Imagine an Iranian American ‘Little Women,’ with social media influencers
Book Review
Tehrangeles
By Porochista Khakpour
Pantheon: 320 pages, $28
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Nestled close to UCLA and Holmby Hills, the neighborhood of Tehrangeles (once Little Persia) in Westwood might surprise visitors — but residents have long known that it forms the hub for the largest Iranian diaspora in the world.
And what a hub it is! It’s now known for conspicuous consumption, as in the TV show “Shahs of Sunset.†The Iranians who first bought homes and opened businesses along Westwood Boulevard in the 1960s, followed in the late 1970s by those fleeing Iran after the shah’s deposition, might be amused or shocked or both by the 21st century excesses that are detailed in Porochista Khakpour’s dazzling and slippery new novel, “Tehrangeles,†a tale of one family’s climb from extreme wealth to extreme fame as each of six members grapples with their deepest needs.
The “Shahs of Sunset†stereotype of rich Iranians in Beverly Hills and Westwood wasn’t my family’s reality. But I learned how to expand our community’s representation.
The Milanis are Ali, or Al, the inventor of a wildly popular foodstuff called Pizzabomme, who loves to be mistaken for Italian; his wife, Homa, chronically depressed; and their four daughters. The eldest, Violet, is a successful model whose sweet tooth threatens her livelihood. Next is Roxanna-Vanna, even more successful as a social-media influencer, who seems poised to become a young Lisa Vanderpump. Haylee spends all of her time and energy, considerable amounts of both, on workouts and concocting ever-more-healthy meals. Finally, Mina, barely into her teens, copes with inchoate illnesses and ambiguous gender boundaries. Between them, the millionaire Milanis form a sort of blinding disco ball of late-capitalist endeavors, flaws, fears and even endearing qualities.
If at first that potent mix reminds readers of novels of manners such as Jane Austen’s or Jennifer Egan’s, keep going: The author has a very specific forerunner in mind, one that not only reflected its time and place and characters, but also put the spotlight on female relationships. Haylee even refers to it specifically at one point: “I am Amy, you are Meg, Roxi is Jo, and Mina is, obviously, Beth.†Of course, it’s “Little Women†by Louisa May Alcott, the 1868 story of four sisters and their “Marmee†during the height of the Civil War. While Al Milani isn’t off fighting for the Union, his utter lack of insight into what makes his children tick means he might as well be absent.
Like Alcott’s March sisters, the Milani sisters are all teenagers. Violet is 19, Roxanna-Vanna is 17, Haylee is 15, and Mina 13; as any woman who has lived through these ages knows (let alone any woman who has raised women these ages), each age is distinct. Thus, also like the March sisters, the Milani offspring are both painfully close at some points and nearly estranged at others — especially since their enormous house allows everyone to hide away. Homa takes advantage of this by changing up her daily routine from slumping in one guest bedroom after another.
However, if “Tehrangeles†is a version of “Little Women,†it’s “Little Women†as a 1990s mixtape, in keeping with the author’s personal vibe. Each chapter offers perspective from a single character, even when all of the other Milanis are involved, so that by the time you reach the book’s set piece — a huge, over-the-top party Roxanna-Vanna orchestrates — you understand the family’s origins and motivations, which is no small feat.
All of this narration is set into motion because a group of producers believes the family is ripe for becoming the new Kardashians in a reality show that will give Al and Roxanna all the attention they’ve ever wanted. “Reality TV is all about keeping it really real,†the main producer tells Roxanna-Vanna, and she both thrills to the promise of the limelight and worries that someone will discover her secret (no spoilers here).
Like the Pizzabomme — “the essence of a pizzeria mashed up into some high-concept chaos†— the identities of these characters, and their colleagues and classmates and employers and employees, are combo platters of conflicting ingredients. Just as production on the show seems poised to begin, the global pandemic looms and shakes everyone up, especially Haylee, who spirals into neo-right conspiracy theories. The aged family cat (Persian, natch), Pari, disappears, deeply upsetting Violet and threatening sisterly bonds, as two of them desperately search for Pari and two of them seem not to care, a bit like Mr. Laurence’s piano in Alcott’s novel.
If that comparison stretches things too far, then it’s fine to loosen the corset stays and admit that even if “Tehrangeles†takes inspiration from “Little Women,†it’s no pale imitation. This novel is entirely its own Rube Goldberg machine of ups and downs and ins and outs and arguments and “hugging it out†between four thoroughly modern mademoiselles. In the midst of COVID panic, the family has a videoconference with the reality-TV producers, who tell Roxanna-Vanna that she’s a big hit, “really raw and honest and it’s having big payoffs.â€
She says she was “born for this†and then asks if she’s been too “messy.â€
The answer: “Well, you have, but that’s perfect — we want that. For you. It’s great. Keep it up!â€
They then come up with the idea of having each sister write a kind of essay for the reality confessionals trope, which adds another genre to the mixtape, in which each sister “speaks†in her own voice for a few pages and, in the middle of sharing what she thinks is important (for Roxanna-Vanna, the Hervé Leger bandage dress; for Haylee, the invention of 5G access), reveals her secret motivation. For example, Roxanna-Vanna says that dress “is just everything and everyone has always known it.â€
By the time the party’s over, nothing has changed, or maybe everything has, and Roxanna-Vanna has the last word in the last chapter, a stream of consciousness on the edge of being unreadable that nonetheless deserves to be read because it lights up this sweet, messy, modern disco ball of a book with a glitter bomb of joy.
Bethanne Patrick is a book critic, a podcast host and the author of the memoir “Life B: Overcoming Double Depression.â€
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