One Man’s Complicated Quest for Connection in Contemporary Tehran
by Lysley Tenorio in the New York Times Book Review
Nov. 4, 202
. . . explores the complexities of relationships, sexuality and cultural norms in modern Iran.
10 noteworthy books for November and December
By Becky Meloan in the Washington Post
November 1, 2023
Abdoh’s brutally poignant novel explores the contradictions in modern Iranian society.
Fall into a Book: LGBTQ+ Books You’ll Want to Add to Your Shelf This Season
By Sarah Bricker Hunt and Chris Azzopardi in PrideSource
October 23, 2023
Destruction abounds, but in these hope-filled pages, so do small but powerful acts of love and kindness.
A Nearby Country Called Love: A Novel
Reviewed by Lisa Anderson in Foreign Affairs
November/December 2023
The stories skate along the edge of the familiar and the inexplicable, recounted with a sort of bewilderment and tenderness that suggests the modern world has made unfathomable misfits of us all.
Selected by Buzz Books for its
Great Reads Fall/Winter 2023
Downloadable ebook containing excerpts from dozens of recommended new books
A sweeping propulsive novel about the families we are born into and the families we make for ourselves, in which two brothers struggle to find their plane in an Iran on the brink of combusting.
Also, Buzz Books posts one chapter of the author’s book on google books

Salar Abdoh was born in Iran, and splits his time between Tehran and New York City. He is the author of The Poet Game (Picador), Opium (Faber), and Tehran at Twilight (Akashic Books), as well as the editor of Tehran Noir (Akashic Books). His last novel, Out of Mesopotamia was a NYTimes Editor’s Choice and Best Book of the Year from Publishers Weekly. His forthcoming book, A Nearby Country called Love (Viking) was selected by Buzz Books for their Great Reads Series (Fall/Winter 2023) His essays and short stories have appeared in various publications including the New York Times, BOMB, Callaloo, Guernica, and on the BBC. He is the recipient of the NYFA Prize and the National Endowment for the Arts award. He currently teaches in the CCNY’s MFA Program in Creative Writing and is the Director of the Undergraduate Creative Writing Program.