Forbidden by Faith

This heartfelt immigrant love story, set in present-day California, suffers from a plethora of debut-novel clunkiness issues, gesturing toward a complex story about identity but delivering only simple stereotypes about traditionalist attitudes. Persian and Muslim pharmacy student Sara lets law student Maziar, with whom she becomes smitten at a party, convince her that his family will accept her despite his Iranian Jewish heritage. When that turns out to be untrue, she runs away from the relationship despite her feelings for him. Papehn parades the beats of her plot predictably, and her gambit of starting the book with a scene from the end fails to pay off in the final build-up. Prosaic and cliché-ridden prose appears throughout and is particularly apparent in the sex scenes, which aim to be impressionistic but just feel vague (“When we finally reached the peak, the earth shattered beneath us and we came crashing down onto the pillows together”). Character development is weak for all but the heroine. This has the effect of making Sara seem narcissistic, and Maziar’s attempts to reconnect after the initial breakup are more creepy than endearing. Detailed descriptions of Iranian food and cultural elements are the high point, but aren’t enough to carry this lackluster romance. (Mar.)