Funny in Farsi: Chapter 23 Summary & Analysis

Firoozeh and François move into an apartment in San Francisco. Shortly afterwards, there’s a big earthquake, and all the pictures François has hung on the wall fall to the ground and break. Firoozeh and François are unharmed, but Firoozeh wants to call her parents. Firoozeh’s parents are “highly evolved worriers”—when she was growing up, her parents would warn her about absurd possibilities, such as being bitten by deadly spiders. To Firoozeh’s dismay, the phone isn’t working.

Firoozeh goes downstairs to try another phone. There, she encounters an elderly woman who seems to be having a heart attack. Firoozeh calms the woman, and then asks if she can use the woman’s phone. The phone seems to be working, and the woman seems to be okay, so Firoozeh calls her parents. She explains to Kazem that she’s just survived a big earthquake, but Kazem cheerfully says, “No problem.”

Since getting married, Firoozeh has hoped that François’s side of the family will begin to be happy for them. After the earthquake, she calls François’s mother. When she explains what happened, though, François’s mother just asks if any of her china broke.

A few days later, the elderly woman who Firoozeh comforted shows up at Firoozeh and François’s apartment. She introduces herself as Golda Rubenstein and tells Firoozeh that she saved her life. A month later, she shows up again, this time bringing chocolate cake. Every month after that, she shows up to deliver cake, always weeping.

François and Firoozeh decide that they have no use for the china dishes (which haven’t broken, as it turns out). François proposes giving the dishes to a hospital auction to raise money for children. The dishes turn out to be very valuable, and for years to come François and Firoozeh are honored guests at the hospital’s galas and fundraisers. In a way, Firoozeh’s mother-in-law’s gift ends up bringing great joy to Firoozeh’s life.