On Books review: “The Rug Merchant”

It is hard to imagine a less likely couple than Ushman and Stella.

He is an Iranian immigrant in his late 30s, a dealer in Persian carpets who lives in Queens. She is a 19-year-old Barnard College student from the South. If their romance was precarious to begin with, it becomes even more so when Ushman’s best customer, a wealthy Manhattan woman, and his ex-wife in Iran weigh in. And yet, for a time, they form their own little world in “The Rug Merchant” by Meg Mullins (Penguin, $14).

“The Rug Merchant” is a flawed story, but offers a fascinating window on a culture that Americans pretty much wrote off when the Ayatollah Khomeini came to power a generation ago. I don’t know how Meg Mullins got into Ushman’s head, but it’s worth reading the book, despite the sometimes labored dialogue, to get there, too.

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independentmail.com
Sunday, September 9, 2007