This book was required reading in a class I took in undergrad. I remember finding it very depressing and I that our professor did not devote much time to unpacking its meaning. I might like to try to read it again in a few years, and obviously I do not know much of anything about Iranian literature(!), but it's intense. It's a book I felt I needed more time to explore with either a literature class or a book club, but it is depressing!