is it just me, or is the aside about "Khanoom" meaning "lady" in Persian extremely awkward? Actually, both parts of that parenthesis are really awkward if you ask me - that "Khanoom" refers to his mother is obvious enough, and the meaning of her (nick)name can wait until a more convenient occasion for explaining it comes along, surely? Not sure the "exactly once" makes much sense to me, either. And then there's a couple of things I don't even get - "least visited whim"? "But a child like that, sure"?

I'm actually inclined to say that paragraph is an interesting mix of really good writing and really not-so-good writing.