worldlibraries's review
3.0
Maureen Freely says it best, "This book cuts through all the denial and tells the human story of a family." A greater start text on the subject. I would also recommend "Martyred Armenia," by Faiz El-Ghusain. That book can be found for free on Wikipedia. Further editions of this book would be enhanced by a family tree in both Turkish and Armenian.
liralen's review
3.0
Çetin's grandmother was, as far as Çetin knew for most of her life, a Turkish Muslim. It was only when Çetin was an adult and her grandmother nearing her last years that Çetin learned the truth: her grandmother had once had another name, another religion, another family—Armenian Christians. She'd been kidnapped during a death march and raised by her captors as a combination of daughter and servant. As Çetin tells it, her grandmother had more or less come to peace with this, had viewed her captor-father as a good man. What her grandmother still wondered about, though, was the family that had escaped to America.
This is one of those things that...the story is in parts fascinating and definitely important, but, knowing little about Turkey and less about Armenia, I would have needed a lot more context to really understand. This is a translation, and I suspect that most of those capable of reading the original would have at the very least a slightly better chance than I did of understanding all the nuance, but I think I'd have done better starting with a history book and then moving on to this. A lot of this is a secondhand story, which I suppose adds to the disconnected sense I had. Çetin was working only with what she had, though, but it sounds like there's...so much room to unpack so much more. How do you move on from having your entire life and family ripped away from you? How do you move on from the family you can find again not helping you get in contact with the others? These might not be questions Çetin could reasonably answer, but oof.
This is one of those things that...the story is in parts fascinating and definitely important, but, knowing little about Turkey and less about Armenia, I would have needed a lot more context to really understand. This is a translation, and I suspect that most of those capable of reading the original would have at the very least a slightly better chance than I did of understanding all the nuance, but I think I'd have done better starting with a history book and then moving on to this. A lot of this is a secondhand story, which I suppose adds to the disconnected sense I had. Çetin was working only with what she had, though, but it sounds like there's...so much room to unpack so much more. How do you move on from having your entire life and family ripped away from you? How do you move on from the family you can find again not helping you get in contact with the others? These might not be questions Çetin could reasonably answer, but oof.
zzzzh233's review
loved that so much of this was celebration of survivors family, traditions, resilience, passion and joy. their stories/history deserve to be documented and their names spoken beyond the sensationalization (and simultaneous censorship) of genocide
lukasch's review
5.0
Ein beeindruckender Nachruf. Ich hatte mich bis jetzt nur durch Werfels '40 Tage am Musa Dagh" mit dem Genozid an den Armeniern auseinandergesetzt. Frau Çetins Werk ist im Gegensatz dazu von einer Persönlichkeit geprägt, die auf ganz andere Art un Weise das Herz berührt. Sie lässt ihre Großmutter ihre Geschichte, ihre Vergangenheit und ihr Trauma berichten und legt für sie das Zeugnis für die Nachwelt ab.
Das lässt einen auch Fragen an die eigene Geschichte stellen. Was weiß ich über die Situation meiner Eltern, meiner Großeltern in meinem Alter? Man sollte ihnen diese Fragen stellen solange man noch kann. Jede Generation erlebt Ereignisse, die für die Nachwelt in Erinnerung behalten werden müssen. Sei es der zweite Weltkrieg, die 68er, die Anschläge der RAF oder der Mauerfall. Jede Generation ist Zeuge seiner Zeit und wir Jüngeren sollten das schätzen und die richtigen Fragen stellen.
Das lässt einen auch Fragen an die eigene Geschichte stellen. Was weiß ich über die Situation meiner Eltern, meiner Großeltern in meinem Alter? Man sollte ihnen diese Fragen stellen solange man noch kann. Jede Generation erlebt Ereignisse, die für die Nachwelt in Erinnerung behalten werden müssen. Sei es der zweite Weltkrieg, die 68er, die Anschläge der RAF oder der Mauerfall. Jede Generation ist Zeuge seiner Zeit und wir Jüngeren sollten das schätzen und die richtigen Fragen stellen.
clarabelle's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
Definitely would recommend
serendipitysbooks's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
My Grandmother focuses on the relationship between the author and her grandmother, particularly the grandmother’s revelation that her name, family and religion were not those she was born into. Her experience of the Armenian genocide was harrowing. I didn’t find the writing style or much of the content particularly engaging but it is an important record of the lifelong and generational impacts of the Armenian genocide.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide