Review: The Twisted Path Home

The Twisted Path Home by Fae Bidgoli

Publication Date: June, 2010
Publisher: Dog Ear Publishing
Format: Paperback, 248 pp
Genre: Fiction
ISBN-13: 9781608445172
ISBN: 1608445178

(Received for review from Phenix & Phenix Publicity)

Synopsis (courtesy of Barnes & Noble):

It is 1991. Arezoo, an Iranian woman is living in Berkley, California with her second husband, Robert, and working as a university professor. Recurring, terrifying dreams of eminent death lead her into therapy with a widely respected psychotherapist. As her memories unfold during therapy sessions, she flashes back to painful memories of her first marriage to Afshin, an Iranian man.

Still, the dreams continue, prompting Arezoo to try hypnosis. Arezoo's life takes an unexpected turn under hypnosis as she begins to channel the dramatic life story of Sogand, a woman who lived in a village in Persia (now Iran) in the late 1800's.

The seemingly inexplicable experience, and her sudden, intimate knowledge of Sogand's identity leads Arezoo back to Iran after many years in America. Through this woman's history Arezoo makes some life changing discoveries - key to both her past and her ex-husbands tortured, secret life.

Fae Bidgoli , author of The Cracked Pomegranate, once again displays her intimate understanding of the power of redemption. In The Twisted Path Home, Fae shows how by releasing judgment and fear, and releasing generational, cultural, and self-abuse, we find our purpose in life and become joy.

Fae's beliefs reflect her opposition to the inequality between men and women that she saw in her native Iran. She left Iran in 1978 as a young adult, hoping to find in the United States the freedoms she longed for throughout childhood and adolescence. In Iran, writing was an outlet for those longings. In the United States, she is free to follow her dreams and write her stories.

Thoughts:

I have always been interested in different cultures, religions, traditions and customs. Fae Bidgoli's book, The Twisted Path Home, indulged my curiosity into Iranian heritage and beliefs. Her book gives off a sense of authenticity as the reader is acutely aware that the events portrayed in her novel, could have been the circumstances of her own life.

The Twisted Path Home follows the story of Arezoo, an Iranian woman who is fighting to overcome her past. Nightmares plague her along with a sense of impending doom and fear for her life. Turning to psychotherapy and hypnosis, Arezoo experiences something unusual, as she begins to channel the life of a young Islamic girl, named Sogand who is forced into a child marriage at the age of twelve, in Persia during the 1800's. Arezoo begins to see stark parallels between Sogand's life and her own. She begins to release the pain she has held in since her first devastating marriage and finds new life and hope for a better future.

It always amazing to me, how strong women can be. To be raised in such an environment to me, seems almost impossible. Where young girls are forced into a marriage at a young age, where domestic abuse is the norm and stoning is a common place happening. The author, Fae Bidgoli shows the reader a deep sense of the human atrocities that people and cultures are capable of. This book is a reminder to women that may not face the harsh reality that Sogand did, but who still find themselves in danger, that there is hope. I liked the book very much and I found it very interesting. The descriptions of the customs and traditions from Iran's past was very engaging and kept me reading.

The Twisted Path Home is available NOW from your favorite bookseller.

I am giving this one 4 out of 5 apples from my book bag!