Een jong gezin vlucht, als eind jaren zeventig geestelijk leider Khomeini aan de macht komt, uit Iran naar Duitsland en moet daar een nieuw bestaan opbouwen ( )

[Nachts ist es leise in Teheran] consists of four parts, each concentrating on a different member of one family, and each ten years apart. The story starts with Behsad, who is a communist revolutionist in 1979 Teheran, but whose hopes and ambitions are shattered. In the next part, told from his wife Nahid's perspective in 1989, the reader learns that the couple had to leave Iran and start a new life in Western Germany, struggling to come to terms with the cold language, the strange neighbors, the memories that hurt so much. Fast forward to 1999, there are reforms and new hopes in Iran, and through Laleh's (the daughter's) eyes the reader experience's her first visit back to Iran after she had to flee when she was just four years old. There is a wild mix of emotions, of feeling both like belonging while still being an outsider. Clashing expectations make this visit difficult, as well as questions about her own identity. And in 2009, there is Laleh's brother Mo who has only ever known Germany while still being read as non-German by most of the people he meets. He does not feel a connection to Iran until he is suddenly glued to his screen, watching YouTube streams and Facebook posts of the Green Revolution. When he sees his fellow students in Germany protesting against tuition fees and feeling smug about it, he cannot help but feel estranged from them, knowing that his relatives in Iran risk all they have for their protests, as did his parents in the 1970s.

The author includes a lot of aspects in this novel, she touches upon many subjects. The structure of four decades and four characters enables this, but it is also restricting because it means that some points of view are excluded. I would have liked to know more about how Behsad and Nahid felt in the end of the story, but this does not play a big role anymore in the end. While all characters are strong, Nahid was my favourite and I would have liked to learn more about her. I feel like I am craving more of a conclusion, but maybe that is not the point of the novel.

In the end, there is another short chapter, told from the youngest sister, Tara, who was born in Germany. There is no given year, but it is simply called an epilogue. Tara and her niece - the third generation of the family - return from holiday and learn that there has been a new revolution that has finally succeeded, and the novel ends in euphoria. Thinking about the current situation in Iran, this scene hit deep. It is a utopia, as this chapter must take place around 2030. I have no words except that I hope that it will become true, as soon as possible. ( )

1979 muss der Kommunist Behsad erleben, wie die iranische Revolution von islamischen Kräften instrumentalisiert wird und letztlich in der Machtübernahme Ajatollah Chomeinis gipfelt. Behsad flüchtet mit seiner Gattin nach Deutschland.

"Nachts ist es leise in Teheran" schildert in Zehnjahresschritten jeweils aus der Ich-Perspektive einzelner Mitglieder der deutsch-iranischen Familie die nachfolgenden Ereignisse. Bazyar verknüpft dabei Privates mit den historischen Entwicklungen im Iran. Dabei gelingen ihr interessante Einblicke in eine durch das Exil zerissene Familie und die schwierige Identitätsfindung ihrer Mitglieder am Schnittpunkt zwischen saekularer Weltanschauung und Islam, zwischen Orient und Okzident, zwischen Kommunismus, westlichem Pluralismus und islamischer Republik.

Trotz interessantem Konzept ist Bazyars autobiographisch beeinflusster Roman nicht durchgehend überzeugend. Vieles bleibt nur angedeutet oder fehlt zur Gänze. Einige Gedankengänge bleiben undeutlich und verworren und das strikte Festhalten am Zehnjahres-Rhytmus trägt dazu bei, das einiges, was historisch wichtig wäre oder zum besseren Verständnis der Charaktere beitragen würde, untergeht. ( )