The Last Place My Family Was Whole

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I think one thing that really impressed me while reading the book was just the intricacy of the stories that you shared. I felt the sense of the incredible burden it is to try to explain your life to people who have no context whatsoever for what it's like to not be from Edmund, Oklahoma. The two biggest categories are food and poop which makes sense. Yeah as a reminder he's telling the story from a 12 year old perspective that's why the poop is a relevant point of story. I think it's very relevant. But also that doesn't need to come at the expense of American cuisine American cuisine has been absolutely incredible.

Do the stories we tell about ourselves have the power to change us? Our guest today says they can.

To wrap up our season on meaning and purpose, we talk with author Daniel Nayeri. In his award-winning young adult novel, Everything Sad is Untrue, Daniel writes from the perspective of his twelve-year-old self, sharing the story of how he, his sister, and his mother immigrated from Iran to Edmond, Oklahoma, after his mother’s conversion from Islam to Christianity. Although this immigration kept his family out of prison (or worse), life in the U.S. came at a cost, too. Through his storytelling, Daniel also processes what he left behind: his beloved stuffed animal ("Mr. Sheep Sheep"), a life of comfort in Iran, and his larger-than-life father.

In this episode, we explore finding meaning through storytelling, the impact of an active imagination, and how the sustaining hope of the Christian story makes even a refugee camp in the Italian countryside a place of opportunity and joy.