Dorit Rabinyan Criticism
Dorit Rabinyan, an Israeli journalist and poet, made her literary debut with the novel Persian Brides at the young age of 23. Set in a Jewish community within a Persian town at the turn of the 20th century, the novel vividly portrays the lives of two young cousins, Flora and Nazie. Fifteen-year-old Flora, pregnant and abandoned by her husband, contrasts with her cousin Nazie, who dreams of marrying Flora’s brother. The narrative explores the harsh realities faced by married women in the village, highlighting themes of longing, tradition, and societal roles.
Critics have praised Rabinyan for her detailed and colorful portrayal of Jewish life, as observed in Persian Brides. Her prose, rich in authentic detail, brings to life the vibrant yet challenging world of her characters, weaving elements of fairy tale into descriptions of everyday life. This has been noted by critics such as Nancy Pearl. Although some, like Merle Rubin, critique the novel’s lack of plot, others, including Michael Lowenthal, commend Rabinyan’s authentic storytelling and her ability to evoke a sense of place and tradition, making Persian Brides a compelling read for those interested in rich cultural narratives.
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Persian Brides
(summary)
In the following review, the critic praises Rabinyan for his colorful portrayal of Jewish life in a turn-of-the-century Persian village in Persian Brides. This raucous and colorful first novel by Rabinyan, an Israeli journalist and playwright, convincingly re-creates the complex texture of life in the Jewish quarter of a Persian village at the beginning of the 20th century. The major characters, 15-year-old Flora (who's pregnant, and abandoned) and her younger cousin Nazie (who longs for Flora's brother, to whom she was promised at birth) mature quickly as members of a vigorous subculture of women hardened by their unfair share of the burdens of the world and their combative relationships with men and 'tradition.' Rabinyan's portrait of their 'almond tree alley,' often reminiscent of Sholom Aleichem, is distinguished by knowledgeable descriptions of the rituals of birth and burial and peopled with such memorable supporting characters as a prostitute rumored to be the lover of a village demon. A very assured and entertaining debut performance.
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Persian Brides
(summary)
In the following review, Abramowitz lauds Rabinyan's storytelling in Persian Brides, describing the lives of two Jewish girls in a small Persian village at the beginning of the century. The story focuses on fifteen-year-old Flora, who is pregnant and abandoned by her husband, and her eleven-year-old cousin Nasie, who dreams of marrying Flora's brother. The narrative features vivid descriptions of cruelty and sensuality intertwined with everyday life, showcasing superb storytelling.
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Persian Brides
(summary)
In the following review, the critic asserts that in Persian Brides, "Rabinyan's brisk, fetching prose expertly summons a long-vanished land and renders it dazzling and delicious." The review describes the 19th-century Jewish clan, the Ratoryans, and highlights the vivid depiction of their lives in a traditional Persian village, focusing on characters like Flora and her cousin Nazie.
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Persian Brides
(summary)
In the following review, the critic praises Rabinyan's mixing of elements of a fairy tale with facts about Jewish life in Persia in Persian Brides. First novelist Rabinyan's earthy and sensual fairy tale, Persian Brides, is filled with stories of love affairs, curses, child brides, evil husbands, marriages, demons, violence, and childbirth. At the turn of the century in the Jewish quarter of Omerijan, a small Persian town, 15-year-old Flora Ratoyan, hugely pregnant and deserted by her cloth-merchant husband, is comforted by her orphaned cousin, Nazie. At age 11, Nazie herself is eagerly awaiting her own wedding to Flora's brother, Moussa. Over the course of three days in the lives of the cousins, Rabinyan introduces a colorful pageant of other inhabitants of the village. These include Miriam Hanoun, Flora's mother, who had to appease the cats of the village in order to have her babies live more than a few days. Rabinyan mixes these fairy tale elements with information about local wedding ceremonies, food, childbirth, and the sorry and constrained role of women and female children in a society far away from ours in both time and place.
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Migration That Leads to Self-Discovery
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In the following excerpt, Rubin complains of the lack of plot in Rabinyan's Persian Brides, and asserts that Rabinyan's focus is on colorful descriptions instead of the narrative.
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The Family Honor
(summary)
In the following review, Lowenthal, an American author, praises Rabinyan's authentic detail and rich prose in Persian Brides. He describes the societal norms surrounding women's sexual intimacies in a turn-of-the-century Persian Jewish community, contrasting the experiences of two young women, Flora and Nazie, with the harsh realities they face as wives and mothers.