In Case of Emergency

1

Justin Torres

At turns hilarious and deeply unnerving, this is contemporary Tehran as never seen before.

2

Binnie Kirshenbaum

Brilliant and highly original. The quest of this novel's acerbic antiheroine creates page-turning tension, but resist turning the pages too quickly, lest you miss the myriad and complexity of flavors.

3

Natasha Wimmer

A macabre urban carnival of a novel offering a rare visceral glimpse into contemporary Iran.

4

Book Self Description

What do you do when the world is falling apart and you're in withdrawal? Disillusioned, wealthy, and addicted to opium, Shadi wakes up one day to apocalyptic earthquakes and a dangerously low stash. Outside, Tehran is crumbling: yuppies flee in bumper-to-bumper traffic as the masses rise up to claim the city as theirs. Shadi flits between her dysfunctional family and her depressed friends, roaming the streets cross-dressed to evade hijab laws in search of her next fix. Mahsa Mohebali's groundbreaking novel about Iranian counterculture is a satirical portrait of the disaster that is contemporary life. Weaving together gritty vernacular and cinematic prose, In Case of Emergency takes a darkly humorous, scathing look at the authoritarian state, global capitalism, and the gender binary.