Then the Fish Swallowed Him

Arian’s hard-hitting English-language debut follows bus driver Yunus Turabi and his breakdown subsequent to a union strike—resulting in a devastating stint in prison. Yunus, 44, lives alone in Tehran. When he bumps into coworker Behrouz at a grocery store, Behrouz invites him to his house for dinner—and to join the union. Yunus then participates in a strike that turns violent, with the police and protestors clashing. The next day, in a state of despair over the fighting and a longing for human connection, he decides to drive his route anyway. When the passengers crowd and harass each other and a boy calls Yunus and the other bus drivers “sleazy assholes” who refuse to do their jobs, Yunus beats him nearly to death. The boy turns out to be the son of a minister, and Yunus is sentenced to four years in prison. During this time, he recalls his affair with Behrouz’s wife, who cut things off abruptly. When he’s finally released, he’s broken and adrift, having falsely confessed to masterminding the protest. Arian blends sharp, journalistic observations of Tehran’s politics and street scenes with a deeply empathetic portrait of Yunus’s troubled interior life. This is an essential work of contemporary Iran. (Mar.)