Nayeri describes his book as an autobiographical novel or a literary memoir he’s retelling his own history but from the point of view of himself as a 12-year-old. He reminds us that while this life will bend and break us, someone will return who will make everything sad untrue. In Everything Sad Is Untrue, Nayeri invites us into his family’s journey of courage and heartbreak, and in so doing, he points us to the hope that sustained him through the tempest. His hope in the unseen courses through stories of bullying and refugee camps, tragic Persian poems, and his longing to connect with classmates who don’t understand him. Even more profound, even more vital, is the theme of faith-of our hope in Christ-that pulses like a beating heart at the center of his narrative. But Nayeri offers readers something even more precious than the shattering images and reflections that he strings through the book like pearls. These riches alone are enough to reward those who dive into Everything Sad Is Untrue. He weaves fragments of myth and personal history into his story, with threads intricately looping like the magnificent Persian rugs he describes (some of them studded with jewels, as can also be said of his prose).
His poignant memoir invites readers into the struggles of a refugee caught between a homeland he can no longer claim as his own and a new life in which he feels adrift. (You can listen to Collin Hansen’s Gospelbound interview with Nayeri.)
Daniel Nayeri’s heart-wrenching, evocative, and at times hilarious autobiographical novel, Everything Sad Is Untrue, has earned widespread acclaim since its release in 2020, with starred reviews from Kirkus and Publisher’s Weekly and praise from the New York Times, NPR, and the Wall Street Journal.
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