Evil Still Walks theEarth

Evil Still Walks the Earth, September 16, 2012

By Micki Peluso (New York, USA)

This review is from: Lori's Song: The true story of an American woman held captive in Iran (Paperback)

Lori's Song by Lori Foroozandeh
The true story of an American woman held captive in Iran
Outskirts Press, Inc.

Lori begins her book telling of her abuse as an infant and subsequent adoption into a home with parents who love her. The two older sisters are jealous of her, and the sexual molestation from her older brother is ignored by their mother. Lori is not an easy child to raise and at 15, tells her parents she's getting married--which they must agree to, or she threatens to become pregnant. She marries Mike, who is five years older than she and who manages to impress her parents. The marriage last eight months

What is Lori to do? Join the Army of course--then get pregnant and marry her recruiter causing him to go AWOL. The best thing Lori has in her young life is her son Douglas. She goes through Army Boot Camp and continues a wild life of partying - even in the Army, managing to go AWOL with a girlfriend. They get caught by their own captain at a military party in a hotel. This book is not without irony and humor. She divorces her husband who cheats on her with her sister, only to have her life," plunge into Hell".

Lori marries her third husband, Mohammed Fooroozandeh, at 27, while attending college--ignoring his ex-wife's warning of his violence. She marries in a Muslim wedding ceremony and they live a wealthy life. Mohammed talks her into going to Iran, telling her it is modern now and nothing like its reputation. Dougie wisely decides to try living with his father for a while. When they arrive in Iran, Lori's nightmare begins

At first Tehran looks like any other big city; modern, beautiful and crowded, but Lori soon notes differences, especially in the way women are treated by husbands, fathers, and men in general. She wears typical female Muslim garb, covered from head to toe. Women can be executed for just looking at a man not their husband. Lori sees a man swinging by his neck in an execution, which her husband states is how it should be. She begins to see Mohammed for the man he really is. Lori gives readers an in-depth description of Muslim life and customs, but as she writes, while "she was adjusting to Iran, Iran wasn't adjusting to her".

Lori finds a job teaching young Iranian women but her joy in this is destroyed when one of her students is drowned by her father for being with a man. Mohammed begins abusing her; his mother hates her even though Lori acts as the mother's private nurse. Life just gets worse; Lori is beaten brutally by her husband and rumors abound that America will be attacked on 9/11/ 2001. How coincidental, Lori thinks, that they left right before the tragic event -- Or was it? She tries to call to warn her parents and her country, but can't get through to America. After 911, Mohammed wants to leave Iran for fear of repercussions, but before they get to the airport they are separated, handcuffed and blindfolded and arrested for allegedly stealing from business clients. Lori is in a truck with other men and women captives. She never sees Mohammed again.

Lori is chained to a girl named Faresh. The camp consists of prisoners of many nationalities, held by a radical Iranian religious group, who especially despise Americans. Lori is kicked in the head until unconscious, for asking for a phone. After her horrendous brutality and rape, plus starvation, Lori and the others are taken to another camp. This one is worse than the first and the rapes, beatings, and starvation even more inhumane and relentless. Lori and the other women are raped daily by at least 26 men, in ways too horrible to relate. The women are injected into their gums with heroin. Lori loses 70 pounds and has most of her teeth knocked out or broken. Her captivity is due to being "an American whore". Author Lori Fooozandeh writes of her escape with the help of Faresh's brother, and two men waiting outside the POW camp fence. She makes it to her Iranian home, but is turned away. Lori manages to return home to the United States. She's finally finds lasting true love and acceptance. Lori's goal in writing this extraordinary book is to educate people, especially women, on the perils of visiting or living in a terrorist country. She is also a strong advocate for bipolar depression and posttraumatic stress syndrome, both of which she struggles with on a daily basis. This book should be read by everyone as a reminder of "man's inhumanity to man," It's also a book teaching first-hand, the" terrors" of living with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress syndrome.

Reviewer: Micki Peluso, writer, journalist and author of . . . And the Whippoorwill Sang