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Laughing Without an Accent: Adventures of an Iranian American, at Home and Abroad | 
 enlarge | Author: Firoozeh Dumas
Publisher: Villard
Category: Book
List Price: $22.00
Buy New: $7.45
You Save: $14.55 (66%)
New (26) Used (5) from $6.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 55025
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 240
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.5 x 1.1
ISBN: 0345499565
Dewey Decimal Number: 979.4900491550092
EAN: 9780345499561
ASIN: 0345499565
Publication Date: April 29, 2008 (New: Last 30 Days)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new hardcover
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Product Description
In the bestselling memoir Funny in Farsi, Firoozeh Dumas recounted her adventures growing up Iranian American in Southern California. Now she again mines her rich Persian heritage in Laughing Without an Accent, sharing stories both tender and humorous on being a citizen of the world, on her well-meaning family, and on amusing cultural conundrums, all told with insights into the universality of the human condition. (Hint: It may have to do with brushing and flossing daily.)
With dry wit and a bold spirit, Dumas puts her own unique mark on the themes of family, community, and tradition. She braves the uncommon palate of her French-born husband and learns the nuances of having her book translated for Persian audiences (the censors edit out all references to ham). And along the way, she reconciles her beloved Iranian customs with her Western ideals.
Explaining crossover cultural food fare, Dumas says, “The weirdest American culinary marriage is yams with melted marshmallows. I don’t know who thought of this Thanksgiving tradition, but I’m guessing a hyperactive, toothless three-year-old.” On Iranian wedding anniversaries: “It just initially seemed odd to celebrate the day that ‘our families decided we should marry even though I had never met you, and frankly, it’s not working out so well.’” On trying to fit in with her American peers: “At the time, my father drove a Buick LeSabre, a fancy French word meaning ‘OPEC thanks you.’”
Dumas also documents her first year as a new mother, the familial chaos that ensues after she removes the television set from the house, the experience of taking fifty-one family members on a birthday cruise to Alaska, and a road trip to Iowa with an American once held hostage in Iran.
Droll, moving, and relevant, Laughing Without an Accent shows how our differences can unite us–and provides indelible proof that Firoozeh Dumas is a humorist of the highest order.
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| Customer Reviews:
 I love a good surprise May 9, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Got this for my wife, peeked at it, and was hooked. Dumas' family is MY family, only from somewhere else. I have uncles and aunts that are loopy (but whom I love), and sisters that I turn to when my parents do something crazy. No, there's no rocket science here - that we all tend to drive each other to distraction occasionally, and often in ways that are funny in retrospect, but a book doesn't have to be rocket science to have value and be something good and worthwhile. I was surprised by how much this book moved me, and that is rare. I liked it so much I contacted the author for an interview in The Blotter Magazine (www.blotterrag.com).
 Laughing withou an accent: Advantures of an Iranian-American, at home and abroad May 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I just finished it. Like the Funny in Farsi it is a great book. It makes you laugh and cry at the same time. I think it should be used as a resource book about Iran at schools and colleges.
Thank you Ms. Dumas and keep up the good work.
Another great book by Firoozeh Dumas May 6, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
If you liked Funny in Farsi, then you will love this book.
Another collection of short stories with insightful and funny observations.
My favorite is the last chapter, where she tells the story of where she met one of the people that was taken hostage in the US embassy in Tehran years ago.
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