La Vie, According to Rose, Lauren Parvizi’s debut, is a thought-provoking novel that covers a lot of ground.
First, it’s a heartfelt story of self-discovery coupled with grief and family issues. Rose, the eldest daughter of an Iranian man who escaped Iran just as the Shah was deposed in the 1979. My family was living in Iran at the time, so the events leading to the events leading to the Islamic Revolution and the overthrow of Mohammed Reza Pahlavi are well known to me. When her sister becomes ill with some undefined chronic disease and her parents become focused on their daughter’s illness, Rose, raised to please everyone, assumes family responsibilities that are beyond her years—to her own detriment. Later, her father succumbs to pancreatic cancer, and rather than gaining a sense of freedom, Rose remains stuck in a dead-end job writing copy in the Silicon Valley while continuing to be overly-involved with her two sisters and mother.
Second, it’s a powerful story of an immigrant family adapting to life in the United States.
Third, it’s a belated coming of age story. On a whim, thirty-two-year-old Rose travels alone to Paris and becomes involved with two interesting men, one a childhood friend who happens to live in Paris and the other a ne’er-do-well who is full of tricks and may even be dangerous. She is befriended by Marine, a self-help author in Provence, and begins to blossom.
I enjoyed the depictions of Rose’s family life and all its trauma and flaws (though these were at times a tad over-written), Rose’s journey to self-acceptance and learning to balance her needs with those of others, and the blend of romance and tawdriness that is Paris.
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La Vie, According to Rose(Lake Union Publishing, July 1, 2023) is available through:
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