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    Between Two Worlds: My Life and Captivity in Iran
    Between Two Worlds: My Life and Captivity in Iran
    Between Two Worlds: My Life and Captivity in Iran
    Audiobook9 hours

    Between Two Worlds: My Life and Captivity in Iran

    Written by Roxana Saberi

    Narrated by Roxana Saberi

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    About this audiobook

    Roxana Saberi had been living and working in Iran for nearly six years when four men forced her from her Tehran apartment one morning in January 2009. That night, she ended up in solitary confinement in the notorious Evin Prison. Her captors harshly interrogated her and accused her of espionage, a charge she denied. Weeks passed before her family and friends learned her whereabouts.

    Saberi's captors threatened her with life in prison or worse but told her that if she cooperated with them, she would be released. Under this and other pressures, she fabricated a confession in return for her freedom-a choice she quickly came to regret.

    It wasn't until Saberi met other prisoners at Evin that she rediscovered her courage and her conscience. Her cellmates included supporters of a civil disobedience movement, a humanitarian worker, a student activist, and Baha'is-members of the largest religious minority in Iran. When Saberi heard them talk of the deep convictions that had landed them in prison and their resistance to their captors' demands, she realized even more the need to recant her false confession and stand up to her persecutors.

    Through the prism of her interactions with her cellmates and captors, Saberi provides insight into Iranian society, the Islamic regime, and U.S.-Iran relations, shedding light on developments taking place today in tumultuous Iran.

    Following broad-based international pressure, Saberi was released from Evin Prison on appeal on May 11, 2009.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateMar 31, 2010
    ISBN9781400186952

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    Reviews for Between Two Worlds

    4/5

    36 ratings8 reviews

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    • 4/5
      "'Roxana,’ Bahman said gravely but quietly, ‘I know what this regime is like. If you fight it, you can’t win. These people are dangerous and have no pity for people like you. If you don’t do what they say, they will keep you in prison for years, and who knows what will happen to you then. If they want, they could hurt or even kill you.’" I remember picking this book off the non-fiction new release shelf of my public library in 2010 and thinking about how brave I was. I’d just started reading non-fiction, and I hadn’t even made it to memoirs. I’d mainly dabbled in true crime narratives, which was as close to keeping with my weekly diet of forensic and coroner programs. Saberi’s beautiful face called to me. I’ve always had an interest in Middle Eastern culture, especially that of Iran and its ancient roots going back to Cyrus. Unfortunately, I didn’t get past page 90 before I had to return the book and later forgot about her–that is until two years ago when I found a copy of her book in new condition. Score! Now I've finally finished it!Saberi, of both Japanese and Iranian heritage, accepts a job as a journalist in Tehran for an American reporting group. Raised in Fargo, North Dakota, Roxana jumps at the opportunity to learn more about her Iranian roots and culture. Knowing minimal Farsi and next to nothing about the culture/regime, she is soon adopted into the city, and falls in love with its people, by extension her people. While there, she decides to write a book about Iran that will give outsiders a true view of life there from various points of view. She interviews hundreds of individuals from all parts of the country, and from all walks of life. After six years and with her book nearly complete, Roxana is set to return home to the United States, work on getting her book published, and decide what direction her life will next take. What she isn’t prepared for is sudden detainment, interrogation, and imprisonment at Evin prison under trumped-up charges of espionage just months before her departure.One of my favorite summer reads last year was Maziar Bahari’s Then They Came for Me, about his imprisonment at Evin prison following his journalistic reporting about the 2009 campaign elections. This one was equally wonderful in that it was told from a female journalist’s perspective. Unlike Bahari, Saberi was not kept in solitary confinement for her whole stay, and as a result, her accounts about the various female cellmates warmed and broke my heart. All of these women were courageous, and I found this book to be uplifting. I experienced similar feelings to Saberi upon her release by proxy, having met each of these women."My tears were of both joy and sorrow: joy at my freedom but sorrow for the prisoners of conscience I was leaving behind, who were being punished simply because of their peaceful pursuit of basic human rights or for their beliefs."
    • 4/5
      From the first few pages, I had hopes that this would be an outstanding book, but it rather quickly settled back into the "almost ordinary" category. Roxana Saberi, the author, lived in Iran for a number or years and was finally taken prisoner and accused of being a spy. She was held in solitary confinement for a time and was then moved into various cells with other women. She spent a total of 100 days in Evin Prison in Tehran. It was awhile before the Iranians let her notify her family that she was even there. I found the differences in the prison and court systems in Iran vs. the U.S. very interesting. Roxana's lawyers did next to nothing for her, rarely ever speaking during her trials. She had to present her own defense. One thing that I would have liked more elaboration on was the nature of her faith. The jacket blurb stated that it was a story of faith, but what faith she professes was never quite revealed. This is a good, informative read that made me want to stay as far away from Iran as possible. It confirmed the nuttiness of the powers-that-be there for me.
    • 4/5
      The true life story of a young Japanese-Iranian American woman who is arrested and imprisoned in Iran in 2009. It is scary to know just how easy this can happen. I am so happy she made it out, everyone doesn't.
    • 5/5
      An interesting story with interesting insights into parts of Iranian life. I enjoyed the journalist perspective of Iran.
    • 4/5
      This book was fascinating. Written by the female journalist who was arrested and held in an Iranian prison for eight months. It gives a great overview of what it might be like to live as an American female in Iran and what the inside of an Iranian prison is like.
    • 4/5
      After six years of living in Iran, the country of her father, while doing interviews and research for a book she planned to write Roxana Saberi was roused from sleep and hauled out of her apartment for hours and then days of unrelenting hostile questioning in January 2009. Charged with espionage, she spent more than 100 days in the notorious Evin prison, sometimes in solitary confinement and never with more than a blanket on the floor for a bed. Her interrogators pressured her to make false confessions, threatening her by saying she would never be freed and could be executed if she didn't "cooperate". After a while she decided to try going along with them, but the more she lied in an effort to placate them enough to secure her release the more they demanded. Roxana was deeply ashamed of the lies and worried about damage they might cause but in the most affecting part of the book she is able to regain feeling of control and self-respect after being inspired by the example of fellow prisoners--women who were locked up for their religious or political beliefs--to change her strategy and tell only the truth even in the most threatening circumstances. A hard to put down story.
    • 4/5
      My focus shirted next to Iran. Roxana Saberi was held for 100 days in an Iranian prison. This book details her time in that prison and the women she met inside there. She was accused of being a spy and using her researching a book as a cover. Roxana makes a false confession under distress and ends up recanting that confession while in jail. She uses hunger strikes as a way to pressure her jailers on letting her go. She barely is able to talk to her lawyer as he prepares her defense. She realizes early on that she can't trust anything she is told. Eventually her parents and boyfriend - a native Iranian - make enough "noise" to get her released. I remember seeing the press release NPR and other news organizations wrote in support of her release come across my inbox last year. It was encouraging and motivating to see how a strong and smart woman was able to mentally survive this ordeal. Saberi mixes in stories about Iran's culture and historical events within her own story.
    • 4/5
      From the first few pages, I had hopes that this would be an outstanding book, but it rather quickly settled back into the "almost ordinary" category. Roxana Saberi, the author, lived in Iran for a number or years and was finally taken prisoner and accused of being a spy. She was held in solitary confinement for a time and was then moved into various cells with other women. She spent a total of 100 days in Evin Prison in Tehran. It was awhile before the Iranians let her notify her family that she was even there. I found the differences in the prison and court systems in Iran vs. the U.S. very interesting. Roxana's lawyers did next to nothing for her, rarely ever speaking during her trials. She had to present her own defense. One thing that I would have liked more elaboration on was the nature of her faith. The jacket blurb stated that it was a story of faith, but what faith she professes was never quite revealed. This is a good, informative read that made me want to stay as far away from Iran as possible. It confirmed the nuttiness of the powers-that-be there for me.