Everything Sad Is Untrue

The narrator of this novel is named first as Khosrou, but Daniel is quick to articulate that readers don’t have to worry about pronouncing that name. It is his, but everyone calls him “Daniel.” His mother switched it for him one day, just asking “Daniel” for something without giving him further explanation. The name change is symbolic of Daniel’s identity crisis, the feeling that he is losing his past. He says early on “[t]he truth is that’s why I’m writing this. Behind me is the elemental fiend of my memories crumbling into power. I watch an arm disintegrate and instantly forget what was there” (49). He has been in the United States for six years, having arrived when he was very young. His memories are not perfect, but he clings to them. He has very few memories of his Baba Haji, for example, and when he asks his mother for more information about the most prominent of them, he is shocked to discover that he is remembering incorrectly. While he finds some peace in the correction of this memory, he also is sad to know that this memory has faded. Even more demonstrative of this is the phrase “A patchwork memory is the shame of a refugee,” which Daniel repeats throughout the novel and into the author’s note (49).