Katrina Marty Reviews Fereshteh Molavi's Thirty Shadow Birds

Born in Tehran in 1953, Fereshteh Molavi lived and worked there until 1998 when she immigrated to Canada. She worked and taught at Yale University, University of Toronto, York University, and Seneca College. A fellow at Massey College and a writer-in-residence at George Brown College, Molavi has published many works of fiction and non-fiction in Persian in Iran and Europe. She has been the recipient of awards for novels and translation. Her first book in English, Stories from Tehran, was released in 2018; and her most recent novel, Thirty Shadow Birds, was published by Inanna Publications in 2019. She lives in Toronto.

Thirty Shadow Birds is available for purchase via Inanna Publications.

“Yes. I did have a tale for you … and I do have a tale for me…. Shall I tell it … or shall I not tell it?” Fereshteh Molavi writes in Thirty Shadow Birds. In this compelling novel the narrator, an aspiring architect, weaves her tale about the shadows of her past. Yalda has fled her war-ravaged homeland of Iran to provide a violence-free future for her son, Nader. But moving all the way to Canada can’t keep Yalda’s past from creeping back in. Memories of the deaths of her loved ones seem to find her even halfway across the world. She is painfully aware of all forms of violence and she questions her parenting as she discovers her son wants to be an armed guard.

Yalda’s story flows between Tehran and Toronto, and all the places in between, and it unravels through her dreams, her past, and her present. As she tries to connect with a son who is determined to hate her, her emotional stability shatters: “Pardon, do you know how it feels when your son sees you as a fucking nightmare?” On her quest for nirvana, Yalda reveals the shadows from her past, and her present starts to make more and more sense. She has given everything up for a son who is estranged from her, while also trying to find fulfillment in an unfulfilled life.

This novel provides a glimpse into the lives of refugees whose connection with their homeland has been shattered. Molavi’s powerful prose showcases Yalda’s physical and mental reality by revealing piece by piece how her past still affects her present. The fragments of her memories follow her around Toronto and confront Yalda in her dreams, and makes her question what it means to escape her past. Although Yalda’s story is one that is very difficult, Molavi’s writing is full of humor as well which provides a contrast to the darker content: “If you don’t want to end up in a nuthouse, get over this fucking breakdown, girl! It’s sink or swim, honey.”

Molavi also plays around with language, calling Yalda’s car her “silver horse” while also incorporating some repeating alliteration, “Bang! Bang! Bang!” This language is consistent throughout the book, another example being where she calls her son her “little bird.” This, along with calling her car her “silver horse,” seems to show a gentle side of Yalda and her appreciation for the beauty of the natural world, which very much contrasts violence. Especially violence from man-made objects, like the gun her son gets for being an armed guard. The repeating “Bang! Bang! Bang!” throughout the novel seems to remind her of the violence she has experienced, and the violence she still could potentially experience in her world. Molavi has created a very interesting contrast between nature and violence, where Yalda questions towards the end if they are one and the same. Molavi also does a beautiful job of weaving pieces of the past into Yalda’s dreams and present, creating a very emotional tone. These shards of memories are collected throughout the novel and made whole at the end. 

Yalda transitions from many different family types: going from a child in a two-parent step-sibling household, to an unsuccessful marriage, to becoming a single mom. Through Yalda’s story, Molavi also questions the concept of “family” and explores the variety of different family dynamics. As Yalda’s family transitions into just herself and her son living in a foreign country, the mood of her present is very lonely: “She has no one to go to for solace at the end of a terrible day.” As the story unfolds, the fog surrounding Yalda’s past dissipates enough to connect how the trauma of fleeing her country has affected herself, as well as the relationship with her son. By the end Yalda has grown and is closer to nirvana, but there are many issues left unresolved, which greatly reflects her life and many refugees with similar stories.

Molavi has presented a novel that explores the “day-to-day struggles for immigrants” and others who have had to find a home halfway across the world. Thirty Shadow Birds is a devastating, but impactful story of false escape and broken dreams. 

Katrina Marty is currently an intern at Hayden’s Ferry Review for Spring 2022 and is majoring in Creative Writing with a minor in Business. While also on the ASU swim team, she enjoys exploring Arizona with her family and friends, and will be graduating next spring.