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Montreal Gazette, QC, Canada
Sept 22 2012
Final Edition
Love in time of genocide; Mass Killing of Armenians informs novel
by TRACY SHERLOCK, Postmedia News
The Sandcastle GIRLS represents somewhat of a departure for author
Chris Bohjalian, who usually writes about controversial or intriguing
issues in his novels and often presents convincing arguments for both
sides of a debate.
This time, he tackles historical fiction - albeit of a controversial
event - from a personal perspective. He writes about the mass
deportation of Armenians, some of whom were his ancestors, by the
Ottoman Empire during the First World War. Here's what he wrote about
deciding to write The Sandcastle Girls in an essay for The Armenian
Times:
"The novel has been gestating at the very least since 1992, when I
first tried to make sense of the Armenian Genocide: a slaughter that
most of the world knows next to nothing about.
"Three of my four Armenian great-grandparents died in the poisonous
miasma of the genocide and the First World War. Moreover, some of my
best - and from a novelist's perspective most interesting - childhood
memories occurred while I was visiting my Armenian grandparents at
their massive brick monolith of a home in a suburb of New York City."
The use of the term "genocide" in relation to the events that occurred
in what was to become Turkey is politically charged.
Some countries, including Canada, have recognized the Armenian deaths
as a genocide, while other countries, including the United States and
Turkey, have not. Bohjalian's book is clearly on the side of those who
believe the Armenians were being deliberately and systematically wiped
out.
The book is narrated by a modern-day fictional female author named
Laura Petrosian, who is also descended from Armenian grandparents. She
finds a disturbing photo of an Armenian woman who shares her last
name, and is then motivated to dig into her grandparents' history.
The novel alternates between Laura Petrosian's present-day story, and
that of her grandparents: the displaced Armenian engineer Armen
Petrosian and the young American woman Elizabeth Endicott, who travels
to Syria in 1915 with her physician father to deliver aid and food to
the Armenians.
The ensuing story is, at its heart, a love story, but it is also a
grim and at times harsh look at these controversial events.
Elizabeth and Armen, whose wife and daughter have disappeared in the
conflict, become friends. Armen joins the British army in Egypt,
putting his life at risk in doing so.
While he is away, Armen and Elizabeth write letters to each other, and
begin to fall in love. Meanwhile, in the present-day timeline, Laura
finds the letters and uses them as the basis for her research.
Bohjalian's books are always entertaining, and this one continues in
that tradition. Readers should be prepared for some description and
passages that are difficult to read and that might make them
uncomfortable, but at the same time there is much to learn here.
The love story is touching and believable, adding a softer dimension
to what is at times a brutal story.
The Sandcastle Girls By Chris Bohjalian Doubleday, 320 pages, $28.95
Sept 22 2012
Final Edition
Love in time of genocide; Mass Killing of Armenians informs novel
by TRACY SHERLOCK, Postmedia News
The Sandcastle GIRLS represents somewhat of a departure for author
Chris Bohjalian, who usually writes about controversial or intriguing
issues in his novels and often presents convincing arguments for both
sides of a debate.
This time, he tackles historical fiction - albeit of a controversial
event - from a personal perspective. He writes about the mass
deportation of Armenians, some of whom were his ancestors, by the
Ottoman Empire during the First World War. Here's what he wrote about
deciding to write The Sandcastle Girls in an essay for The Armenian
Times:
"The novel has been gestating at the very least since 1992, when I
first tried to make sense of the Armenian Genocide: a slaughter that
most of the world knows next to nothing about.
"Three of my four Armenian great-grandparents died in the poisonous
miasma of the genocide and the First World War. Moreover, some of my
best - and from a novelist's perspective most interesting - childhood
memories occurred while I was visiting my Armenian grandparents at
their massive brick monolith of a home in a suburb of New York City."
The use of the term "genocide" in relation to the events that occurred
in what was to become Turkey is politically charged.
Some countries, including Canada, have recognized the Armenian deaths
as a genocide, while other countries, including the United States and
Turkey, have not. Bohjalian's book is clearly on the side of those who
believe the Armenians were being deliberately and systematically wiped
out.
The book is narrated by a modern-day fictional female author named
Laura Petrosian, who is also descended from Armenian grandparents. She
finds a disturbing photo of an Armenian woman who shares her last
name, and is then motivated to dig into her grandparents' history.
The novel alternates between Laura Petrosian's present-day story, and
that of her grandparents: the displaced Armenian engineer Armen
Petrosian and the young American woman Elizabeth Endicott, who travels
to Syria in 1915 with her physician father to deliver aid and food to
the Armenians.
The ensuing story is, at its heart, a love story, but it is also a
grim and at times harsh look at these controversial events.
Elizabeth and Armen, whose wife and daughter have disappeared in the
conflict, become friends. Armen joins the British army in Egypt,
putting his life at risk in doing so.
While he is away, Armen and Elizabeth write letters to each other, and
begin to fall in love. Meanwhile, in the present-day timeline, Laura
finds the letters and uses them as the basis for her research.
Bohjalian's books are always entertaining, and this one continues in
that tradition. Readers should be prepared for some description and
passages that are difficult to read and that might make them
uncomfortable, but at the same time there is much to learn here.
The love story is touching and believable, adding a softer dimension
to what is at times a brutal story.
The Sandcastle Girls By Chris Bohjalian Doubleday, 320 pages, $28.95