For High Plains Public Radio Readers Book Club, I’m Shane Timson in Colby, Kansas
Today we’re talking about the book Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri. This is his story of what it was like coming from Iran to the United States. He does this in a very interesting way. It’s not from point A to point B like most biographies. This is done through a series of stories that are not connected, but yet they are connected.
To me this book sums up life. Every day we have a story. There’s always a story. good or bad. We live in an age where are told to forget the bad and remember the good. This book challenges us to remember everything.
The main reason he wrote this book is because he wanted to remember the parts of this book he’s talking about from when he was a boy. He started to forget things, but he didn’t want to forget things, so he wrote them down. It’s an important part of history for him. This book teaches us not to forget things. Remember all things good and bad.
Everything that happens brings you to the point where you are now. Everything that happens to you changes you and hopefully for the better.
So, there are a lot of interesting stories in here, but we will start with a sad one. And I can understand this. This one ripped at my heartstrings. Mr. Sheep-Sheep. Mr. Sheep-Sheep was Daniel’s favorite toy. He carried him everywhere. It was his best friend. They’re getting ready to leave Iran and they told him they couldn’t take the toy with him because they would cut him open because they would think he’s smuggling drugs. So, he had to leave him behind in a field because in his mind he thought a sheep belongs in a field. Daniel was heartsick when he had to leave him.
But then there’s excitement years later. I think Daniel was a teenager when his dad came to visit him in the US for Iran, and he brought Mr. Sheep-Sheep back. The joy that he had was great, so this was a sad story, but yet a happy story at the same time.
Another interesting story involved the bathroom. In Iran, they go to the bathroom differently than we do here in the United States. In Iran, they have holes in the ground, and you squat over them and then water shoots up to clean you. That’s not how we do it in the states. Daniel tells the story of going to his friend’s house and not knowing what to do because he only went to the bathroom at home. So, he’s standing on the toilet, trying to go to the bathroom and the toilet’s making noise. He’s been in there for a long time. They keep checking on him. Finally he’s panicked. He throws his clothes in the bathtub, and they think he’s taking a shower. He says, “No, I’m cleaning my socks because my foot got wet.” They wonder if the dog might have peed in the bathroom. When Daniel is done, the dog is waiting outside. From then on, whenever Daniel had to go to the bathroom, he would just blame the dog.
This truly is a remarkable book. It’s one of those that changes you. Because by the end of it, you feel you’ve connected with the characters and the characters have connected with you. They have changed you for the better. Because of reading this book, I have learned to live in each moment that I have. Regardless of the moment, live in it because it’s part of life and it’s molding us into who we are.
I’m Shane Timson from Colby, Kansas.
