Last Updated on June 19, 2019, by eNotes Editorial. Word Count: 151

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This warm and touching story is about an Iranian family who moves to the USA when their daughter, Firoozeh Dumas, is seven. The autobiography describes itself as "a memoir of growing up Iranian in America," and that provides a pretty succinct summary.

Firoozeh's father is passionate about the American dream and will do anything for his family to get to experience this, despite the fact that his wife has a hard time learning English. Other members of the family soon follow Firoozeh, her parents, and her siblings to Southern California.

Over the course of many amusing anecdotes, we are introduced to American traditions from an outsider's perspective.

As if she hadn't experienced enough cultural assimilation in her life, Firoozeh ends up marrying a Frenchman.

Ultimately, this book is about the changing face of one's identity, the bonds of love shared by family members, and how culture shapes everything in our lives.

Last Updated on June 19, 2019, by eNotes Editorial. Word Count: 138

Funny in Farsi tells the story of Firoozeh Dumas, an Iranian woman who grows up in California with her father, Kazem; her mother, Nazireh; and her brothers. Her father works as an engineer employed through an Iranian oil company; he loves the United States and will do everything with his family to experience American culture. Dumas's mother, while adjusting to life in the US, has trouble learning English.

The memoir traces Dumas's efforts in assimilating to American culture, going through school, becoming proficient in English, dealing with the effect of her father losing his job after the Iranian revolution in the 1970s, learning to balance her Iranian heritage, and eventually marrying a man who is not Iranian. The novel as a whole touches upon themes such as immigration, assimilation, family, prejudice, and the role of women in society.