![]() ![]() They are our heritage and what makes us who we are, perhaps even more than our DNA. Memories carry emotion, but they are important, and the stories tell us who and what we are. He tells a lot of stories about his family, drawing on memories and family stories, flawed and incomplete though they are, and perhaps this is part of why it resonates: we all have incomplete memories, or memories that we share with others-family members or friends-that are slightly different, slightly divergent, or just completely different. It is full of insightful observations, told gently in the voice of a young teenager trying to come to grips with who he is, where he is from, and why life is not what it was supposed to be. It’s Young Adult, and partway through my 11-year-old noted that she was likely to read it for a school book club, as well. I don’t know that I would ever have picked it up. Told in snippets, memories, flashbacks, and flashforwards, including ancient history, less ancient history, family history, and mythological, Nayeri tells a warm, funny, and sad story. The elevator pitch for Everything Sad Is Untrue is this: it is the story, told in first person, of middle school-aged Daniel Nayeri, a refugee from Iran, grappling with life in Oklahoma, divorce, and, generally, being different. ![]() ![]() Everything Sad Is Untrue: (a true story) by Daniel Nayeri ![]()
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