

The other is the kind who wants less for others.” He admits that he doesn’t have all the details so details of his story are speculated. Speaking of those uncles, Nayeri dispenses universal wisdom, such as, “One is the kind of villain who wants more for himself. You hear about evil uncles who betrayed his grandmother-another strong Persian woman who had to flee Iran. He takes strands from the rich Persian culture of myths, pulls in strands of his ancestors who he knows through stories, all vividly pulled from his own immigrant child life. Starting at eight-years-old, he stands before his American classmates and tells wild stories that are structured like a French braid. Born as Khosrou, he is now Daniel.Īs the book cover suggests, the story swirls in time like an Oklahoma cyclone with bits of Persian artifacts caught in the swirl. By a series of minor miracles the little family manages to evade Iran’s secret police and get to Italy where they stop at a refugee camp for a couple of years before landing in Oklahoma. E verything Sad is Untrue (Levine Querido 2020) is Daniel Nayeri’s childhood story of fleeing Iran with his mother and sister.
