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Kirkus Reviews (Print)
February 1, 2015, Sunday
ORHAN'S INHERITANCE
FICTION
In Ohanesian's debut novel, a Turkish man confronts secrets about his
family and his country's history and is faced with an impossible
choice: Should the past remain in the past, or should all stories,
even the most painful, come to light? When his grandfather dies, Orhan
returns from Istanbul to the small village where he grew up and the
contentious relationship he shares with his father; the tension is
exacerbated when his grandfather's will reveals that he has left the
family dye business to Orhan and the family house to a strange woman
in an Armenian-American nursing home. While the rest of the nursing
home prepares for an exhibit called "Bearing Witness: An Exhibit About
Memory and Identity," Seda at first refuses to talk to Orhan about her
connection to his grandfather.
When she finally unburdens herself, giving voice to a harrowing tale
of unimaginable sacrifice, he must decide what to do with this new
information about his family and about the horrors of his country's
history. In a complex balance, Ohanesian often condemns language as
insufficient to convey these stories of loss and pain, while at the
same time recognizing that telling the story can be cathartic and even
universally necessary. The heart of the novel seems to suggest that
"[t]here is only what is, what happened. The words come much later,
corrupting everything with meaning." There are deep reflections on
guilt, both collective and individual, and the power of memory to
destroy or to heal. By rejecting the power of the written word but
also, in writing a novel, relying on it to be powerful, Ohanesian
explores both sides of this argument about bearing witness to Turkey's
terrible legacy. A novel that delves into the darkest corners of human
history and emerges with a tenuous sense of hope.
Publication Date: 2015-04-07
Publisher: Algonquin
Stage: Adult
ISBN: 978-1-61620-374-0
Price: $25.95
Author: Ohanesian, Aline
February 1, 2015, Sunday
ORHAN'S INHERITANCE
FICTION
In Ohanesian's debut novel, a Turkish man confronts secrets about his
family and his country's history and is faced with an impossible
choice: Should the past remain in the past, or should all stories,
even the most painful, come to light? When his grandfather dies, Orhan
returns from Istanbul to the small village where he grew up and the
contentious relationship he shares with his father; the tension is
exacerbated when his grandfather's will reveals that he has left the
family dye business to Orhan and the family house to a strange woman
in an Armenian-American nursing home. While the rest of the nursing
home prepares for an exhibit called "Bearing Witness: An Exhibit About
Memory and Identity," Seda at first refuses to talk to Orhan about her
connection to his grandfather.
When she finally unburdens herself, giving voice to a harrowing tale
of unimaginable sacrifice, he must decide what to do with this new
information about his family and about the horrors of his country's
history. In a complex balance, Ohanesian often condemns language as
insufficient to convey these stories of loss and pain, while at the
same time recognizing that telling the story can be cathartic and even
universally necessary. The heart of the novel seems to suggest that
"[t]here is only what is, what happened. The words come much later,
corrupting everything with meaning." There are deep reflections on
guilt, both collective and individual, and the power of memory to
destroy or to heal. By rejecting the power of the written word but
also, in writing a novel, relying on it to be powerful, Ohanesian
explores both sides of this argument about bearing witness to Turkey's
terrible legacy. A novel that delves into the darkest corners of human
history and emerges with a tenuous sense of hope.
Publication Date: 2015-04-07
Publisher: Algonquin
Stage: Adult
ISBN: 978-1-61620-374-0
Price: $25.95
Author: Ohanesian, Aline