Lili and Goli have argued endlessly about where their mother, Bibijan,
should live since the Iranian Revolution. They disagree about her
finances too, which remain blocked as long as she insists on waiting for
her son--still missing but not presumed dead yet--to return from the
Iran-Iraq war. But once they begin to "share" the old woman, sending her
back and forth between Paris and Los Angeles, they start asking
themselves where the money might be coming from. Only their Persian
half-sister in Iran and the Westernized granddaughter of the family have
the courage to face up to the answers, and only when Bibijan finally
relinquishes the past can she remember the truth.
A story mirrored in fragmented lives, Us&Them explores the ludicrous
and the tragic, the venal and the generous-hearted aspects of Iranian
life away from home. It is a story both familial and familiar in its
generational tensions and misunderstandings, its push and pull of
obligations and expectations. It also highlights how "we" can become
"them" at any moment, for our true exile is alienation from others.
Acclaimed author Bahiyyih Nakhjavani offers a poignant satire about
migration, one of the vital issues of our times.
