This memoir of notches not carved is surprisingly readable, displaying a melancholy tenderness and candid self-awareness rarely found in confessional writing ... Chastened feels like a genuine attempt to find a solution to a loveless life, and articulates the thoughts of many single women with a purposeful freshness

Her book is tender, clever, heartbreaking and funny ... every single woman and man should read it before even thinking of going on a date again

Fascinating, revealing and bravely honest work...Anderson focuses on the much-maligned concepts of love, courtship and the intimacies of chastity

In the course of this sexless year, she flirts, texts and (platonically) romps her way through innumerable encounters...however with Chastened you get what it says on the cover: no Sex in the City

Chastened is more than fashionable dinky. One hopes that Anderson will write the novels that are evidently within her

Much ado about nothing...but comic and honest piece written by Anderson herself

Thoughtful and insightful. Anderson manages to avoid the expected clichés and monotony by offering a considered combination of autobiography, psychology, feminist history, anthropology and sociology in her writing

The elegant prose is meandering and poetic... [Anderson] imparts her wisdom with accessible and informative references

this candid account.. raises questions from a world more shocked by 'chastity' than 'pole dancing'

This honest account is a real eye opener

Heart-warming memoir which will strike a chord with women everywhere from the first page. If your love life is jaded and you want to turn things around, this will inspire you

A bedroom confessional for the thinking girl, written with novelistic flair and offering that unbeatable diary-peeking thrill. Every woman will find herself here.

[A] beautifully written memoir

A gifted storyteller with a mastery of Western literature, Nafisi knows how to use language both to settle scores and to seduce. Her family secrets pour forth in a flood of revelations of anger, humiliation and deceit

An utterly memorable book

All readers should read it

Enthralled

This is a remarkable insight into a fascinating period of history, and a touching portrait of astonishing tenacity and integrity in the face of adversity that few in the Western world could imagine

A balanced, lucid narrative; a rich, complex account of this crucial part of Iranian history

A powerful memoir of Nafisi's Iranian childhood, her mother and a homeland shattered by political revolution