1) For a novel that is set primarily in Tehran, The Septembers of Shiraz seems like a confounding title. What does the title mean? Why do you think Sofer chose to use this title?

2) How much information about the Iranian Revolution do you learn from the novel? What questions about the historical situation do you still have? What are novels that make use of particular moments in history able to show, as opposed to non-fiction works about those eras?

3) Consider the various ways that wealth is described in the book. In portraying Isaac’s sister, Sofer focuses on her obsessive, foolish love of material goods. In what ways does her materialism blind her to the dangers at hand? Is Isaac’s family similarly blinded by their wealth?  Is a fellow prisoner correct when he says of Isaac: “Who cares what kind of regime it is, as long as I make money”? Consider too Isaac’s own statement, as the family makes their escape and his family receives better treatment because they have paid more. “Why is it, he wonders, that wealth must always be accompanied by guilt, if not shame.”

4) When Isaacs discovers that he is able to buy his freedom, he worries: “How will my money be used? To build more prisons, to buy more bullets? In buying back my own life, will I facilitate the death of others?” Is Isaac right to worry about this? What are the moral implications of buying his freedom? In these situations, how do you define heroism?

5) Shirin makes a choice to steal files from her friend’s father, risking her own safety. Is this a wise, heroic decision, or one made out of a childlike naiveté? In a novel, what is a child’s point of view able to convey that an adult perspective cannot?

6) Consider the way Sofer portrays her characters’ pursuits of personal pleasure and individual happiness. When Zalman learns that Parviz has feelings for his daughter Rachel, he warns him off, by telling him that there are issues larger than personal happiness. “Ah, but you see, that’s the difference between your world and mine. I look at myself not as an individual, but as a piece of a whole, as a brick in the house.” For Isaac too, there is a question about the larger value of happiness. To a skeptical fellow prisoner, he says that his belief is that “life is to be enjoyed.” Is Sofer arguing for or against any of these points of view?

7) Compare The Septembers of Shiraz to Nathan Englander’s The Ministry of Special Cases, in which a young Jewish Argentinian man is arrested. Compare this book as well to Wedding Song: Memoir of an Iranian Jewish Woman by Farideh Goldin and to Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi.

8) In a biographical note at the end of the paperback edition, Sofer describes the many similarities between her own family and the one portrayed in the book. How does knowing this about Sofer’s own life affect your reading of the book? When is it helpful, and when is it not helpful, to know more about the author’s personal background?