Gardens of Grief

As a little girl I often heard the story of how my grandmother escaped the Turks by dressing like a boy in order to leave the old country, Armenia, which was then part of Turkey. Dressing as a boy gave her more of a chance to leave, unharmed. She left because of the Armenian Genocide in which about one and a half million Christian Armenians were slaughtered (out of two million in the Ottoman Empire), and eventually settled in America. In my mind I saw Atta, the name we called my grandmother, wearing baggy boys' clothing, with short or pulled back hair and a wildly beating heart, trying to pass as a boy to escape detection by the Turkish people, because Armenian girls and women were often raped, then killed, during this massacre, which began in 1915 (if not earlier) during World War I.

When I was asked to review an advance copy of Gardens of Grief by Boston Teran, which will be published in April of 2011, I was interested because of my personal connection to the subject of this book. It's a subject I've heard and read about for many years--my grandmother was 1000% Armenian, according to my Italian grandfather--and I was eager to read a contemporary, fictionalized account about the Armenian Genocide.

With spare and striking prose, Boston Teran (more about the author to come) presents a dramatic and believable story, which brings the horrors of the genocide to life. In Gardens of Grief, which is a short, pithy work of historical fiction, the latest novel in The Creed of Violence series, the story revolves around John Lourdes, a Mexican-American agent who is sent to Constantinople by the U.S. to help an Armenian priest, Malek, travel safely across the war-ravaged Ottoman Empire. The priest is revered by his fellow Armenians, but being hunted by the Turkish and German people. (What is it about old Armenian priests? They have an air of mystery about them, and command respect, and this character is no exception.) The story also features a bit of romance between John and a young Turkish-American woman, Alev Temple, who is trying to help the Armenians.

Gardens of Grief is well written and offers the perfect quantity of detail, which brings the story to life: the smoking, the quiet moments, the screaming and noise of shootings and explosions, the feet of the priest (I say no more), the brutality and horrors of the genocide, including death marches. Events are depicted with the right words and the right amount of words--there's nothing extraneous--and the imagination is left intact as a result. I'm not a smoker, but when they lit up their cigarettes I could see and smell the smoke. (That's what the men of that era did; that's how they calmed themselves and carried on.) The descriptions of the large piles of decaying Armenian bodies in the landscape are incredibly awful, incredibly revolting, but also incredibly necessary to the story, which is about the truth.

This epic novel will be made into a movie, which I can immediately visualize, and see as a good way to educate people about the first genocide of modern history. (As I've mentioned before, gorgeous Kim Kardashian may star in the movie. Let's also consider Cher Sarkisian for a role, and even Andre Agassi, now that he's given up tennis.) Although we may wish to deny or forget what happened, we really cannot--to do so is immoral. Adding another layer of tragedy to this event, the Armenian Genocide may have paved the way for the Jewish Holocaust of World War II. We must remember and never allow this type of religious or ethnic persecution to be taken to such an extreme again.

Who is Boston Teran? Is the author a relative of the famous Armenian-American author William Saroyan? Why did this man adopt a pen name? Or maybe the author is not a man, but a woman. Or a group of writers. Many times I asked myself why the identity of this author is kept a secret. (Was it my imagination, or was my blog suddenly getting more hits from Yerevan?) I wondered about the true identity of Boston Teran, author of seven novels. Who is this enigmatic author?

Special thanks to Jocelyn from Kelley & Hall for sending me this book.

Spring Break at the Hotel Chelsea

Mark Twain. O. Henry. Tennessee Williams. Arthur Miller. Simone de Beauvoir. Bob Dylan. Joni Mitchell. Janis Joplin. Leonard Cohen. Jane Fonda. Uma Thurman. Stanley Kubrick. Frida Kahlo. Countless writers, musicians, actors, directors, and artists have lived or stayed in NY's historic Hotel Chelsea. With such an artistic legacy, I felt privileged and honored to spend a week at this elegant, spacious, bohemian hotel ("boho") for spring break.

Taken from the living room balcony outside of our suite (the "C" in Chelsea wasn't visible from this angle), this photo features the hotel sign and street fair below.


Colorful, contemporary art brightens the lobby and lines the stairways of the Chelsea Hotel. Taking the stairs was like walking through art galleries.


I found this picture along the stairway. It's by one of my favorite contemporary artists, Niki de Saint-Phalle, who's known internationally for her large mosaic sculptures (pictured below is part of Southern California's Queen Califia's Magical Circle).


By now you may be thinking, isn't this a blog about books, not art? Don't worry, I'm getting to the books now. Truth be told, it was hard to settle down and read in NY. I saw my family and we were out a lot--we went to the theater to see three shows, West Side Story, Guys and Dolls (with Oliver Platt), and Accent on Youth (with David Hyde Pierce, and which features metaplaywriting). Most of my reading took place in flight, which is always the best way to make time fly by. I was able to finish two books on my To-Be-Read list.

~~~~~~~~~~

This Armenian memorial is in Emerson, NJ, and relates to one of the books I finished over spring break, The Road From Home: A True Story of Courage, Survival, and Hope by David Kherdian, the true story of a young girl's escape from the Armenian genocide. Published in 1979, this book about a young Armenian girl, Vernon Dumehjian Kherdian, has won several awards including a Newbery Honor Award. It's an important book because it preserves memories and records history, and will help future generations remember the extermination of the Armenians.  I found that once I started reading this book, I couldn't stop.  David Kherdian tells his mother's story as Vernon's life goes from idyllic to horrifying very quickly because of this devastating holocaust, but her will to survive is strong.  I recommend this young adult book to older readers, too, who have an interest in historical stories which depict extraordinary strength, spirit, and courage.

~~~~~~~~~~

"My size makes me speak slowly and move slowly, and it's also paradoxically enabled me to slip through cracks no one in Aberdeen would think possible."
~ The Little Giant of Aberdeen County, Tiffany Baker

Another book I read and enjoyed, mostly at very high altitudes, was The Little Giant of Aberdeen County, published in 2009, the first novel by Tiffany Baker. I'd seen this book in the NY Times Book Review a few months ago and vowed to read it, because one of my favorite books is Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi, which happens to be about the life of a German dwarf (a zwerg), Trudi Montag, who helps Jews escape the holocaust. I thought that I might also enjoy a book about a giant (or giantess). Perhaps this is a tenuous connection, but the book proved to be a good choice. The Little Giant of Aberdeen County is a beautiful, memorable debut by Tiffany Baker, the story of a very large young girl who must learn to live with her unexpected, monstrous size. Truly Plaice, the heroine and narrator of this story, is born large and keeps on growing bigger, in a small town where she's often mocked due to her appearance, whereas her older sister, Serena Jane, is a normal-sized, eye-catching beauty. When Serena Jane suddenly disappears, leaving behind a husband and young son, Truly's life changes and she grows in new and unexpected ways. This grand novel is about inner and outer beauty, finding your place in the world, love and friendship, medicine and magic, life and death. I was captivated by this original book from start to finish, and look forward to reading more by this author.

Zabelle

Yes hay em.

That means, I am Armenian. My grandparents arrived here from Armenia to escape the 1915 Armenian Genocide in Turkey. I'm also part Italian--but that's not important right now. When I was a child, it felt very peculiar to be Armenian. When kids asked me what nationality I was (and they seemed to do that a lot during my elementary school days), I shrugged or became mute. I dreaded these inquiries, and wouldn't tell them I was Armenian. Even worse, though, was attending Armenian school, which was held on Saturday mornings. The school was within walking distance, and as I trudged back home after class with my sisters, Armenian textbooks in our arms, I was afraid I'd see someone I knew. If friends were outside they'd notice the books, with their strange letters from a different alphabet, and ask questions. I did not want to be seen with these books, this evidence of my otherness. It was sheer torture to me. When we stopped going to Armenian school I was relieved, although I still continued to hide my heritage from others.

As I grew up, I learned to accept my heritage and in fact, became glad that I am part Armenian. Nancy Kricorian is a poet as well as an author of fiction who's also of Armenian descent. A poet first and foremost, her inspiration for her first novel, Zabelle, published in 1998, was to write for a larger audience, and to record some of the many memories and stories she had of her grandmother. Further inspiration came from Sula by Toni Morrison, and My Name is Aram by another Armenian author, William Saroyan.

Nancy Kricorian is a wonderful storyteller, and this book will enchant you from the first page until the very last. Based on the life of her grandmother, Zabelle is the fictional story of Kricorian's grandmother (and many other Armenians) who escaped the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey and made a new life in America. In the story, Zabelle Chahasbanian emigrates to America in an arranged marriage to an Armenian grocer, Toros, in Watertown, MA. Her mother-in-law is mean and domineering, but Zabelle learns to stand her ground. She has three children, Moses, Jack, and Joy, who face cultural conflicts as second-generation Armenians growing up in America. This book paints an intimate portrait of Zabelle and her family, and is both touching and comical, like all good drama.

Even if you are not Armenian but odar you will enjoy this very entertaining book. It's written with passion and captures your attention, completely, regardless of your nationality.