Topic: book review
The world of Ara Iskanderian’s first published novella, Godless Hour — A Yerevan Tale (Gomidas Institute, 2021) is a fantasy world. In the author’s own words, it is a world in which “the magical, the mythical, and the unreal . . .[...]
LOS ANGELES — Richard Antaramian’s 2020 book, Brokers of Faith, Brokers of Empire, breaks new ground in the historical analysis of the Armenian world of the late Ottoman Empire. In so doing, the book challenges assumptions long held in[...]
When he switches from writing to painting, “You turned from one no-money work to another no-money work, and now no woman will want you and you will never have a family,” says Zaruhi Najarian to her son Pete (also the narrator) in the[...]
When you catch yourself talking to a character in a book, that indicates the writer(s) have drawn it well enough so that you feel invested, even moved by the character. Well, in Choose Me, the new book by Gary Goshgarian (using the pen[...]
Micheline Aharonian Marcom’s a brief history of yes (Dalkey Archive Press, 2013) is the story of two lovers, the blond-haired, blue-eyed American man and the dark-eyed, dark-haired girl from Portugal, who say yes when they first meet at[...]
LOS ANGELES — Prior to reading Micheline Aharonian Marcom’s The Brick House (Awst Press, 2017), a novel that explores the horrors of the modern city through the irrational world of dreams, I had stumbled upon Marcom’s latest novel,[...]
So you are bored with your girlfriend and want to break up but surprise: she confesses she has been cheating on you with her work “friend.” Poor Harry Gnostopolos is having a bad time of it. And his girlfriend’s betrayal is just the[...]
The publication of this English translation of Armenian-American Sketches by Bedros Keljik is a landmark in the literary life of our community. When the Armenian-American community transitioned to being predominantly English-speaking in[...]
Feast of Ashes, by Sato Moughalian Redwood/Stanford University Press, 2019 Reviewed by Christopher Atamian Special to the Mirror-Spectator Born in 1884 in the village of Mouradchai outside of Eskishehir in Western Anatolia, David[...]
By Michael Bobelian Republicans hit rock bottom in 1964. Lyndon Johnson crushed Barry Goldwater by a record vote margin, and after ceding 36 House seats, the GOP was outnumbered 2 to 1 in both chambers of Congress. Already humiliated by[...]