Wonderful Audio Book

Because I spend SO MUCH TIME IN MY CAR, I am always, ALWAYS, listening to an audio book. I've decided to blog about some of the GREAT books I've been listening to this winter. I'm going to start with this one -- The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian.

First of all, Bohjalian is a WONDERFUL WRITER. So that's always good. But, secondly, this was a topic I absolutely knew nothing about. The genocide of the Armenian people in 1915.

1.5 million people were systematically murdered -- and the world stood by. Nobody objected, nobody stood up...as entire villages were rounded up and murdered.  The men were decapitated, the women were raped.  Hundreds of thousands of Armenians were forcibly marched into the desert to die of starvation.

How is it possible that I have lived to be this old and never knew this happened?

https://www.history.com/topics/armenian-genocide
 
Chris Bohjalian does a beautiful job of telling this story, but in a way that is fascinating -- not depressing.  He skillfully weaves together two narratives. One  about the way the world was in 1915, and the horror of the massacre. The other story is of a young American woman, who sees a 100 year old photograph of a starving, dying Armenian woman...and realizes they share the same last name...

If a last name ends with "ian" -- that person is most likely of Armenian descent. (I didn't even know that much before I read this book.)

So, yes, those Kardashian's ancestors are Armenian...and -- hey -- one of my all time favorites --

Cher was born Cherilyn Sarkisian...

But, I digress...

My point is -- this is a terrific read.  Or, in my case, a terrific "listen".  I found myself WANTING to get in my car so I could find out what happened next because I cared about the people in both stories.

Thank you, Chris Bohjalian.  It's official.  You're now one of my favorite writers.  Well done.