Mundome (1974), Mojtabai's first novel, is a series of reflections or reveries on a few recurring themes. Richard Henken, the narrator, is an archivist, a specialist in "fugitive and ephemeral materials" in a mouldering public library. He spends his time outside of work caring for Meg, his mentally disturbed sister, who deteriorates as the book progresses. Richard is sane, sober, and responsible; Meg is everything Richard is not. The novel has two settings - inner and outer - which fuse at the end, and only one main character, or perhaps two main characters who fuse at the end. There are two equally cogent ways of reading the book; Mojtabai claims to have written it both ways, and has preserved all the ambiguities. Her aim is to produce vertigo in the reader - "a sense of radical dislocation." The book was praised for its poetic imagery and lapidary precision, and faulted for its lack of sensuality and lyricism

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