In False Prophet, Afsheen Farhadi explores what happens when grief, ambition, and storytelling can’t be separated. The novel follows actor Jal Persad, who, after his mother’s death, begins writing a memoir that places her at the center of Jim Jones’s rise in Guyana. The problem: almost none of it is true. As Jal’s fabricated story gains attention, Farhadi examines the stories we tell about ourselves and our families, and what can be lost when those stories become more useful than the truth.
We asked Farhadi to answer our My Reading Life Q&A so readers could learn about the books that shaped his life and influenced his writing.
What was the first book you were obsessed with as a child?
During a trip to visit some distant relatives, my father gave me a copy of Of Mice and Men. At the time, I was ten years old and already wanted to be a writer. I was also very shy, and I remember the novel keeping me company throughout that long weekend. It was the first book, but not the last, that provided me real companionship, into which I entered what felt like a deep and meaningful relationship.
What book helped you through puberty?
While I read regularly outside of school, I remember struggling with assigned readings throughout my adolescence. When my English teacher handed me The Great Gatsby, I think I cracked it open because it was so slim. I’m glad I did. If one of the struggles of puberty is trying to understand the uncomfortable, bursting adult feelings you’re newly experiencing, Gatsby was a beautifully crafted education on, among other things, outsized longing, obsession, and the way a person can shape their entire lives around love.
What book do you wish 16-year-old you had read?
I think books come to us, dedicated readers, often when we’re ready for them. I started reading George Saunders in college, when his work made a huge impression on me. But I do think that had I read him a couple of years earlier his work would have scratched an itch I didn’t even know was there yet.
If you were to teach a class on Damn Good Writing, what books would make the syllabus?
I recently taught The Empusium by Olga Tokarczuk, whose work I really admire. I remember being mesmerized by Paula Fox’s Desperate Characters the first time I read it. I think the short stories “A Temporary Matter” by Jhumpa Lahiri and “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin are masterclasses on damn good writing. Don Delillo writes sentences worthy of study, as does Roberto Bolano. This is obviously not an exhaustive list, and an exercise in futility since there are many ways to define and exemplify good writing.
What books helped guide you while writing your book?
There were several books and readings experiences on my mind as I wrote False Prophet. The effect I was going for had to do with character transformation and the reconstruction of identity. For this reason, I was thinking about Erasure by Percival Everett, “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka, and The Stranger by Albert Camus
What books are on your nightstand now?
I recently read Samantha Harvey’s Orbital for the same class I’m teaching (on mixed genre novels) in which I read The Empusium, so those two are still near at hand. Once the semester wraps the first thing I’ll read is The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa.s