Butterfly Stitching
Shermin Nahid Kruse, 2014
Water Bird Press
367 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780996050203
Summary
Through a stunning tapestry of the horrors of political oppression, terrifying secret police, an inspiring forbidden love, and the realities of war, Butterfly Stitching weaves the tale of a daughter and mother who reveal a side of Iran that has been forbidden to the rest of the world.
Inspired by true stories of Iranian women, Butterfly Stitching is a gripping tale of oppression and redemption, telling the struggles of Sahar, a nine-year-old girl growing up in the chaos and confusion of post-revolution Iran, and Samira, a beautiful woman trying to navigate marriage while being forced to grow up so quickly.
Through the strength, beauty and imagination of these remarkable women, Iran reveals itself. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Shermin Nahid Kruse spent her early childhood in Iran prior to growing up in Canada. Now an American citizen, Kruse became the youngest female minority to partner at her downtown Chicago firm, Barack Ferrazzano upon obtaining her law degree, cum laude, from the University of Michigan.
Her strong passion for global issues and the arts is reflected in many aspects of her life, including regular contributions to scholarly legal articles and a regular advice column for Chicago Lawyer, to the co-founding of Pasfarda Arts and Cultural Organization, and her wide range of hobbies, including modeling, dancing, painting and photography. (From the author.)
Visit the author's website.
Follow Shermin on Facebook.
Book Reviews
With all there is to laud in Butterfly Stitching, Kruse should be most applauded for her two female main characters, mother Samira and daughter Sahar.... [Her] women are strong. Not the faultless sort of strong. Not the flat sort of strong. The grief-torn, sorrow-weakened, hit-hard-across-the-head-with-reality and yet still just as stubborn sort of strong that is the actual veracity of a female population that is wise and foolish and oppressed and rebellious.... Butterfly Stitching is an ambitious project, capturing the soul and voice of an entire people—and Shermin Kruse succeeds, astoundingly well.
Miceala Shocklee - Los Angeles Examiner.com
Kruse...recreates the Iran of her childhood...incorporating the stories she heard from her mother and grandmother.... [R]eaders should be moved by the raw and painful emotions on display here and the relationship at the heart of the story.... In the world created in these pages, there is hope and even kindness among the despair. —June Sawyers
Booklist
Shermin Kruse's Butterfly Stitching is the gorgeous, intricately woven narrative of two heart-strong women who show us the beauty of ritual and custom as they clash with crisis and oppression in an old-world order. It is a rich, true-love tapestry.
Theresa Schwegel - Edgar award winning author of The Good Boy
Butterfly Stitching is a simply stunning novel and a beautifully written, in depth account of what it means to be a woman growing up and maturing in Iran. Touching, profound and at times shocking, you cannot fail to be moved by Butterfly Stitching and I cannot recommend it highly enough— the stories of Sahar and Samira will stay with me for a long time to come.
Karen Perkins - Bestselling author of Thores-Cross & The Valkyrie Series
Startling and innovative, Butterfly Stitching could be called Love in the Time of Morality Police. In an Iran few in the West have seen, Kruse's deft narrative is two women's stories of love and lost innocence. The reader, too loses innocence as we better understand the conflicting pulls of love and obligation, faith and individuality. Terrifying from the first. Compelling to the last.
Robert Chazz Chute - Author of This Plague of Days
Discussion Questions
1. What was your first initial response to the book? What could you relate to? Can you make connections to other texts you have read? Think of the plot, setting, conflicts, characters, and themes.
2. How did you experience the book and its various perspectives and formats? Did you find the shifts in character perspective, timeline, and format effective? Why do you think the author does this? Consider the following: Part I is written from Sahar’s perspective and Part II from Samira’s perspective, but both parts are written in the third-person close, not the first person. Part III, the author switches to a screenplay format.
3. Is the plot engaging—does the story interest you? Were you surprised by the plot's complications?
4. Describe the main characters—personality traits, motivations, inner qualities. Are their actions justified? How and why do the characters change? Which features reveal complexity within characters?
5. What are the main and minor conflicts? What causes them? Consider both external and internal conflicts. How are these conflicts resolved?
6. What main ideas—themes—does the author explore? In what way is this theme developed? E.g. human nature, the nature of society, human freedom, moral conflicts, etc.
7. Examine the symbols within the story. Most importantly, what does the headscarf and butterfly stitching represent? Are there archetypal characters (characters who represent a type or group who hold similar characteristics)? Are places or settings used symbolically?
8. Consider style and figurative language. What passages strike you as insightful, even profound? What dialogue do you think is poignant or that encapsulates a character? Is there a particular comment that states the book's thematic concerns?
9. Is the ending satisfying? If so, why? If not, why not...and how would you change it? If you could ask the author a question, what would it be?
10. Has this novel changed you—broadened your perspective? Have you learned something new or been exposed to different ideas about Iran, Iranian people and culture? Have you learned something new about Islam?
(Questions courtesy of the author.)