Rooftops of Tehran

Widely celebrated for its passionate study of rebellion against political repression, Rooftops of Tehran explores friendship, love, hope, and resistance through the tale of a young man coming of age in Iran in the early 1970s. It opens with the seventeen-year-old protagonist, Pasha, stargazing on a rooftop with his closest friend, Ahmed. The boys discuss friends, family, and the future, and Pasha thinks back to his first meeting with Ahmed when his friend stepped in to help him as he was being bullied.

Ahmed confesses that he loves a young woman named Faheemeh and thinks that she might feel the same way. This prompts Pasha to reflect on the young woman that he is besotted with, his neighbor Zari. Pasha is deeply conflicted about his infatuation because Zari is engaged to Ramin, Pasha’s friend and mentor. Ramin attends the university and most people call him “Doctor.” Pasha loves and respects him and feels guilty for his interest in Zari.

Following his liberal parents’ views, Pasha considers arranged marriages to be obsolete and archaic. As such, when Ahmed learns that Faheemeh is already engaged, Pasha encourages him to simply tell her how he feels. Ahmed takes this advice but Faheemeh’s brothers beat him up. The narrative them suddenly shifts to the following winter, where Pasha is in the hospital with no real idea of why he is there.



Pasha spends some time discussing his friendship with Doctor, highlighting how they enjoy discussing literature together. Occasionally, they discuss politics too. Pasha is not entirely committed to these conversations, but Doctor is dedicated and has sympathies for the rebels who wish to depose the Shah. Later, Doctor leaves Tehran to teach in a rural village, planning to marry Zari on his return. While Doctor is away, Ahmed helps Pasha contrive a way to spend time with Zari, and they begin to grow closer despite her engagement to Doctor. The narrative briefly returns to the winter where Pasha is still recovering from burns to his arms and hands.

Ahmed and Faheemeh begin meeting in secret, often using Zari’s house as a place to spend time together. Zari and Pasha spend a lot of time there, too, and their mutual attraction and emotional closeness grow more apparent. Another brief interlude shows Pasha’s continued convalescence in hospital, and then the narrative returns to the previous summer and Doctor’s return from the rural village. He is being pursued by the SAVAK, Iran’s repressive secret police force, and decides to hide out at Zari’s house. However, Pasha accidentally gives Doctor’s hiding place away to the SAVAK and Doctor is arrested, beaten, and escorted away.

Pasha’s whole community is upset about Doctor and discontent with the repressive government. Pasha, feeling guilty and angry, gradually becomes more politically conscious, aware of the corruption of powerful figures and the repressive violence of the government. This awareness comes to a head when the SAVAK reveals that Doctor has been executed and demands that Zari’s family pay for the bullet used to kill him. The SAVAK erases all documents pertaining to Doctor’s life and bans the community from mourning his death, but Pasha secretly plants a bush of red roses in his honor.



Pasha continues to learn more about government corruption and violence, hearing stories from his father and his father’s friends about their time in the military and about incidents of political repression. The story moves forward again briefly to show Pasha realizing that he is in a mental ward, but still not able to recall what brought him there. The story then returns to his continued political education, which not only sees him becoming more aware but also more outspoken and reckless.

Pasha and Zari spend more and more time together, growing increasingly affectionate. However, when Pasha kisses her, she runs away. Pasha is upset, and eventually, Ahmed convinces Zari to speak to him. Pasha admits his attraction to her and she reciprocates.
Despite this, she insists that Pasha should not let his feelings for her interfere with his plans to become a filmmaker in the United States. When he says that she should accompany him, she implies that she will not be able to but will not say why.

During the Shah’s birthday celebrations, the reason for Zari’s reticence becomes tragically clear. As the Shah’s car passes by the group of friends, Zari runs into the road and sets herself on fire, making herself into a mourning flame for Doctor. When Pasha and Ahmed attempt to extinguish the flames, they are assaulted by guards and Ahmed is arrested. When Pasha wakes in the hospital recovering from the burns he sustained trying to save Zari, he learns that she died in the blaze.



Eventually, Pasha is released from the hospital, and Ahmed is released from prison, having been tortured but not convicted of any crimes. There is a new sense of religious repression around their school and the wider community. Zari’s family have become reclusive after her death, and her cousin Soraya, her face obscured by a burqa, comes to stay with them to help them cope with the tragedy. Pasha is pleased to learn that Ahmed and Faheemeh are now engaged although it does remind him of his own loss.

Pasha becomes intrigued by Soraya, who seems interested in him in return. He also thinks that he sees or hears Zari several times and vows to one day tell her story and the stories of Doctor and their whole neighborhood. He commits to traveling to the U.S. to study filmmaking at college. However, he also becomes convinced that Soraya is actually Zari in disguise. He confronts her and, eventually, she admits that it is true. She insists that he still go ahead with his plans to study in the U.S. so that he can tell their stories and work to improve life in Iran. As the novel ends, she assures him that she still loves him and that she will wait for him to come back and marry her.