Reza

Reza is one of the three main protagonists of the novel, and the novel begins with his perspective. Reza is the brother to Tara, son to Mina, Step-son to Abbas, and Step-brother to Saadi. Reza, like the other two main characters, has his own intersectional identities that make his perspective complex. He was originally born in Tehran, Iran and fled during the revolution with his mother and sister to Toronto. His father died in the revolution, and his mother remarried, moving the family to New York City to move in with Saadi and Abbas, while Tara supposedly stays behind in Canada to attend college.

The novel begins with Reza knowing he is homosexual but not able to be out with his sexuality out of anxiety about AIDS, as well as fear of disrupting his mother’s life and new marriage. Unlike Art, however, his parents are generally accepting...