For several years, Sima struggles to secure asylum for her family in the United States.įinally, the family receives asylum and moves to Edmond, Oklahoma.

Though they are more safe in Italy than they were in Iran, Hotel Barba is another form of death. The camp is in fact a hotel called Hotel Barba. Following a brief and tenuous stint in Dubai, the family then relocates to a refugee camp in Italy. Masoud stays behind, much to Daniel's disappointment. Instead of cooperating with the police, Sima decides to flee Iran with Daniel and Dina. They threaten to kill her and her family if she does not provide them with the names of everyone in her church. Then one day, while Sima is shopping at the market, the secret police capture her and interrogate her. Still, Sima does not abandon her newfound beliefs. Masoud is furious and terrified, and beats Sima for her stubbornness. She even begins attending an underground Christian church.

She starts exploring the Christian faith, converts, and is baptized.ĭespite the dangers of returning to Iran as a professing Christian, Sima does not abandon her faith. When she tells Sima that her daughter is now a Christian, Sima becomes curious. Daniel's maternal grandmother, Ellie, is a practicing Christian, and is thus convinced that Dina has in fact seen Jesus.

When she finally emerges, she announces that she has seen an angel. Dina spends some time recovering in a room by herself. Following a trip to the emergency room, the doctors sew Dina's finger back on. While in England, Dina almost loses one of her fingers after a bully slams her hand in a door jamb. Then one year, Daniel's family travels to London, England for his mother's sister's wedding. The family is wealthy, comfortable, and happy. The following summary adheres to a more streamlined and linear mode of explanation.ĭaniel Nayeri grows up in Isfahan, Iran with his mother Sima, father Masoud, and sister Dina. The novel employs a fragmented, patchwork structure, and is told predominantly in the present tense. Levine Querido, 2020.ĭaniel Nayeri's novel Everything Sad Is Untrue is told from the first person point of view of the 12-year-old protagonist, Daniel. The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Nayeri, Daniel.

Sad is untrue