“Stay away from emails and don’t make phone calls when you’re manic. You may say things that people will hold against you forever, even if they know you’re just sick … I’ve been blacklisted by the publishing industry because a former professor claims that my thousands of emails to him are evidence of stalking (I lived on the other side of the country at the time I was writing to him incessantly). Everyone refuses to see that he mislabeled me just to sell his book and to whitewash his own bad behavior. Even Kirkus Reviews called me a stalker and refused to change it, even though I was never even charged.
“I have women writing me, thanking me all the time for voicing their suffering. Not only are domestic violence survivors getting raped by their spouses, but so are employees who are afraid to speak out against their coworkers. Sexual assault is a serious problem and it’s not addressed in the media. The #MeToo movement, for instance, didn’t touch the publishing industry. And it’s happening there. It happened to me and many other women.” Social-Impact Author Interview with Thrive Global
This memoir made me think about what’s considered art and what’s considered madness, especially in relation to [Majidi’s] professor, James Lasdun. I have not read his memoir about the author, which seems exploitive, to say the least. But why is he considered an artist for exploiting her after she was raped, and she’s considered a stalker for writing about him? And why did he not help her when he saw that she was sick? Why is it acceptable to be so cold? -Laura’s Books & Blogs
Three words come to mind while reading Majidi's Memoir: Raw, Manic, and Honest...sometimes authors try to present themselves in the way they want to be perceived rather than how they are. This book does not do that. Majidi allows the readers fully into her life, and you read everything. The good, the bad, and the manic. The book is very well written and Majidi does go into a lot of details about her life and experiences in the book...Overall, a very emotionally raw memoir. -lattes Lipstick and Literature
Writing and Madness in a Time of Terror is not what I expected. I thought it would be an angry #MeToo story, with a lot of hand wringing and sobbing [but it] was wholly entertaining, disturbing and fascinating...like walking through a series of dark poems...Alex is the only man out of a string of exes in the memoir who [matters, but] because [the author is Iranian] and not Jewish, his family not only forbids him to marry her but they begin pressuring him into dates with Jewish girls. After the break-up, Majidi enters one abusive relationship after the next, with men who seem to find pleasure in physically and sexually hurting her...If you enter Majidi’s world when she’s in a manic episode, you can see there is some sense in her madness. It’s as if she is going through her days explicating one frightening poem after another instead of dealing with the trauma and abandonment she’s experienced. Sometimes it feels as if she’s deciphering mystical signs that others can’t see. And if you follow the unreasonable logic of her thinking, the whole situation does become a frightening metaphor for what’s happening in the world.. -Reedsy
Writing and Madness in a Time of Terror is a gripping, intersectional feminist memoir … [but Majidi’s] deadpan humor formed a major part of the literary style [and was] beautifully woven into the story...I'm glad to award Writing and Madness in a Time of Terror by Afarin Majidi 4 out of 4 stars. -Online Book Club
This is a gritty, at times disturbing, and ultimately survivalist account by a brilliant woman & compelling writer. Ms. Majidi stands at a three-point threshold: a woman from an Islamic country with a mood disorder. Anyone who has known predators, especially white collar predators, will understand what this can mean. In a twist of life's spreadsheet, it may be these three elements that prompt the development of the resilience to get her through all of it. -Google Books
Majidi portrays how gaslighting works in emotionally abusive relationships and how the victims shrink over time. It’s a very realistic look at how victims are often serial survivors, especially in a culture that praises sadistic men. The emotional amnesia survivors suffer is what makes this book resonate. To an undiscerning reader, it may seem repetitive (dating the same man, different body over again) yet the repetition begs the question, Can a victim ever prevent herself from walking into an abusive relationship if that’s all she’s known? -Fupping
Writing and Madness in a Time of Terror is a glimpse into the mind of a woman swallowed whole by a crumbling state of mind after sexual trauma. The reader scrambles alongside her for a sense of hope that the nightmare will end. Here you will find a strong narrative account of victimization, the broken homes created in the face of crisis, and the hostile experience of marginalized women even in academia and especially the publishing world. -Pretty Progressive
“Beautifully written, this is a classic that rivals Girl Interrupted.” - Improve Her Health
“In 1979, upper middle-class Iranian women like Afarin Majidi wore French fashions and perfume, smoked in public and generally enjoyed the same social freedoms as western women. Iran was then a kingdom, ruled by Mohammad Reza Pahlavi – the Shah of Iran...” Stephen Trombley, Author (full review)
"Majidi’s memoir doesn’t end like a fairytale. Nobody swoops in to her rescue. There are no trivializing and simplifying anecdotes regarding how everything gets better. It was refreshing to me that this book doesn’t impose a “happily ever after” narrative, a cliché that alienates readers like me, who are still struggling. Ultimately, Majidi rescues herself. Sometimes we must become our own saviors. The very act of her survival was an act of defiance." -Entropy (full article)
"A woman forced to flee Iran with her family [during the Islamic Revolution in 1979]... bravely explores three explosive issues--mental illness, racism, and misogyny--with bracing candor...Majidi provides an engrossing and timely look at the way women of color are doubly objectified, as exotic sexual quarry and as individuals worthy of contempt." -Kirkus Reviews and adlibbing from someone’s agents
The Prologue of Writing and Madness in a Time of Terror appeared in The Iranian