Tehrangeles
Iran

Tehrangeles

by Porochista Khakpour

Identity & Belonging Literary Fiction Contemporary Fiction Fiction 2024

Summary

The Milanis have everything money can buy: a sprawling Los Angeles mansion, a successful frozen-food empire, and four daughters ready for their close-up. When the wealthy Iranian American family lands a reality television deal, each sister sees an opportunity to claim the spotlight. Violet, an aspiring model, longs for love and acceptance; Roxanna, an ambitious influencer, thrives on attention; Mina, a sharp-witted overachiever, guards secrets of her own; and teenage Haylee dreams of becoming a wellness sensation. Their parents, Ali and Homa, have secrets they would rather keep hidden, too. But just as the cameras prepare to roll, political tensions, family revelations, and the COVID-19 pandemic threaten to unravel their carefully curated lives. With biting humour and unexpected tenderness, Tehrangeles satirises celebrity culture, social media, and the pursuit of the American dream while exploring the complicated realities of growing up Iranian American. Beneath the glitter and extravagance lies a story about family, identity, and the difference between being seen and being truly understood.

Reviews

Login to leave a review.

No reviews yet. Be the first!

You might also like

The Last Illusion
The Last Illusion
Porochista Khakpour
Every Rising Sun: A Retelling of The One Thousand and One Nights
Every Rising Sun: A Retelling of The One Thousand and One Nights
Jamila Ahmed
Prison Memoir
Prison Memoir
Shahrnush Parsipur
The Woman Who Read Too Much
The Woman Who Read Too Much
Bahiyyih Nakhjavani
Country
Iran
Asia
About the author
Porochista Khakpour
Porochista Khakpour

Porochista Khakpour is an Iranian-American novelist, essayist, and journalist born in Tehran, Iran, in 1978. She immigrated to the United States as a child and grew up in the Los Angeles area, experiences that have shaped her writing about displacement, cultural identity, and belonging. Her fiction often combines experimental storytelling, dark humour, and psychological insight to explore immigration, family relationships, trauma, and the complexities of navigating multiple cultural identities. Her debut novel, Sons and Other Flammable Objects (2007), follows an Iranian-American family struggling with cultural expectations and intergenerational conflict. Her second novel, The Last Illusion (2014), reimagines the myth of the Wild Boy of Aveyron through the story of a boy raised in isolation in New York City. In her memoir Brown Album: Essays on Exile and Identity (2020), Khakpour reflects on race, migration, politics, and the experience of living between cultures. Her work offers a distinctive perspective on the Iranian diaspora and the search for identity in contemporary America.

View author page
Details
Published
2024
Author
Porochista Khakpour