FUNNY IN FARSI : Author in L.A.

By:Mina Silverstone

"A humorous and introspective chronicle of a life filled with love--of
family, country, and heritage."-Jimmy Carter

There are stories...and then there are stories. When I picked up "Funny in
Farsi...A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America," I didn't think I'd stay
up all night to read it in one sitting--never mind laugh out loud at every
page!

Dumas recounts tales of her childhood from 1972, when she moved to
California from Abadan, to her present day life as a wife of a Frenchman,
whose mother-in-law refuses to acknowledge their union--because Firoozeh
Dumas is Iranian. Dumas has a magical talent for transforming even the most
embarrassing tales into hilarious anecdotes about her life. From her first
day of school accompanied by her mother inside the classroom, to my favorite
story--going to summer camp and not taking a shower for two weeks!

In 1976 Dumas thought she'd go "All American" and go to camp for the summer,
just like all American kids do. At $500 a pop for two weeks, Dumas had never
before been away from her parents, but was compelled to live the "camp"
experience. Her father took her to shop for supplies at Montgomery Ward--in
the clearance section--and needless to say, all the incorrect items
purchased! Having bought a sleeping bag that was far too big for one person,
Dumas was forced to pack the sleeping bag in a hefty trash bag, as it was
too huge to fit into anything else. Upon arriving at the bus stop to leave
for camp, she soon learnt that all the other kids (except for her) had
signed up for the trip with a friend, and everyone was staring at her "trash
bag luggage". But there were more surprises in store for Dumas . . . one
being that the bathroom at camp had no door, "I decided then and there not
to bathe," she recalls. "Since I wasn't going to bathe, I decided to
minimize getting dirty by participating only in arts and crafts. I skipped
the horse-back riding, the overnight campout, the archery lessons, the hikes
to the Indian grounds, and basically every activity outlined in the camp
brochure. Every morning I showed up at the macrame station ready to make
another keychain." She made a total of twelve keychains during her two week
stay there.

>From her first-time ill-fated neighborhood jobs babysitting and
plant-sitting, to the massacre of her name (the kids at school called
Firoozeh "Ferocious!" Her dad suggested she change her name to "Fifi." "Had
I had a special affinity for French poodles or been considering a career in
prostitution, I would've gone with that one!" she quips), to coping with the
growing anti-Iranian sentiment that started brewing in this country in the
late 1970's, Dumas retells her stories with a compassion that is infused
with humor. But the book also has tremendous substance, as Dumas writes
about her family with love--especially her father, Kazem-- a former employee
of the National Iranian Oil Company, who is the epitome of kindness, and
teaches her lessons of love and forgiveness. Those lessons of generosity and
humanity serve her well through life's ups and downs, and she is able to
look back on even the toughest of circumstances with side-splitting humor.
Her father has a tenderness about him, because he is so idealistic in the
way He views the world. His love for his family, his motherland, and his new
home here in America, make even the most difficult of obstacles of modern
day American living easy to overcome by the family. As her father once tells
her when she questions why he has picked up the "bad" habit of eating the
no-no meat, ham, "It's not what we eat or don't eat that makes us good
people; it's how we treat one another. As you grow older you will find that
people of every religion think they're the best, but that's not true . . .
You have to look and see what's in their hearts. That's the only thing that
matters, and that's the only detail God cares about." .

Dumas, now married with two small children of her own, set out to chronicle
her memories for her kids to read when they grow up. She never imagined she
would get a publishing deal with Random House and that her book would
receive the type of critical acclaim it has. For those looking for women's
struggle during the Iranian Revolution or political analysis of the crisis,
they wont find it here. "This is a book about humanity--not about politics"
says Dumas. "In fact, I think I am the first Iranian voice of my generation
to write about my experiences growing up and not focus on the political
situation." Before joining Villard--a division of Random House, Dumas said
that an agent turned her book down because "It didn't focus on Iranian
women's struggle for rights during the Islamic Revolution. I told her that
that is not my story and I can only write about what I know from my own
experiences." And that is precisely where she has found her voice, sharing
stories from our displaced generation by letting people know that they are
not alone out there, and most importantly, the key to survival is laughter
and kindness--in any culture.