Only this beautiful moment by Iranian-American Abdi Nazemian, published by Milan, takes us to meet three teenagers: Moud, Saeed and Bobby. The son, the father and the grandfather, at a turning point in their lives.
The story begins in 2019 in Los Angeles. Moud lives alone with his father Saeed. They are preparing to go to Iran every three weeks because Moud’s grandfather is very ill.
This is a first for the teenager. He has to announce this trip to his boyfriend and fears his reaction. Shane, whose opinions are always very strong, wonders why Moud would want to set foot in a country that persecutes people like him.
However, this stay in Iran will be a transformative experience.
As I entered the airport, I was hit with a wave of emotion. What strikes me most is that everyone looks like me, and I realize that this had never happened to me. I’ve always stood out because of my brown skin, but here I blend into the background. It’s weird and at the same time I feel safe.
But then a wave of fear hits me, because I may look like anyone, but I know I’m different. What if the wrong person found out?
Abdi Nazemian, himself gay and of Iranian origin, raises the question of identity, or rather multiple identities. We watch Moud struggle with his Iranian-American marital status and his sexuality, which is poorly accepted by his father… It is in Tehran that he will find answers.
Tehran before the revolution
We go back a few years. 1978, Saeed is a student. The capital is shaken by demonstrations against the authoritarian regime of the Shah, supported by the United States.
Despite the ban from his parents who fear for his safety, Saeed participates. There he falls in love with the beautiful Shirin, who takes him to party at the legendary Key Club.
– I’m not sure I know how to dance to that.
– I will guide you.
– They play Iranian music here?
– No, for that you have to go to cabarets.
– I’m having a little trouble understanding all of this.
– What then?
– Well, on the one hand we are demonstrating so that America leaves our country alone, right? But on the other, we love their music and their cinema. How can you produce such incredible art and commit such heinous actions at the same time?
– I guess the government of a country does not always represent its people.
With Saeed, Abdi Nazemian gives us a glimpse of life in Tehran before the revolution: the freedom of an urban and educated youth, and the demonstrations against the yoke of a corrupt dynasty, in a country consumed by poverty.
Return to Los Angeles
More precisely in Hollywood. 1939, Bobby is 17 years old, doesn’t know his father, he just knows that he has darker skin than his classmates.
He plays the piano wonderfully, and his mother Margaret dreams of making him a star. She wants him to join the studios of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, MGM, to become an apprentice actor.
Bobby has a secret: he likes boys. But in 1939 in Hollywood, homosexuality did not exist, even less if you wanted to become a movie star.
This queer novel takes us from gay bars in LA in the 30s to clandestine parties in today’s Tehran. But Only this beautiful moment is above all a fresco about family. The importance of what unites us with our loved ones despite conflicts, secrets and breakups.
Abdi Nazemian recounts the dilemmas that went through him, whose loved ones did not immediately accept his sexual orientation. Do we have to cut ties to live free? Does compromising mean denying yourself? For the writer, you can emancipate yourself and be who you are, without turning your back on your family – but without ever tolerating humiliation or violence.
A novel that talks about Iran and the United States today
Only this beautiful moment takes place and was written before the murder of Mahsa Amini by the Iranian police in September 2022. But Abdi Nazemian pays homage to the revolt movement which has shaken the country since, and his book shows contemporary Iran and its youth in search of freedom.
By crossing the ages, the novel highlights the way in which history repeats itself… and does not always go in the right direction.
Ironically, Nazemian’s previous novel, set in New York during the AIDS epidemic, was banned in several school districts in the United States, at the instigation of the far-right.
Only this beautiful momentby Abdi Nazemian, translation Georges Content, is published by Milan, to be read from 13 years old.
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