"All of Khakpour's strengths are on display here: punchy conversation,vivid detail, sharp humor . . Khakpour brings her characters vividly to life; their flaws and feints at intimacy feel poignantly real, and their journeys generate real suspense. . .they are also imbued with a
genuine humanity that wins our affection."
-The New York Times Book Review ///
"Khakpour explores ethnicity, nationalism, and post-9/11 fear—well-worn themes that are far less compelling than the exuberant originality of her style. The characters burst from the page in fiery exchanges, while their chaotic inner lives are conveyed with witty precision. . .Khakpour’s comic sense of familial tensions—particularly father-son enmity—is infectious. . ."
--The New Yorker ///
“Khakpour builds her luminously intelligent debut around the travails of an Iranian-American family caught in the feverish and paranoid currents immediately after 9/11. . . . Khakpour is an elegant writer, and she imparts a perfect sense of the ironies of being Persian in America.”
—Publishers Weekly ///
"Poignant and amusing . . . shows ways that odd pieces of the past govern our present lives more than we would like."
-San Francisco Chronicle ///
"Porochista Khakpour's debut novel signals the arrival of a dazzling stylist. Sons and Other Flammable Objects trumps fashionable memoirs of Iran with a jazzy fictional narrative."
-The Daily Star ///
"Khakpour's frequently hilarious debut novel focuses on a disintegrating Iranian family in post–September 11 America, but dodges the pitfalls that setup could entail. Her characters are victims not of xenophobia or ignorance but of their own weaknesses, and she deftly avoids disaster-bred pathos or epiphanies. . Full-tilt and
engrossing."
-TimeOut Chicago ///
"Entirely impressive . . it also gallops over fresh ground in its examination of personal and political trauma in the 'age of terrorism.' . . a smart and sensitive novel."
-Radar magazine ///
"Sometimes comic and sometimes poignant . . . Khakpour displays a barbed, appealing sensibility and a trenchant wit."
-Kirkus Reviews ///
“While there is no shortage of fiction that deals with the subjects of racial and cultural identity, Khakpour’s first novel refuses to oversimplify these issues fro the sake of a smoother narrative. An incredibly complex book, it acknowledges that navigating the demands of multiple cultures is anything but a tidy process.”
—Library Journal ///
"Sons and Other Flammable Objects is the first great Iranian-American novel, breathless and overwhelmingly good."
-parsarts.com ///
“Sons and Other Flammable Objects is one of those rare novels that makes you laugh and at the same time breaks your heart. It is a brilliant, insightful, and original portrait of an Iranian-American family, mother, father, son, all struggling, often crazily, to belong, to find meaning in their new home in America, to assert their identities. All the characters are memorable, lingering with you long after you finish the last page.”
—Nahid Rachlin ///
“Like the young Philip Roth, Porochista Khakpour uses lashing, dark humor tinged with deep melancholy to paint a wonderfully twisted portrait of family life. Xerxes Adam, the ‘son’ of the title, is a protagonist for our times: repulsed by his father and alienated from his motherland, he hides from his origins in the ashes of post-9/11 New York. This is a novel of searing intelligence.”
—Danzy Senna ///
“Hypnotic, kaleidoscopic, gorgeous and mad, this novel is a brilliant and astonishing debut. And the story it tells is the best kind of story—where comedy and tragedy weave together mysteriously and yet organically, like a shifting in the play of light, like life itself.”
—Jonathan Ames ///
“Sons and Other Flammable Objects is a marvelous novel: witty, wise, continually surprising, continually inventive, exuberant, heartbreaking. It resists the easy categories of immigrant lit, family saga, first novel—because it is, first and foremost, a delightful, generous work of literary art.”
—Alice McDermott ///
"Khakpour's tale is lyrical and wise and funny, in a way that sometimes reminded me of the terrific British novelist Zadie Smith."
-Kurt Andersen, Studio 360 (NPR) ///
"Reading [Khakpour's] work is like going joyriding down a rocky mountainside. She splits words open and looks for their multiplicity of meanings. She translates words and customs from the Farsi with both eerie and hilarious effects. It’s thrilling and demanding work, but Khakpour makes it all worth it"
-Sycamore Review ///
Who I'd like to meet:
Sons and Other Flammable Objects's Friend Space (Top 8)
I just viewed many of your profiles on myspace, and loved them!
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Winners will be voted for by the public to take home cash prizes plus recognition. Amuso is led by entertainment industry veterans from EMI Records and Sony so you have a real chance to get discovered.
Thank you very much for adding me. I read the wonderful article in the L.A. Times. I intend to read SONS AND OTHER FLAMMABLE OBJECTS this Winter. Rock on. Make Los Angeles proud!!!
