Description

Abbé, 62 years old, a successful Frankfurt businessman and cosmopolitan, sees himself as German. His Iranian roots are buried. One day, when a distant relative who had just arrived from Iran visits him, his life is thrown into disarray. The visitor is inscrutable, entangled in contradictions and stumbles from one emergency to the next. Soon Abbe's life only revolves around his relative's problems. Only gradually does the young man's true story become clear to him and he begins to see him and himself through different eyes.

About Nassir Djafari:

 This is mature literature very bestn Senses, excellent.

- Ulrich Noller, WDR on “One week, one life”

The Frankfurt development aid entrepreneur Abbas's job takes him to many parts of the world. His life takes place in a wealthy middle-class environment, his German is perfect, but he speaks his native Persian much worse. The only connection to his origins is his increasingly demented father, whom he visits every week in the nursing home. Then an unknown cousin shows up at his house, who really messes up his life. The young man appears, then disappears again without a trace, telling a new story each time. Abbas wants to keep the unwelcome visitor away from his well-ordered life, but becomes increasingly entangled in his fate. Saving him, despite all the contradictions, becomes his obsession, to which he subordinates everything else. Abbas gradually becomes aware of the unbearable situation that forces young Iranians to leave their homeland and start anew abroad.

From the first page it is a breathlessly exciting novel that deals with the situation in Iran, escape, exile and, last but not least, the power of family ties.

 

- Daniela Neuenfeld-Zvolsky

(a review from ekz library service)

Abbé and Reza: a cosmopolitan entrepreneur with networks in South Africa, Latin America and Asia and a 30-year-old refugee from Iran who shows up in Frankfurt out of the blue with his wife and baby and reveals himself to Abbé as his great cousin The Great Cousin. Abbé is initially at a loss. He doesn't know how to reconcile his busy everyday life, his father's visits to the retirement home and the rare free time with his wife, with the new situation. Because he has long since lost his Iranian roots and his Persian native language. In the person of Reza, he is confronted with an Iran that is no longer the land of the Ayatollahs from which his father once fled. From Reza's stories he learns that the mullahs' dictatorship is perhaps worse because it leaves no economic prospects and regulates love even in the most private areas: holding hands in public is forbidden. But all of this is only brought up hesitantly because Reza keeps quiet about himself and is having a really hard time in Germany, without a passport or driving license, without language skills or a job.

Djafari, who was born in Iran in 1952 and came to Germany at the age of five, tells in a nuanced, exciting and highly topical way how two very different Persians deal with their origins and identity in the host country. The action takes place during the refugee crisis, when the welcoming culture in many places turned into criticism. At the same time, the book is a commitment to democracy and freedom. Based on these basic values, the contradictions that arise between the young asylum family and the assimilated entrepreneur cannot be resolved, but can be presented in a concise and scene-accurate manner. An important, captivating book about the problems of arrival and the stories of coming here.

- Michael Brown
published in bv. Borromäusverein e.V.

Click here for the full review

A man who has lost contact with his Iranian roots meets a distant relative while fleeing to Germany in the midst of the 2015 refugee crisis. Nassir Djafari's third novel "The Grand Cousin" is as exciting as it is timely.

- Gerrit Wustmann at Qantara.de

A look at different living conditions, different cultures. The circumstances in Iran with the prospects for young people there become understandable. Likewise the escape and the difficulties in putting down roots. It's also about love, understanding, family and culture. Persian literature and poetry in particular shine through these lines. An unforgettable and global novel that dissolves many boundaries.

– Hauke ​​Harder, reading treasure

I read through this visually rather inconspicuous book in two days. An emotional family story against a current political and social backdrop, a great, sensitive narrative language, characters that couldn't be warmer. What more does a good novel need?

Abbas lives with his wife Maria in Frankfurt. He is an extremely successful entrepreneur with international clients. His parents once came to Germany from Iran and raised their children according to German standards; Abbas speaks Persian more poorly than well. When his cousin from Iran asks him to look after his 30-year-old son, who will soon be coming to Germany, this initially gets lost in the general business hustle and bustle - until Reza shows up at the door just a few days later. Without a job, without knowledge of German and asking for support.

While Abbas now demands results from the young man in “typical German fashion” in return for his (monetary) support – German course, job, dealings with the authorities – Reza answers these demands in his own way, remaining non-committal and daring. Abbas quickly suspects that the young man is not being completely honest with him, that there are unspoken secrets.

Nassir Djafari has wrapped a tragic life story into a wonderful story of family, (cultural) origins and cohesion. His writing style is quite fast-paced, which also fits the topic. And yet every single figure is drawn finely and in detail. The political and social situation in Iran, oppression, terror and surveillance, as well as Reza's tense situation, are part of the story, but do not dominate it. Rather, it is the interpersonal moments and encounters that come into play, quiet moments with the father, conversations in the Persian shop. And so for me personally, this book is primarily a novel about family ties and the roots that shape and connect us as people.

 

- Kerstin Elferink

Click here for the full review

It is the interpersonal moments that Djafari knows how to draw with tender, fine lines.
[...] In Djafari's story, cultures collide, corruption in developing countries, everyday and future problems in Iran, the refugee crisis in Germany and in the middle of it all, two people who have to communicate [...]
An interesting, exciting, twist-filled novel that Djafari tells in his usual quiet tones.

- Quotes from @ein.lesewesen

An interview with Nassir Djafari is now available on WDR. Take a listen!

On September 27th there was a reading with Nassir Djafari at Sujet Verlag. Here are a few insights from the reading: