Laughing Without an Accent

Adventures of an Iranian American, at Home and Abroad

By: Firoozeh Dumas

Narrated by: Firoozeh Dumas

In the best-selling memoir Funny in Farsi, Firoozeh Dumas recounted her adventures growing up Iranian American in Southern California. Now she again mines her rich Persian heritage in Laughing Without an Accent, sharing stories both tender and humorous on being a citizen of the world, on her well-meaning family, and on amusing cultural conundrums, all told with insights into the universality of the human condition. (Hint: It may have to do with brushing and flossing daily.)

With dry wit and a bold spirit, Dumas puts her own unique mark on the themes of family, community, and tradition. She braves the uncommon palate of her French-born husband and learns the nuances of having her book translated for Persian audiences. (The censors edit out all references to ham.) And along the way, she reconciles her beloved Iranian customs with her Western ideals.

Explaining crossover cultural food fare, Dumas says, "The weirdest American culinary marriage is yams with melted marshmallows. I don't know who thought of this Thanksgiving tradition, but I'm guessing a hyperactive, toothless three-year-old." On Iranian wedding anniversaries: "It just initially seemed odd to celebrate the day that 'our families decided we should marry even though I had never met you, and frankly, it's not working out so well.'" On trying to fit in with her American peers: "At the time, my father drove a Buick LeSabre, a fancy French word meaning 'OPEC thanks you.'"

Dumas also documents her first year as a new mother, the familial chaos that ensues after she removes the television set from the house, the experience of taking 51 family members on a birthday cruise to Alaska, and a road trip to Iowa with an American once held hostage in Iran.

Droll, moving, and relevant, Laughing Without an Accent shows how our differences can unite us - and provides indelible proof that Firoozeh Dumas is a humorist of the highest order.

©2008 Firoozeh Dumas (P)2008 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"There's such warmth to Dumas' writing that it invites the reader to pull up a seat at her table and smile right along with her at the quirks of her family and Iranians and Americans in general." ( Booklist)
"These stories, like everything Firoozeh Dumas writes, are charming, highly amusing vignettes of family life. Dumas is one of those rare people - a naturally gifted storyteller." (Alexander McCall Smith)

LEFT WANTING MORE

If you could sum up Laughing Without an Accent in three words, what would they be?

I LISTENED TO ALL THREE OF DUMAS' BOOKS IN A ROW AND LOVED THEM ALL

What does Firoozeh Dumas bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

HAVING THE AUTHOR READ THE BOOK WITH HER HUMOR AND LANGUAGE ABILITIES HELPED MAKE IT SPECIAL.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

YES.

Any additional comments?

I WOULD HAVE ENJOYED HAVING ALL THREE OF DUMAS' BOOK BE IN ONE OR TWO VOLUMES. SCHOOL YEARS COULD BE ONE AND THEN ADULT YEARS BE A SEPARATE BOOK. EACH OF THE THREE BOOKS WAS A JUMBLE OF ALL AGES.
BUT I LOVED HER STORIES AND WAS LIVING IN LOS ANGELES AT THE TIMES SHE WAS TALKING ABOUT AND COULD RELATE TO HER STORY.

So much fun!

I love this book. I feel like I made a friend while listening to the authors stories. I feel blessed to have glimpsed into her world and the culture she comes from. Firoozeh has built a bridge between popular perception and reality and I'm so grateful for it.

Another wonderful insight into a Persian family

Ms. Dumas is a fabulous storyteller. I read in hard copy both, Funny In Farsi & LWAA. I laughed and related all the way through, even though I am not Persian. The audio book was entertaining and well done. I enjoyed listening to the real person behind the stories. It's like having the author in your house telling you face to face over chai. Highly recommend.

would have been higher if not for the narration

The story is charming and an easy listen, but the book would have been better served if the audio book producers had found someone other than the author to read the book. Her inflection and cadences were tedious... I can't imagine that she actually talks like that, but she falls, as do so many, into an artificial way of speaking when she reads aloud. What a shame; the book is, as I said, charming.

Laughing Without an Accent

Listening to Laughing Without an Accent; by far was one of my most pleasurable experiences. I was constantly mesmerized by author's undaunting wit; her colorful descriptions of the events; and her genius selections of the themes. I think Firoozeh stories bring humor and joy to not only Iranian-Americans but also all the immigrants to this wonderful land. I can not wait to listen to her other book Funny in Farsi

hilarous and insightful

This is a laugh-out-loud book about the experience of Iranian immigrants to the US... you will laugh if you know anything about American culture, anything about Middle Eastern culture, anything about being a misfit in any society... anything about family life... it's a great book!

Because it's just a collection of stories with no particular linkage between one and the other, there are some strange jumps where you don't know what happened to cause the change (e.g. she did not used to drink alcohol, but then she was drinking it; we don't know how she married her husband, even though we know about how they first met... things like that! But it's not meant to be a fully-fledged memoir, I guess)

I had not read the author's previous book - but I am looking forward to that now!

Cute, pleasant

I have not read Funny in Farsi. I enjoyed this book but am not tempted to buy her earlier book. This book is light, amusing, and has some truly funny moments. I think it would have been better served by a narrator with a better sense of comic timing.

She is so funny

Took me a while to get into it, but Firoozeh is really funny. Since it's not a thriller or mystery, but rather short stories, I'm able to come back to it when I have some free time and I want to be entertained. This book almost feels like Firoozeh is your friend, though she's a bit older than me. She talks about this and that and has no trouble making ANYTHING into a funny, enjoyable story. I'm not quite done with it yet, but I find myself enjoying every minute. I wish she and I could be friends! I even checked out her and her family on google images and I can see that others have the same. Firoozeh is candid, very open and she really shares of herself in her storytelling.

A listening pleasure

I just finished listening to Funny in Farsi and Laughing Without an Accent and I so enjoyed the books, especially the narration, that I just wanted to let people know that these are great books to listen to. Firoozeh's narration adds another layer to the stories and is especially good when she imitates her mother. So many of the stories crossed all cultural lines and I recognised much of the quirkyness described in the books in my own Australian family. I look forward to her next book.

Firoozeh Dumas has done it again!

Entertaining, enlightening, enjoyble and genuinely funny as Firoozeh Dumas one again leads us through trails of an Iranian and French family's life in America. Pieces of this adorable read could be the account of any American with children...tough days! The red spread story is very typical of a mother's love and desire to please, while the food stories regal us with visions of lamb's head...all entertaining and fun! Looking forward to her sequel. Peggy Davis