Views and Mechanics Publisher's Note Memories of the Body Broken Review of Ambition Is Not a Dirty Word Review of The Blood of Flowers Review of The Girl Who Stopped Swimming Review of The Poet Laureate of People Who Hate Poetry Creative Nonfiction My Boo Radley By Rebecca Ward A Walk in the Park By Madonna Dries Christensen Poetry Hearts and Diamonds By Andrena Zawinski It Was Then I Kissed Her By Andrena Zawinski In By Andrena Zawinski Death of Word By Tony Brown Fiction Being Caught Up With My Ego By David Landrum A Voice In My Head Screamed By J. A. Tyler About the Contributors © 2008, River Walk Journal and respective authors and artists. All rights reserved. Do not use or reproduce without permission. River Walk Journal, Inc. Board of Directors Chairman - Elizabeth Ross Vice Chairman - Joseph Koch Secretary/Treasurer - Geri Stock-Ross Editorial Director - Patti Kurtz, DA Literacy Director - Kenneth Weiss, Ed.D Policy Director - PA State Rep. Jess Stairs Advisory Board Chairman - Patti Kurtz, DA Asst. Chairman - Dan Lachenman, PhD Samuel Hazo Christopher Leland Edwin Yoder Joseph Bathanti Journal Staff Publisher - Elizabeth Ross Editor-In-Chief - Joseph Koch Senior Editor - Patti Kurtz Editor - Elizabeth Murray Copyeditor - Kathy Skaggs Publicity Director (PA) - Geri Stock-Ross For information about submissions, visit http://www.riverwalkjournal.org/subs.html. Questions about promotions, subscribers' services, and advertising should be sent to publisher@riverwalkjournal.org. River Walk Journal, Inc. is a non-profit corporation run entirely by volunteers. For information about volunteer opportunities and internships, visit VolunteerMatch. |
Review of The Blood of Flowers By Anita Amirrezvani ISBN 10: 0-316-06576-5 In today’s world, any opportunity to learn more about the life and culture of the Middle East is valuable. Anita Amirrezvani offers readers a glimpse into seventeenth century Persia that is relevant because of the nature of society in that part of the world today. The Blood of Flowers follows an unnamed narrator on her path from a small village, to the home of her master rug-maker uncle in Isfahan and beyond. The flowery prose introduces readers to a world where words hold great weight; their meanings (literal and hidden) are written and spoken power. The fact that this is a tale in first-person with a nameless narrator speaks volumes in itself. Amirrezvani’s heroine is from the start cursed, caught under a bad luck star. With the death of her father, her fate is quickly changed from that of village girl assumed to be married within a year, to a dependent and servant in the home of her uncle. Her love of rug weaving is eventually encouraged by her master rug weaver uncle, which in turns get her into trouble and saves her and her mother from abject poverty. Because she has no dowry, her family insists that she should enter into a temporary Sigheh with a rich horse trader. This relationship teaches her about how to please a man - and herself - but also spells disaster, when her friend becomes her temporary husband’s wife. The Blood of Flowers is a thought-provoking journey into the lifestyle of women that is the root of women’s roles in modern day Islam. It is a useful resource for classrooms in Gender/Women’s Studies, Comparative Religions, Persian History, Psychology, and Sociology. Amirrezvani has given readers a great gift of beautiful prose with great historic relevance. |