Funny in Farsi

A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America

By: Firoozeh Dumas

Narrated by: Firoozeh Dumas

Length: 5 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

In 1972, when she was seven, Firoozeh Dumas and her family moved from Iran to Southern California, arriving with no firsthand knowledge of this country beyond her father's glowing memories of his graduate school years here.

In a series of deftly drawn scenes Funny in Farsi chronicles the American journey of Dumas' wonderfully engaging family: her engineer father, a sweetly quixotic dreamer who first sought riches on Bowling for Dollars and in Las Vegas; her elegant mother, who never fully mastered English (nor cared to); her uncle, who combated the effects of American fast food with an army of miraculous American weight-loss gadgets; and Firoozeh herself, who as a girl changed her name to Julie, and who encountered a second wave of culture shock when she met and married a Frenchman, becoming part of a one-couple melting pot.

An unforgettable story of identity, discovery, and the power of family love, Funny in Farsi will leave us all laughing without an accent.

©2003 Firoozeh Dumas (P)2004 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

• Audie Award Finalist, Biography/Memoir, 2005
• Thurber Prize Finalist, 2005

"Often hilarious, always interesting....Like the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding, this book describes with humor the intersection and overlapping of two cultures." (The Providence Journal)
"A humorous and introspective chronicle of a life filled with love, of family, country, and heritage." (Jimmy Carter)

A Very Funny Story - Anywhere

Firoozeh Dumas's book, Funny In Farsi, is a hilariously funny story about the author's experiences growing up in the United States. I found this story easy to read and by now it has turned into a regular "fix" for me whenever I travel and/or badly need a reminder that behind any serious situation lies a funny perspective that is begging to be found. A story that has me as the main character trying to find a way to a laugh at himself as a per-cursor to a "Drama Free" humanity - A.K.A. real life.

The main line of this story is based on the Author's migration to the United States along with his family. The Author's story telling skills tells us how one can cross the invisible cultural barriers facing different immigrants in a "Drama free' fashion with the common language of humor and laughter.

Throughout this book, Mrs. Dumas shares with the reader how her relationships with different people on this journey have evolved. At the same time one can see how these people, a teacher, a Father, a Mother, a Pizza loving Uncle, …. have helped her to become a "bridge builder" between different cultures - as opposed to someone which continuously complains about how hard the life of an immigrant can be.

I strongly recommend this book for your entire family as it is a true cross cultural formula for friendship through laughter.

Thank you.

It *IS* funny!

How refreshing to read something funny, sweet, and even educational. Acknowledging their faults, she deeply loves her family, her native country and her adoptive country. The humor is born from love. Very timely here im 2019.

My past experience with authors narrating their own works has been consistently awful but Firoozeh was PERFECT!

Read it!

Funny in English

Heartwarming family-centered memoir. Makes you wish you were friends with the author and her family!

Love this book!

As a first generation immigrant, I can relate to every bit of story she tells.

Cute

A cute, funny, easy listening read.
I enjoyed it— they sound like a super fun family!!

Vignettes from a witty and observant person

There is so much good to say to say about this collection of vignettes by Firoozeh Dumas. She was born in Iran and eventually immigrated to the US as a child. She is a quick witted observer who calls it like she sees it without ever being mean. The afterword was a great idea and I appreciated the insight into how her family reacted to her memoir.

She did a great narrating her own story. My only reason for giving her 4 stars was for the audio quality - not BAD, just not as good as some others.

Light and funny

As someone who grew up in a culture foreign to my parents, who like Firoozeh had to do her share of translating, I thoroughly enjoyed these stories. Plus, now I know the proper pronunciation of Iran!

Perfect book

I loved it so much. The author is honest, sweet, and hilarious. She’s an amazing storyteller like her dad. The authenticity of the book is so wonderful and therapeutic.

Loved it!! highly recommended

Such a funny book and so well presented. I really enjoyed it and recommend it to everyone

Engaging and enjoyable

I was preoccupied with some sad news when I began the book. I just finished it, and the humor of the author’s every-day life is infectious. The good kind of infectious.