Book Review: My Name is Mahtob

As soon as I saw the author's name on the cover of this book, I knew I had to read this continuation of the story from the movie Not Without My Daughter. My mother recommended the movie to me many years ago, and it is one of our favorites. Sally Field does an outstanding job of portraying Betty Mahmoody's strength and resilience in the face of forced detainment in Iran. The opportunity to hear from the child who endured the trial with her was too good to ignore. Besides, who wouldn't be lured in by that beautiful, innocent face?

When Mahtob Mahmoody was almost five years old, her Iranian father and American mother took her to Iran for a two-week vacation to see her paternal relatives. Mahtob's father had always been gentle and loving, even doting. Although he was educated in the United States as a doctor, Moody decided to remain in Iran and intended to keep his wife and daughter there with him. He claims the movie misrepresented him to garner viewers. Yet, the story Mahtob tells in this book is consistent with the movie. Mahtob says she never read her mother's book because she didn't have to ... she lived through it alongside her mother.

In this book, the reader enters the mind of a growing child whose fears of abduction continue to plague her long after the actual detainment in Iran. Despite the traumatizing nature of her life story, Mahtob is resilient and focuses on hope. I was not aware of her grounding in the faith. The movie shows the mother and daughter huddled in the bathroom praying for deliverance, but many petition His hand when held to the flame. Mahtob's personal faith helped her forgive her father for robbing her freedom and sense of security. It kept her strong during his continuing campaign to reunite them.

When others argue that she, of all people, should recognize how harmful religion can be, Mahtob responds with genuine faith in the unmerited grace of God through belief in Jesus Christ. She argues that every individual can make a difference in this world (as her mother did in petitioning for better laws to prevent international child abduction). Mahtob's elementary school teachers encouraged her to hide God's Word in her heart because it was the one thing nobody could ever take from her. What a great lesson! As the back cover proclaims, "My Name is Mahtob portrays the resilience of a wounded soul healed by faith in the goodness of God."