The opening of most Iranian folktales is a statement, which literally means ‘once, there was someone and there wasn’t the other’ and Rahim Makhdoumi used that old convention to begin his book in this way:

“Our Islamic Revolution is a true story in which ‘there was someone’ refers to the poor and the barefoot and ‘there wasn’t the other’ is about the rich and the oppressors. The story of our glorious defense is the sequel to the story of the revolution. Among all existing viewpoints, the present book has selected the one which can see the bare feet of the guys who kept their promise to that late old man for eight straight years in hot and cold days, in mountains and plains, while ignoring the changes in policies and officials.”

By ‘old man’, he means Imam Khomeini who never failed to address the oppressed people in his speeches during the revolution and Iran-Iraq war. These oppressed and barefoot people comprised most of his supporters and followers. As Imam said, “Those who saw their youth sacrificed for the revolution were from the deprived classes. They can come and see for themselves. How many of the rich, how many of those who are now sitting aside vilifying the Islamic Republic have ever set foot in the battlefront? How many martyrs have they offered for their country? None, I promise. The only exception may be those who have broken away from them and joined Hezbollah, who are not many. You can see that all the martyrs belong to the ranks of the deprived classes.”

‘Unobserved Stars’ is the memories of Rahim Makhdoumi written in a timeline mode; however, divided into 24 sections and its eloquent and narrative tone makes the story appealing. The motif of this book concerns the poor and or the oppressed people. For example, the story mentions the true story of an Afghan refugee looking for a job in Iran, but when the war triggers off, he forgets about everything and volunteers for the war. Each time he is injured and hospitalized, no one comes to visit him. He eventually martyrs and his funeral ceremony was held by a family which he used to work for.