From the cliffhanger opening, Shohreh Aghdashloo's memoir leads readers from the red carpet of Oscar night 2004 back through the opulence of her Iranian childhood, the turmoil of revolution, her flight to the West and her acting career. The Alley of Love and Yellow Jasmines is one woman's straightforward account of the upheaval in Iran and her determination to overcome its impact on her life.
Blessed with security and love, Shohreh rejected her parents' hopes that she'd study medicine to follow her dream of acting. At 19, she married an artist who supported her goal. Their blissful days during the "Persian Spring," when Iran was thriving, ended with the rise of Khomeini. When her outspoken resistance to the Islamic revolution put her family in danger, she fled. (Eventually, she and her husband divorced; she would not return to Iran, and he would not leave.)
Shohreh's account of rebuilding her life in the West is matter-of-fact, but her tenacity to succeed and love for her country and family are striking. In Los Angeles, she works with and marries an Iranian playwright; together they stage successful performances to the acclaim of Iranian audiences. Meanwhile, she is a voice of Iran on a Farsi-language radio program, leading to TV roles, then movies and eventually her Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress in The House of Sand and Fog.
Shohreh also covers the political history of her beloved homeland, including a last-chapter summary of current Middle East politics and a plea for freedom in the region. --Cheryl Krocker McKeon, Book Passage, San Francisco