The similarities between the Armenian experience and the Jewish experience were scary, as they speak to human nature and how easy it is to turn on your neighbor and those you do not know, how cruel people can be and how they can justify insane behavior. As someone who has read so many books about the Holocaust (WW2) I found it fascinating - and disturbing to read about this event, because I knew so little about it. Really interesting novel about the Armenian genocide that took place in Turkey. I believe that the journey to discovery changes the course of his life. Untangling the family connections is a daunting task and once he opens that box he may not like what he discovers.
”Is that what the exhibit is about? Finding a cure for your grief?” Orhan asks Ani. It’s as if the events that occurred are the sole property of the descendants of the Armenian victims of that wartime atrocity. Must hate and rancor pass from generation to generation because one’s grandfather hurt the other’s grandfather?Īni is angry with her aunt’s generation for not talking about their experiences during the war: ”You know, there’s no difference between withholding and lying, right?” Ani asks her aunt But she seems equally angry that Orhan, a Turk, would want to explore the exhibit and learn what happened from her aunt. It made me wonder when, or whether, one can ever let go of past wrongs. But Seda’s niece and others of her generation seem bent on exploring their families’ histories. She has put those memories aside in order to live her life. However, Seda seems to want to forget about it. What people had to do to survive and how the trauma affected them forms the basis for a compelling story.Īs Orhan meets with Seda to discover her connection to his family, he learns about events the world seems to have forgotten. So, this is an interesting and informative subject on which to focus. There are not a lot of fiction books about World War I (as compared to WW II), and only a small number that deal with the Armenian genocide. The novel moves back and forth between 1990s and the last days of the Ottoman empire. Seda and Kemal’s story of young love across religious and cultural taboos unfolds against the backdrop of World War I and the Armenian genocide. Orhan travels to California to meet with Seda and try to discover her connection to his family.
But, Kemal leaves the family home to a woman no one has heard of – Seda Melkonian, an Armenian woman living in a Los Angeles retirement home. When he dies, his will bypasses his only son and Orhan inherits the decades-old business. Orhan’s grandfather Kemal built a dynasty out of making kilim rugs.
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