...we shot our heretical need
to see the horror of the past
through a wide-angled lens
Peter Balakain (but quoted from "The Sandcastle Girls" by Chris Bohjanian)
Eat your green beans. Think of the starving Armenians.
My Grandma
What do all of these names, Kardasian, Balakain, Bohjanian, have in common? They all end in ian and that means they are most likely Armenian.
My book club's pick for this month is "The Sandcastle Girls." I must tell you that I'd never heard of it. Sounded like a fun book. Maybe a beach read.
I picked it up from the library a couple of days ago and since then I've been searching the Internet, looking at the big map in the garage and talking with smart folks who know something about Armenia because this book is opening up my mind and my heart to a part of history I haven't really known much about.
It's not a beach read. It's about the Armenian Genocide, when Turkey (around 1915, back when it was the Ottoman Empire) tried to wipe out all of the Armenians.
Like other genocides, it wasn't just the the killing. There was the torture, rape and starvation that came before death. Initially, thousands of men were killed outright but the women and children endured worse.
"Sandcastle Girls" is a love story and an historical novel. Early on, Elizabeth, a missionary from America, has arrived in Aleppo with her father to try to be of help. Soon she sees a group of about 125 starving, naked women being marched through the center of town: The guards beat the women and when they fall they yank them back up by their hair.
From the little bit of additional research I've done, this seems like an accurate description of what was happening.
There are accounts in the book about how, at that time in history, photography was very difficult and therefore, documentation was difficult. This is sad because there are still those people today who say the Armenian Genocide never happened.
Can't help but think about how, now, almost everything that happens in the world is documented in real time.
I'm halfway through Chris Bohjalian's book, "The Sandcastle Girls." It's going to take a while to finish because it keeps driving me to more research.
***
to see the horror of the past
through a wide-angled lens
Peter Balakain (but quoted from "The Sandcastle Girls" by Chris Bohjanian)
Eat your green beans. Think of the starving Armenians.
My Grandma
What do all of these names, Kardasian, Balakain, Bohjanian, have in common? They all end in ian and that means they are most likely Armenian.My book club's pick for this month is "The Sandcastle Girls." I must tell you that I'd never heard of it. Sounded like a fun book. Maybe a beach read.
I picked it up from the library a couple of days ago and since then I've been searching the Internet, looking at the big map in the garage and talking with smart folks who know something about Armenia because this book is opening up my mind and my heart to a part of history I haven't really known much about.
It's not a beach read. It's about the Armenian Genocide, when Turkey (around 1915, back when it was the Ottoman Empire) tried to wipe out all of the Armenians.
Like other genocides, it wasn't just the the killing. There was the torture, rape and starvation that came before death. Initially, thousands of men were killed outright but the women and children endured worse.
"Sandcastle Girls" is a love story and an historical novel. Early on, Elizabeth, a missionary from America, has arrived in Aleppo with her father to try to be of help. Soon she sees a group of about 125 starving, naked women being marched through the center of town: The guards beat the women and when they fall they yank them back up by their hair.
From the little bit of additional research I've done, this seems like an accurate description of what was happening.
There are accounts in the book about how, at that time in history, photography was very difficult and therefore, documentation was difficult. This is sad because there are still those people today who say the Armenian Genocide never happened.
Can't help but think about how, now, almost everything that happens in the world is documented in real time.
I'm halfway through Chris Bohjalian's book, "The Sandcastle Girls." It's going to take a while to finish because it keeps driving me to more research.
***
