LIFE AS A VISITOR

NAZARIAN, ANGELLA M.

After the 1979 Iranian Revolution, some 70,000 Iranian Jews fled the newly formed Islamic state and flocked to the United States; it is estimated that 45,000 Iranian Jews call Los Angeles their home. In her poignant and gracefully written memoir, Life as a Visitor, Angella M. Nazarian recalls escaping Iran as a young girl of eleven and starting a new life in Beverly Hills. The author illuminates the relatively unexplored life of Iranian Jews in pre-Revolutionary Iran, where they experienced upward mobility and assimilated into everyday Iranian life while holding fast to their Jewish identity. We learn of the pain and guilt she felt leaving her parents behind while her elder siblings raised her in Beverly Hills. The memoir captures the dilemma of being caught between two worlds, where immigrants feel “a longing to belong” and have the burden—and privilege—of defining a new identity. Nazarian leads us through her many adventures as she travels the world, realizing that through her journeys she is able to explore the vanishing details of her past and confront her changing identities. It is through her wanderlust and her connection to the people and environments she encounters that Nazarian comes to terms with the many hybrid identities she holds, recognizing that she is not a citizen of one specific country but of the world. Published by Assouline—known for its photography, fashion, art, design and lifestyle books—Life as a Visitor features Nazarian’s beautiful paintings, photographs, and poems in addition to her compelling narrative.