“Do Not Change Your Name Nevermore”

“Do Not Change Your Name Nevermore”
Written by: Majid Gheisari

The war between Iran and Iraq has finished for years, but still armies in both sides look after their frontiers. A soldier serving in Khorramshahr, finds a letter near the limit. Reading the letter, he is tempted to answer it, even for just passing the time. He can not be sure if the letter is from the other side of the line or from a noncommissioned officer who checks on the soldier’s service. But nothing can stop him. He can not stay unresponsive and he writes back.
The reply gets more interesting. The letter comes from the other side of the line. An Iraqi officer is the writer of the letter and he has a favor to ask. He wants the Iranian soldier to help him find a family in Khorramshahr. He wants to know if the family he once had rescued from death is still living and if they are back in their own city after all.
Letters bandy from both sides, letting the strangers come to know each other step by step. The Iranian soldier does not use his name and he has a reason to do it. But the reason is not accepted from the other side, although there is no sign of eagerness to find out the name. It is not understandable for the Iraqi man why someone has to use another name to introduce himself. Despite the differences, the men get close and closer as they reach to an agreement. The Iranian soldier begins looking for the missing family.
The family consisting of a mother with her young daughter shows up. They meet with the soldier. They listen to his story. They even read the letters. But their story is somehow different. The man is not their rescuer. He was the one who attempted killing them after killing the woman’s husband. The soldier does not know which one he should trust. The family sends a dagger for the Iraqi man as a sign via the soldier. Letters stops coming back. The soldier tries to find the man, but there is nothing from other side. After many letters from this part, comes an ending to the story by the Iraqi man. He does not want to go on looking for anybody. He returns the dagger, claiming that he is not the one who the family thinks. He has no favor to ask, and he wants to put an end to the relationship while the soldier has left behind too many un-answered question in his mind.
The structure of the book is familiar. The most famous one is “Daddy Long Leg”; a novel built-up from letters. Two members of an army at the frontier take the risk to exchange letters. The idea is too attractive. If you do not open the book written by Majid Gheisari, and just hear the main idea of the story, you would be eager to read it. But the book is not that attractive!
The first good point is that both sides have pictured the same. Both are real humans with no exaggeration in picturing the good or evil side. The second good point is where we find out how awful it is that Iranian people are going to ruin their own mother tongue by misusing the structures through the soldier’s writing. The last good point is that writer makes us feel like the soldier at the end. We do not know who is telling the truth. No acceptable evidence is there to be investigated. The man is right, because he was trying too hard to find the family. The family is right, because they have no reason to make the story up. Neither side insists to prove what has been claimed. The story ends in a way that the reader should decide for himself.
As I mentioned and you just went through, there are enough fortes in the book to make it an interesting one. But why does it not work that way?
The major problem is that writer has not tried to feel characters. We never feel if the Iraqi man emotionally was involved with someone in this family. We never believe that he just wants to make sure they are fine and back to the city due to the rescue story. The relation between the two men could be more challenging. Both are asking things and answering questions, both learning new things, receiving information, but nothing seems to reach anywhere. The soldier has no main influence on what is going on. The importance lays between the Iraqi man and the missing family. They are main the characters. But when it comes to them, nothing happens.
Two men from two nations which had a history of 8 years war, sending letters to each other. They are not even ordinary men. Both are army member of their own country. But what happens between them along the story has nothing to do with their background! So careless for a writer who had the courage to create such characters!
I had never read anything by Majid Gheisari before and it was the first time; might be his first book too. Despite the weaknesses which had made the story look so crude, I would highly recommend you to read the book. It has beautiful moments, unforgettable pictures and precise word choosing. The book might not be satisfying enough itself, but the amazing thing about it is the part when it flips your creativity to stop the book at any point and direct it to the way which seems more readable.
So, do not waste time, and start your own version of the Gheisari’s story.