Summary

The next two chapters are titled “House Arrest” and “The Hospitality of the Dutch” (121, 143). House Arrest begins from Baba’s perspective in June 2009 in Isfahan, as Bahman sits in a jail cell. He thinks about the young woman he had watched the judge deny a divorce. The lawyer brings him to the courtroom and the judge tells him though he thinks his wife is cunning, he has to be fair. While the judge speaks, Bahman’s second wife Fatimeh walks in with his adopted daughter Shirin.

The judge has decided to place Bahman under house arrest, with his wife to watch over him as his relationships are now in question. Bahman’s lawyer gives him a look that says, “Yes you don’t have to point out the absurdity” (126). Fatimeh speaks up and offers to live with Bahman in the house to take...