physical sports or other activities and behaviors usually associated with boys or men. W ...

ish nature. Kimia is a bisexual. Her mother Sara is also an activist. Kimiâ's second uncle, a gay man, lives in a country where homosexuality is illegal and has a heterosexual marriage that produced children. The other characters see him as the family mythologist. Foreshadowing is a common device in ''Disoriental''.

Reception

Azarin Sadegh of the ''

Los Angeles Review of Books The ''Los Angeles Review of Books'' (''LARB'' is a literary review magazine covering the national and international book scenes. A preview version launched on Tumblr in April 2011, and the official website followed one year later in April 2012. ...

'' stated that the French original has a "rich, deep, lyrical, with cinematographic quality" while this aspect disappears in the English translation. Dalia Sofer of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' described this as a "rich" novel. She criticized the lengthy descriptions of Iranian history, arguing the passages are "weighing down" the content. Robin Yassin-Kassab of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' stated that "this novel compels the reader’s attention as consistently as it entertains." The English translation of ''Disoriental'' has been shortlisted for the 2019 Albertine Prize and the

Warwick Prize for Women in Translation The Warwick Prize for Women in Translation, established in 2017, is an annual prize honoring a translated work by a female author published in English by a UK-based or Irish publisher during the previous calendar year. The stated aim of the prize i ...

, and won the

Lambda Literary Award Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the "Lammys", are awarded yearly by Lambda Literary to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ literature.The awards were instituted i ...

for Bisexual Fiction at the

31st Lambda Literary Awards The 31st Lambda Literary Awards were held on June 3, 2019, to honour works of LGBT literature published in 2018. The list of nominees was released on March 7.Ryan Porter"Vivek Shraya, Joshua Whitehead among Canadian finalists for Lambda Literary A ...

."Lambda Literary Award winners honored"
''

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'', June 4, 2019.

References

External links

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Disoriental
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Désorientale
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Sample of the French version

Interview with the author
2016 French novels Novels set in Paris Novels set in Iran Lambda Literary Award-winning works French LGBT novels 2010s LGBT novels Novels with bisexual themes 2016 debut novels 2016 LGBT-related literary works {{2010s-LGBT-novel-stub

Reception

References

Further reading

External links