| Language: | French |
| Disoriental | |
| Author: | Négar Djavadi |
| Published: | 2016 |
| Title Orig: | Désorientale |
| Isbn: | 2867468345 |
| Translator: | Tina Kover |
| English Pub Date: | 2018 (Europa Editions) |
| Publisher: | Éditions Liana Levi |
Disoriental (French: '''Désorientale''') is a French-language novel by French-Iranian author Négar Djavadi, published by in 2016. Tina Kover translated the book into English, and this version was published by Europa Editions in 2018.[1] It was the first novel written by the author.[2]
The book is narrated by Kimiâ Sadr,[1] who at age 10 flees Iran and goes to exile in Paris. She feels disoriented from her lack of status in the society, and the novel's title is a combination of the words "désorienter" and "oriental".[3] Disoriental describes the history of her family, including her two older sisters, her six uncles, and her parents. Her father Darius, who does political advocacy,[2] accommodates the narrator's tomboyish nature.[1] Kimia is a bisexual.[3] Her mother Sara is also an activist.[2]
Kimiâ's second uncle, a gay man, lives in a country where homosexuality is illegal and has a heterosexual marriage that produced children. The other characters see him as the family mythologist.[1]
Foreshadowing is a common device in Disoriental.[2]
Azarin Sadegh of the Los Angeles Review of Books stated that the French original has a "rich, deep, lyrical, with cinematographic quality" while this aspect disappears in the English translation.[3]
Dalia Sofer of The New York Times described this as a "rich" novel. She criticized the lengthy descriptions of Iranian history, arguing the passages are "weighing down" the content.[1]
Robin Yassin-Kassab of The Guardian stated that "this novel compels the reader’s attention as consistently as it entertains."[2]
The English translation of Disoriental has been shortlisted for the 2019 Albertine Prize[4] and the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation,[5] and won the Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Fiction at the 31st Lambda Literary Awards.[6]