book 1 complete - garden of the brave in war

I felt sad as this book ended.  It was as though the old life that O'Donnell found and fell in love was disappearing.  I couldn't help but ask what was left in America for him?  The richness that he had experienced in Iran could not be replaced.  He arrived in Iran in 1960 and stayed throughout 1970 and in this book he relayed the true essence of Iranians and the culture and avoided politics.  He feels as a foreigner it was not of his concern, politics that is. The old life he experienced was within the farm where he stayed, the places he traveled and the people he met. I have a new appreciation for the meaning of the simple life - consider living in the country with orchards and pomegranates.  Consider the diffence in the types of people and what they are trying to accomplish each day if they were living on a farm versus living in the city.  In the old life, you farmed (there are many more lines of work in the country), traveled, met a friend, accepted their invitation to their home, exchanged pleasantries and stories, some true some false, laughed, ate, stayed the night, and then parted with a gift. He made friends wherever he ventured - his travels were to shrines, tribes, Princes quarters, hunting expeditions and a waterfall. The friendships were based on a common interest or good entertainment through stories, jokes, women or opium.

I have learned that Iran has many shrines and they are mostly of poets as the Iranians are passionate about poetry.  People visit these shrines for many reasons, to repent, pay respect, etc...

He left after over a decade because the owner of the farm was going to sub-divide the land and renovate the house stripping him of all he fell in love with.  His friends gathered on his last day and they reminisced.  The experiences he had with these people were so unique.  One such instance was befriending a Prince who had a bullet lodged in his lung and whom had 5 different parties at his house at one time, all the time, each party held different groups of people. The Prince didn't believe in mixing the groups - the kinsmen wouldn't mix with the riffraff and so on.

O'Donnell delved into this new place and it became his home. The stance he takes on Iran is as an Iranian and not a foreigner.

half read books: garden of the brave in war

The full title is actually Garden of the Brave in War, Recollections of Iran. This is what it is - recollections of an Americans experiences while in Iran, written in journal form.  He writes clearly and factually.  Not to mention explicitly and with humor, some sections too explicit for me.

He grasps and relays the character of an Iranian as passionate, hospitable, envious and hypocritical.  I will site a passage later on to show this.

This talk of Iran, Iranians, and religion seems so foreign to me yet very familiar at the same time. The mourning of the religious months, the slapping of the chests and the wailing of the women over the suffering and death of the grandson of the Prophet. Am I in the mosque again? The book recalls this religious mourning month just as I remember it, different setting but same sensation.  What is going on??

Already three quarters through the book, it's intriguing to me that a foreigner continues to be drawn to this way of life - wrapped in superstition, robbery and religion.  Why did he stay for ten years?  It is alluring the way he talks about his encounters with people. No matter who he comes across, he is their guest and they have an offering and he must accept, and now they are friends.

But, I sense a loneliness at this juncture in his writings.