The Ministry of Guidance Invites You to Not Stay: An American Family in Iran

Written by Hooman Majd

Narrated by Michael Kramer

It was an annus horribilis for Iran's Supreme Leader. The Green Movement had been crushed, but the regime was on edge, anxious lest democratic protests resurge. International sanctions were dragging down the economy while talk of war with the West grew. Hooman Majd was there for all of it. A new father at age fifty, he decided to take his blonde, blue-eyed Midwestern yoga instructor wife Karri and his adorable, only-eats-organic infant son Khash from their hip Brooklyn neighborhood to spend a year in the land of his birth. It was to be a year of discovery for Majd, too, who had only lived in Iran as a child.

The book opens ominously as Majd is stopped at the airport by intelligence officers who show him a four-inch thick security file about his books and journalism and warn him not to write about Iran during his stay. Majd brushes it off-but doesn't tell Karri-and the family soon settles in to the rituals of middle class life in Tehran: finding an apartment (which requires many thousands of dollars, all of which, bafflingly, is returned to you when you leave), a secure internet connection (one that persuades the local censors you are in New York) and a bootlegger (self-explanatory). Karri masters the head scarf, but not before being stopped for mal-veiling, twice. They endure fasting at Ramadan and keep up with Khash in a country weirdly obsessed with children.

All the while, Majd fields calls from security officers and he and Karri eye the headlines-the arrest of an American "spy," the British embassy riots, the Arab Spring-and wonder if they are pushing their luck. The Ministry of Guidance Invites You to Not Stay is a sparkling account of life under a quixotic authoritarian regime that offers rare and intimate insight into a country and its people, as well as a personal story of exile and a search for the meaning of home.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Nov 5, 2013
• ISBN: 9781452686950

Reviews for The Ministry of Guidance Invites You to Not Stay

[jmliszk-553977 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

On the whole, I enjoyed this a great deal. My only qualm with the book was the rather heavy-handed political asides which I found jarring and difficult to get through. I expected there to be a fair amount of political discussion in a book about modern day Iran but it seemed as if every few chapters there was a big digression to talk about "serious" things before getting back to the day to day life experiences of the author. Overall, this was a great quick impulse read.

[m.floyd · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A book worth reading. A fascinating insight into the daily life of Iranians in Tehran. At times this account left me wishing for a broader perspective on the Iranian experience---the author being privileged by his wealth, dual citizenship, and his gender (all things he acknowledges)---but of course, a book cannot be all things to all people. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who wants an introduction to Iranian culture.

[froxgirl · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I heard an interview of the author on NPR. Enjoyed the book though it was a bit rambling and random. Descriptions of the Persian character, though, are invaluable, especially in light of the hopefully improving relations with Iran. There's a good balance between the political and the personal. Majd, born in Iran though never a resident, having been moved with his family to the West in infancy, decides to bring his American wife and baby son to Iran for a year. They manage, despite contstant political surveillance, to fit right into daily Iranian life, with its strong love of parties and of children. Very enlightening book about something we'd never know elsewise.