MEMOIRS OF A TRAITOR.

MEMOIRS OF A TRAITOR. - Kindle edition by Val Hristake. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like.
Table of contents

Just as a heads up, this will be following the series itself with a few tweeks and twists of my own; it won't be exactly the same since there will be some added characters. As for the title, if anyone's curious you'll just have to wait and find out what it means XD And most importantly, I hope you guys like it! It was a quiet morning in Konoha.

There were few that began stirring at this time, rising as the sun rose over the horizon. Although most mornings were rather quiet and still, that specific day was a very special day to aspiring warriors and protectors of the village; it was graduation day from the academy. Kids awoke early in order to prepare themselves for the new day and the new stage of their lives, people bustling around and about. A lone woman slowly began to sit up from her bed as a yawn emitted from her lips. She stretched and sighed as the muscles in her body began to breathe, the light from the window at her bedside acting as her alarm clock.

She sat in the still of the morning, letting her mind catch up with her body. A small smile danced across her lips as she nodded to herself. Today's going to be a long day. Standing to her feet, the apartment owner stretched once more. Her untamed, brink pink hair cascaded down her back, covering her plain, white tang top. She didn't bother switching the light on as her feet pattered against her bamboo floors; the sun provided enough light for her to navigate around.

As she walked into her bathroom, the woman immediately turned the knob to her bathtub, letting the shower run. She began peeling her clothes off piece-by-piece, not caring where she scattered them about. It didn't really matter to her, for she would get to cleaning up eventually. As she dropped the last piece of her nightwear, the pink haired woman stepped into the shower, her nimble body relaxing under the showerhead.

Her smile widened as a sigh resonated in the silence. Once she had finished washing up, the young woman quickly stepped out of the shower tub, wrapping a white towel around her figure. She stood at the counter and leaned forward, wiping the steam from her mirror. She stared at her reflection for a moment before she quirked one eyebrow up. Although she was only 24 years old, she was beginning to look haggard; perhaps it was from all the long missions she had been taking on lately. Her hair was a darker shade of pink color, and she had a pale complexion—something like that wouldn't normally bother her, but she burned easily in the sun.

Her pale green eyes were full of life, though she was sure she was beginning to see a bit of crow's feet at the ends of her eyes. Her heart-shaped face fit perfectly on her lean body, although there was always the issue with her forehead; she'd blame her mother for that trait. Glancing down at her arms, the 24 year old flexed as she shook her head, unimpressed.

Having finished examining herself in the mirror, the lone housemate walked into her bedroom and began changing into her clothes, dropping her towel and walking freely in her room. She pulled open her dresser and pulled out a long-sleeved cheongsam. She pulled the zipper down and slipped the dress on, the slits on the sides of the outfit giving her legs plenty of room to move about.

She then pulled on a pair of white, spandex shorts before slipping her standard ninja sandals on. She let out a deep breath and smiled to herself as she walked over to her desk, picking up her leaf village forehead protector. She wrapped it around her forehead and began maneuvering her hair about so that the strap of the protector would keep her hair up and out of her face.

With a prepared nod, the woman pulled on all of her necessary gear before slipping on the standard jounin vest, leaving it unzipped. Immediately, when the young woman began walking down the streets of the Leaf Village, friendly faces appeared, smiles and waves aimed in her direction. She merely waved and nodded in return with a relaxed expression across her face, the villagers greeting her; she knew many people in the village.

There was only a single voice that had caught her attention that morning; there was only one person that mattered in the crowd of people. Himitsu Haruno, eldest daughter of Kizashi and Mebuki Haruno, and Kakashi Hatake, son of the White Fang, had been rather close since she was 12 and he had been 14 almost Although their friendship had started off rather horribly, the pair had grown close over the years.

Every little habit that they hated—every quirk about the person that had bothered them had ended up turning into comforting tick. After all, they had been through so much together; it was inevitable that a friendship would bloom from their disdain for each other. Himitsu watched as her friend approached her with a little orange book in hand. He didn't bother looking up as he walked past her, assuming that she would walk alongside him; she always did.

Himitsu held respect for him though; he only passed those who were ready and those who deserved the title of shinobi. The pair walked in a comfortable silence, Himitsu enjoying the brisk, morning air, and Kakashi enjoying the pages of his book. The man's companion stole a quick glance at him before she spoke up. The man merely shrugged as he flipped the page, his one eye skimming through the words swiftly. There was only one second where his eye wandered from the page and landed on the female ninja, watching her for a moment longer than necessary; she hadn't seemed to notice.

Himitsu chuckled before she shook her head, the pair stopping in front of the Hokage building. They exchanged knowing glances before they walked in sync with one another. From what she understood, each jounin was given a team number, and three students from the academy were to be randomly assigned to them. As far as Himitsu was concerned, as long as she had students that were competent, she would be pleased.

Other jounin were not as compliant as she was; the last thing they wanted to do was waste their time teaching children how to be adults in the nin-world. The list continued for a couple of more minutes before the leader of the village finally motioned for his disciples to come forward. Take a look at Konoha's future.

Suddenly, a blurred image of the academy classroom appeared in the ball, awing a few of the jounin in the room; the hokage was capable of many things. The man looked up and nodded his head as he turned his attention back to the survivor of the last clan. I mean, he isn't the only survivor of his clan.

But talking about Itachi was a rather risky thing to do. She followed the man's gaze as her eyes softened, a small smile crawling upon her face. The elder sister to Sakura smiled sheepishly as Kakashi chuckled quietly. It was a much more peaceful time for the people of Konoha nowadays. So in the back of Himitsu's mind, she was rather happy that the biggest issue in Sakura's life was whether or not a boy reciprocated her feelings.

Her crime, she asserts, was in wanting to slide back her headscarf to feel the sun on a few inches of her hair. That modest desire le At the age of twenty, an Iranian student named Zarah Ghahramani was swept off the streets of Tehran and taken to the notorious Evin prison, where criminals and political dissidents were held side by side in conditions of legendary brutality. That modest desire led her to a political activism fueled by the fearless idealism of the young.

Her parents begged her to be prudent, but even they could not have imagined the horrors she faced in prison. She underwent psychological and physical torture, hanging on to sanity by scratching messages to fellow prisoners on the latrine door. She fought despair by recalling her idyllic childhood in a sprawling and affectionate family that prized tolerance and freedom of thought.

After a show trial, Ghahramani was driven deep into the desert outside Tehran, uncertain if she was to be executed or freed. There she was abandoned to begin the long walk back to reclaim herself. In prose of astonishing dignity and force, Ghahramani recounts the ways in which power seduces and deforms. A richly textured memoir that celebrates a triumph of the individual over the state, "My Life as a Traitor "is an affecting addition to the literature of struggle and dissent.

Zarah Ghahramani was born in Tehran in After her release from prison, she moved to Australia. Robert Hillman is a journalist and novelist who has traveled widely in the Middle East. A "San Francisco Chronicle" Best Book of the Year At the age of twenty, an Iranian student named Zarah Ghahramani was taken from the streets of Tehran to the notoriously brutal Evin Prison, where criminals and political dissidents were held side by side.

A desire for freedom as modest as sliding back her headscarf to feel the sun on her hair had compelled her to join a group of university students covertly organizing peaceful campus protests. Ghahramani was fueled by youthful idealism, and though her parents encouraged her to be prudent, she underestimated the severity of the penalties imposed by the fundamentalist regime running her country.

There she was abandoned to begin the long walk back to rebuild herself in a world in which she had no trust in her country's goverment and where she would continue to challenge fundamentalist injustice as she sought to reclaim her own liberty. With deep insights into the meaning of suffering and the futility of hate and thoughts of revenge, the young author, just out of her teens, withstands all psychological and physical abuse and comes out, despite the loss of her faith in authority figures and her country, wise and mature.

Her defiance served her well. Read with this in mind, the book is truly an inspiration.

Memoir of a Race Traitor - Mab Segrest - Google Книги

Lives in an Iranian Village ""A celebration of human courage under duress and a savage indictment of the oppressive regime of Iran. It shocks, angers, saddens, and inspires. It is the inner journey of one young woman, of her fear, pride, courage, and ultimate survival in Tehran's brutal Evin Prison.

But it is also a coming-of-age story that haunts and provokes; beautifully written and disturbingly unforgettable. It will stand beside Solzhenitysn and Primo Levi as a book that shows exactly how human beings survive in the face of true evil. A Memoir of War ""A must read for anyone interested in understanding the complex nation that is Iran. Zarah Ghahramani has written a very human story of bravery and fear in the face of violence; her story is one of longing for beauty and freedom. Zarah's memoir of her time in Iran's infamous Evin prison is unforgettable in its portrayal of brutality, but it sings with a young woman's love of life and liberty.

Selling Love and Saving Dreams in Pakistan's Ancient Pleasure District" "The second-year Iranian college student in knew that making that speech meant trouble, but she had no real expectation of being kidnapped in the heart of Tehran and hustled off to the notorious Evin Prison. Eventually, the year-old Ghahramani is sentenced to 30 days and a few days--and several beatings--later is dumped in a vacant countryside to make her way home.

Scenes from a happy family life crippled by the Iran-Iraq war and a spirited adolescence cut short by a repressive regime alternate with the prison experiences in this multilayered account. Ghahramani, daughter of a Muslim father and Zoroastrian mother, both Kurdish, dips with brevity and grace into personal family history and public political history.

Graphic and powerful as her treatment of torturous imprisonment is, Ghahramani retains an irrepressible lightness, perhaps born of knowing that [a] sense of justice can always benefit from a complementary sense of the ridiculous. Her painfully acquired knowledge of how easy it is to reduce a human being to the level of animal does not keep her from wondering if I'll ever be pretty again. Nothing, however, dilutes the bare bones prison experience. Her straightforward style, elegant in its simplicity, has resonance and appeal beyond a mere record.

Hardcover , pages. Published December 26th by Farrar Straus Giroux first published Iran, Islamic Republic of. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about My Life as a Traitor , please sign up. Lists with This Book. Mar 11, Eastofoz rated it liked it Shelves: Not quite what I was expecting from this memoir.

The story is about how Zarah Ghahramani was taken from the streets of Tehran by the police and interrogated for speaking out against the regime, participating in student rallies and other offences. She intersperses these nightmarish recollections with s Not quite what I was expecting from this memoir. She intersperses these nightmarish recollections with stories of her happy childhood and naivete as a university student who believed that she could change the society she lived in without consequences.

She goes back and forth between her life prior to being held prisoner to her life as a prisoner and she makes the reader see the difference in the person she was and the person she is becoming. She befriends a man in the cell above her who has been in Evin for 10 years for murder and seems to have lost his mind. This constant state of limbo gnaws away at her will to live and the reader understands why she would want to kill herself if she had the opportunity instead of continuing life as she now knows it. View all 3 comments. Mar 21, Chris Blocker rated it liked it.

Mar 04, Jessica rated it liked it. This book left me feeling ashamed. Ashamed of my American upbringing, of the liberties that I have, the freedoms that I take for granted every day of my life. And yet, I was also left feeling extremely grateful. I don't live in a land that's governed by fear, where women are treated as inferior, where ideas are dangerous and dreams are dismissed. I'm guaranteed my rights, I'm allowed to create my world based on our laws.

Zahara was only twenty when she was snatched off the streets outside her uni This book left me feeling ashamed. Zahara was only twenty when she was snatched off the streets outside her university. She was young, idealistic, possibly naive, and she was taken away without a thought to her rights. She endured beatings, torture, malnutrition and hinged on the brink of insanity. What she went through - it made me shudder, it made me sick, and yes, it made me feel grateful.

Anyone living in a free country - any woman living in a free country - would understand those feelings. I'm amazed by Zahara's bravery. I'm shocked that she was able to come out of Evin with her sanity, clarity and intelligence in tact, and that her smiling picture is featured prominently on the back cover. The constant ravings on how ugly she must now look, the worries about how she'd never be pretty again - too much.

I know it's easy for me to sit here, in the comfort of my freedom, and tell her to let it go, to focus on the fact that she's alive, but seriously, her vanity got very old, very fast. I've never read a book that had so many exclamation points in my life! There were at least three on every page! I don't know what that says, the fact that the insane number of exclamation points bothered me, but there it is! The last two things that detracted from this story were the slight repetitive nature of her tellings mostly when it came to her parents, or stories of her childhood , and the in-depth history of her city, her country, her family and her up-bringing.

The history part of her country was excellent, don't get me wrong, but there were times that she'd go off on a tangent that was just barely linked back to her story. I gave it a three for her bravery, and for the fact that she's sharing it with us, but I feel it probably could have been a bit shorter and still have gotten the point across.

May 31, Gary rated it it was amazing. A harrowing and eye-opening first hand account of the excruciating and hideous tortures inflicted on a 19 year old student in Iran arrested and jailed for speaking up for justice and freedom in her country. Zarah Ghahramani was born in and lived through the Iran-Iraq War.

Her father was a civil servant in the government of the Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi ovethrown and replaced by the mad Mullahs , The Shah had had his faults and did not always operate Iran as a liberal democracy but was posit A harrowing and eye-opening first hand account of the excruciating and hideous tortures inflicted on a 19 year old student in Iran arrested and jailed for speaking up for justice and freedom in her country.

Her father was a civil servant in the government of the Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi ovethrown and replaced by the mad Mullahs , The Shah had had his faults and did not always operate Iran as a liberal democracy but was positively saintly compared to the evil Ayatollist regime of Ayatollah Kohmeini and then Ayatollah Ali Khamenei the second Islamist Hitler to rule over that country. Women ,let me add had the full rights women have in Western countries under the Shah We are talking about a country where women are not just second class citizens but are chattels in every sense of the word.

Stoned top death for adultery or being raped. Girls are judged as adults from age eight and can be jailed and even executed for 'immorality' at even that age, for simply wearing short-sleeves or not covering their hair. But this is not a political book, it is about Zarah's life and thoughts how her spirit came close to being broken in the Evin prison in Tehran but still survived.

I just felt a cold fury reading this regarding leftwing radicals in Western countries who condemmn their own Western democracies while singing praises for regimes like Iran's just because they are anti-Western. When they just be thankful about the freedoms they enjoy and should spare some compassion for the victims of these regimes. I long for the day Iran will be free of Islamist rule. This is a book about human suffering , love, hate, redemption and freedom.

A Memoir in Books I enjoyed reading it. It gives a good idea of what life is for Iran's uni students who fight for freedom of speech.

See a Problem?

The level of repression and the way political prisoners are treated in prison is worse than in many other countries and it is important to be aware of this. However, there are still many people all over the world, young and old, fighting for freedom and against discrimination, even in countries that call themselves democratic. The author, Zarah, now living in Australia, seems to gi I enjoyed reading it. The author, Zarah, now living in Australia, seems to give a very honest account of the events and does not hide what she considers to be her weaknesses.

Sep 30, Kenneth P. Lately I've had bad luck reading personal memoirs. They tend to get stuck in my throat, and the gag factor has everything to do with truth-telling. Many contemporary memoirs carry the aroma of excessive embellishment if not outright fabrication. My Life as a Traitor by Zarah Ghahramani is not such a memoir.

My Life as a Traitor: An Iranian Memoir

I believed every word. It works as a personal account of courage in the face of torture; it works as an historical document of life in Iran under the Islamic regime. Ghahramani was a politi Lately I've had bad luck reading personal memoirs. Ghahramani was a political activist in the late nineties in Iran. A university student, she took part in a movement to protest the arrest of professors who's only crimes involved the teaching Iranian history in an honest fashion.

From a stage in the university she gave a speech. The Islamic regime was twenty years old. She and her friends thought it old and tired, ready for reform. She and her friends were wrong and naive-- Zahrah Ghahramani went to jail, to the notorious Evin Prison in Tehran which is well known for beatings, torture, executions.

Between the interrogations and beatings, we learn of Ms. Ghahramani's childhood and family life. She has six siblings and is very close to her parents, particularly close to her grandmother. We are given a very good view of life in Tehran during the Hellish years of the protracted war with Iraq. The author loves Islam but detests fundamentalism. She laments the existence of a double life-- she was one person at home, another person on the street. At home she wore shorts and tank-tops. Once outside she was sufficiently covered to satisfy the decrees of the Republic. She gives a spirited argument against the edict that would insist women remain almost completely covered.

It comes down to the sad truth that a women insufficiently covered might prompt unclean thoughts or behavior in a man. This has much to do with her politics Zahara Ghahramani speaks often of being intensely political. She wants changes in her country. She stands up, speaks out and goes to prison for her beliefs. But she never gives us a distinct rundown of her political views.


  • Eine Antwort (German Edition);
  • National Theater & Concert Hall.
  • Kazakhstan - Ethnicity, Language and Power (Central Asian Studies)?
  • Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act: A Summary of Superfund Cleanu!
  • Nuclear Armed Israel, An Economic Burden for US and a Nuisance for the World.
  • Mr Elastic Brain: The Life and Poems of Sid Ozalid.
  • The Possible Memoirs of a Traitor - TIFA 台灣國際藝術節 Taiwan International Festival of Arts.

As the narrative unravels we learn of some things about which she feels strongly: Iranian women who divorce lose custody of their kids and visitation rights forever. They will never see their children again Widows in Iran must turn their children over to a male member of the family.


  • What can I do to prevent this in the future?!
  • The Education of a Traitor: A Memoir of Growing Up in Cold War Russia!
  • Navigation menu?
  • Die Orgelbauwerkstatt Bütow in Königsberg/Nm: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des märkischen Landorgelbau.
  • Emergency Laughter: It Wasnt Funny When It Happened, But it is Now!.

They lose their kids. It is strictly enforced. If this factors into the author's politics and who would blame her we can only assume it. About her speech that landed her in jail: Surely love is about the liberty of the soul, and my politics were also about the liberty of the soul. A second year college student, she approached the acknowledged leader of the protest movement, speaking to him of radical change. It's possible that I'm asking for too much.

Here is a twenty year old kid plucked off the streets, imprisoned, beaten, tortured. Political specifics may well belong in another book. This is an intensely personal memoir and Ms. Ghahramani does not shield us from her losses-- of freedom, of dignity, of the will to live. She contemplates suicide alas it is impossible , she longs for death.

It is very difficult to read about these beatings because once they end, they resume inexplicably and just keep going. There is one moment of unexpected joy for the author. Blindfolded she is always blindfolded , she hurls verbal insults at the guards, her jailers, on a routine bathroom visit. She is knocked to the concrete floor where, helpless, she experiences a bizarre happiness, a personal rejuvenation while being kicked repeatedly. The blindfold is an important tool for cowards and thugs. It empowers them as their victims shrink in their presence. Ghahramani was blindfolded everywhere except in her cell and the toilet stall.

Occasionally, in the interrogation room, her blindfold was removed to enable the signing of a confession or to view photos of herself and friends, photos taken by the secret police. There are people in Evin prison who have been blindfolded for decades.

The first sentence of the book: The blindfold is firmly tied. The last sentence of the book, with her father hurrying to gather her from a suburban park: I clutch my blindfold tightly in my free hand. The author was freed after thirty days. If thirty days sounds like a short period of time, remember that she was never aware of her sentence. Every day, every moment was filled with the terror that she might be imprisoned for many years.

As it turns out, her early release had much to to with the family of her boyfriend. Prior to her arrest she dated a young businessman who's father in America carried out business transactions that were important to the regime. Were it not for this connection she would have spent more time inside, her beatings would have been more severe; almost certainly she would have been raped. In other words, thanks to an influential friend, she got off easy. Blindfolded, escorted to the interrogation room for a certain beating, the author forgave herself in advance for naming names.

She forgave herself in advance for begging. Her justification was simple: She did not have the strength for it all. She was not the courageous type.

Why do I have to complete a CAPTCHA?

I take issue with that. Zahrah Ghahramani was and is a courageous woman. View all 4 comments. Reading it, you are reminded of the Gestapo, and you suffer along with the pathetic university student. The victim explains her feelings at various stages of her incarceration, while relating her philosophy and describing her family life what else could she do in between horrendous assaults? We learn that Zarah is not an Arab Muslim, her parents are free-thinking, and she is an outspoken modernistic-minded student trapped in a world that refuses to grow up. Since this is a memoir her survival is not a surprise, but by the end of the book you breathe a sigh of relief when she is unceremoniously released from prison with difficulty.

Some readers may feel inchoate by the abrupt ending. Further follow up can be attained by searching the internet for the author, Zarah Ghahramani. This was the second time I gave this a go. Managed to read it all but how disappointing to be left with nothing at all. No idea what happened to her. What I also noticed was this author's habit of constantly saying that all the bad things that happened in Iran also happened in England or America or any other country.

Some things did indeed happen but hello we managed to change people's views. For instance women are not treated as they are in Iran. We do not have to cover ourselves because maybe me This was the second time I gave this a go. We do not have to cover ourselves because maybe men would be aroused seeing our hair. That she kept on doing that started to annoy me. Also I thought it was very disjointed, jumping from this to there.

Do not understand all the 5 star reviews at all. Okay I googled her and she apparently lives in Australia. It would have been so interesting to hear more about what happened once she was set free, having been shaved bold and been beaten very badly. How she coped and what she did to get better. One of the co writers of this book helped her to escape to Australia because they worried she might get arrested again. This is thanks to wikipedia, not to this book.. Aug 26, Krys Gut rated it it was ok Shelves: This book describes the author's abduction and incarceration in an Iranian prison, without due process.

The young girl is guilty of being an activist for social issues. She describes various mental and physical means of torture used to get her to admit her 'guilt. Seems to have gotten good review by others, maybe it just missed the mark for me. C Interesting but it skimmed over the surface with no real depth.

Also, it ended very abruptly and gave no details about the author's current life. I was curious enough to do and internet search to satisfy my curiosity! Jan 29, Jean Schindler rated it really liked it. Why should they care if you laugh at them? They know that they can make you forget about laughter forever if they wish. It is their servant. In the end, although my friends and I would like to believe otherwise, you will get your way much more quickly with a cruel servant like pain to carry out your bidding than with a witty se "I know they say that power corrupts, but they should tell you that the corruption begins with the powerful losing their embarrassment at being ridiculous.

In the end, although my friends and I would like to believe otherwise, you will get your way much more quickly with a cruel servant like pain to carry out your bidding than with a witty servant like laughter. Dec 14, Negar Safari rated it really liked it.

BLACK DOG: A traitor in the Brexit ranks