Books
Fiction: Rain & Revolution
Gina B. Nahai
Caspian Rain
(MacAdam Cage, 2007)

Caspian Rain by Gina B. Nahai is the story of twelve year old Yaas. She’s born to a mother who grew up in the slums of South Tehran, one block from the old Jewish ghetto; her father is the son of wealthy Iranian Jews. When her father falls in love with a beautiful Muslim woman, he plans to leave her and her mother. Despite a bewildering and mysterious illness, Yaas is determined to find a way to prevent her father from leaving them.
The novel is set in Iran just before the Islamic Revolution, as the country is on the verge of erupting. “He didn’t know that the fires would rage in the night—ten millions fists waving in the air, black banners hanging from every rooftop, red carnations in the barrel of every soldier’s gun while, behind closed doors, priests in black robes laughed at the folly of a people who, given the choice had opted for servitude over freedom.” Nahai has stripped away the illusion of external beauty and shows the true natue of obsession. Both Bahar and Omid, Yaas’s parents, are obsessed: Bahar with Omid, and Omid with his mistress. Yaas is stuck in the middle. Nahai is adept at delivering the emotions of a child. “He did love me, but he loved Niyaz more. It wasn’t a fair fight; not one I was expected to win.”
Yet there are times when Nahai loses the voice of a twelve year old —“I’ve prayed with this family on Yom Kippur, sat with them at seders, slept outside in a sukkah. I’ve seen them once a week since I can remember and in all that time, I’ve not heard mention of a lost son.” But the gaffes are infrequent, and the reader is quickly pulled back into the mind of a twelve year old.
Outcast by everyone, Yaas strives to fit in. “I walk into my grandparents’ house hoping I will find the way, each time, to make them forget that I’m my father’s child.” Nahai is at her best when writing from this perspective: “I have hazel eyes and white skin—hence my name, which in Farsi means ‘poet jasmine’. But you don’t have to look far to see that it doesn’t suit me…” and “I know, too, that I’ve been born with a second disadvantage: I have red hair and freckles—features that are considered unattractive by Iranians.”
The narrative is divided into several parts, flowing easily from one section to the other. The first part is the story of Yaas’s mother meeting with her father. Details are richly drawn out. “The girl on the street—her name is Bahar—would not stand out in any crowd. She’s not particularly beautiful, or smart, or endowed with exceptional wit, but she has a zest for life….”
Written mostly in present tense, the narrative is infused with a breathlessness which lends itself well to the story. However, the shifting of point of view becomes confusing at times: Yaas’s mother, her father, his mistress, her father’s mother, his father. The scenes and dialogue with these characters disturb the natural flow of Nahai’s work.
Nevertheless, Caspian Rain is a thrill to read. Heartbreak and hope fill the pages. Nahai delves deep into fear, love, jealousy, and obsession—and with evocative language, and a rich and complex story, takes us to another culture.
RECOMMENDED ARTICLES
Dog Story
By Chris ArpJUNE 2021 | Fiction
Our original fiction this month comes from Brooklyn writer Chris Arp. In Dog Story, a cantankerous father adopts a dog for his daughter. Crisp observation and introspective flashes reveal a chewed up character who wants a better world, but finds dark humor in the world he has.

Mother Cyborg: Crafting Our Digital Legacy
By Steve PantonJUL-AUG 2022 | ArtSeen
Mother Cyborg (aka Diana J Nucera) is a queer as fuck, Latina digital justice activist, a 2021 United States Artists Fellow, and a 2022 Knight Arts and Tech fellow based in Detroit. Her ever-expanding practice includes music-making, performance, education, community organizing, gardening, research, writing, and publishing.
To Gina With Love
By Sam KahnSEPT 2022 | Theater
Sam Kahn pens a love letter to playwright Gina Gionfriddo, charting her career, inner world of her plays, and the influence she had over his life and writing.
Mother and Child
By Ekalan HouDEC 21-JAN 22 | ArtSeen
Mother and Child, curated by Micki Meng, gathers the works of 17 artists who square timeless iconography of motherhood with the immediacy of touch.