Structure

The book is structured in five parts, and follow a roughly chronological narrative. Part One is titled “Escape,” with its various thematic considerations anchored by the author’s story of her childhood in Iran, and how she, her mother, and her younger brother escaped persecution by that country’s ultra-conservative Muslim government in the late 1980’s. Part Two is titled “Camp,” and focuses on the author’s experiences while living with her family in a series of temporary homes in Europe while waiting for approval to journey to America.

In Part Three, titled “Asylum,” the author’s focus is on what happened when she and her family finally reached their destination. More specifically, she describes the life that she, her mother, and her mother both found and made for themselves in Oklahoma. Part Four is titled “Assimilation,” its narrative defined by the author’s description of her...