An Iranian Odyssey

This embittered autobiography gives a grim picture of what it is like to grow up poor, powerless and female in a culture where sexism is taken for granted. Kordi was born in a village in Iran. The family's boys were cosseted and as well fed as could be managed. The girls did not fare as well: at three, Kordi became blind during a bout with smallpox; her sister died of starvation before she was two. Her mother, who saw a blind daughter as ``bad luck,'' would say, ``You are a nuisance . . . Why don't you just go and leave me free.'' When debt compelled her family to flee their village for Teheran, Kordi was put on the street to beg. When the police rounded up beggars, her parents left her in the ``Beggar's House,'' where she was severely ill, for weeks before bringing her home. Determined to escape from her relatives, Kordi sought admission to a school for the blind run by English missionaries. There she eagerly gained her first formal education but was sexually exploited by ``Miss D,'' a staff member. Kordi, who seems to have survived on sheer determination, went on to become the first blind woman to attend Teheran University. (Feb.)