The Gods Laugh on Mondays

The Gods Laugh on Mondays (in Persian: و خدايان دوشنبه‌ها مي‌خندند) was first novel by an Iranian author with pen name Reza Khoshnazar which was published in August 1995. It was a lurid chronicle of Iran in which the male protagonist is raped by his schoolmate, and can not be sure whether he liked it or not. He then marries a young woman who has an affair with his best friend. Eventually, the angst-ridden hero goes on a murder-suicide binge. This novel has been dedicated to Gregor Samsa protagonist of novel The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. Reaction was hot, and some conservative papers called Gods a blasphemy. However, some days later, men came at night saying they are Islamic building inspectors and torched the publisher book shop in August 22, 1995. Subsequently, Reza Khoshnazar has published three other novels in Sweden.