Orphans of Genocide
Written: Oct 14 '06 (Updated Oct 15 '06)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: strong, engaging characters; moving storyline; based on true historical events
Cons: ending somewhat abrupt, without resolving fate of major characters (a sequel in the works?)
The Bottom Line: An Armenian girl is orphaned by the 1909 Adana massacre. She and her sister find refuge at an orphanage until the Sultan orders the deportation of Armenians from Turkey.
|
|
|
| jc_hall's Full Review: Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch - Nobody's Child |
Historical fiction, at its best, evokes the past with little fanfare. Foreign lands, exotic customs and beliefs, mores of a bygone age—these and more are conjured up in all exactitude, but with a sleight of hand. The reader, captivated by the fate of the protagonists, is taken up by their struggles, and notices only in passing the wealth of details pertaining to setting and background. When the story derives directly from the setting and background, then it is not just meticulous research but intricate skill that enables historical events to be woven seamlessly into the story’s plot.
Historical fiction is fiction first and foremost, and like all fiction, must be peopled with strong, likeable and compelling characters. These characters must undergo hardship, testing, and develop through the course of the story. Stakes must be high, emotions must be engaged, virtue must be tested, justice and honour upheld.
If such are the criteria for historical fiction, then Nobody’s Child is historical fiction of the first order. If such are your criteria for historical fiction, then you cannot afford to pass up on reading this YA novel. Aimed at young teenagers, it would be a quick but compelling read for adults.
Nobody’s Child is the story of Mariam, a young Armenian girl living in Turkey at the turn of the 20th century. Orphaned by the 1909 Adana massacre, she and her younger siblings, together with a friend and his aunt, make their way back to Marash to look for any surviving family members. There, abject poverty compels Mariam and her younger sister Marte, as well as their friend Kevork and his aunt, to find refuge in the local orphanage.
Several years pass and they become teenagers, but too soon trouble rears its head—the Sultan again orders the deportation of Armenians from Turkey. Barely into their teens but deemed adults by the Turkish authorities, the three children must prepare for another upheaval in their lives. At the orphanage, all the children, their teachers and the missionaries assemble for a meeting with a Turkish officer. In the bloody and devastating aftermath, Mariam is separated from the others, snatched away by the Turkish captain to be sold to the highest bidder. Disguised as a boy, Marte joins Kevork and his aunt as they are forced to march towards the desert with thousands of other Armenians. The death march takes the lives of young and old. Few survive. Kevork is separated from his beloved Marte, and is taken in by a Muslim Arab-Armenian woman who was herself rescued in an earlier massacre.
Throughout their harrowing ordeal, the children never lose hope or their faith. Even though they’ve lost so much, their love and concern for each other remain steadfast. When the children are given shelter briefly by a kind Turk after their parents died, they had the option of joining the family and becoming Turkish. But Mariam, even as a young child, knew that it would be wrong for them to give up their Armenian roots. After the bloody debacle at the orphanage, Mariam is rescued by a Turkish boy, and has the chance to marry him or become his odalisque, thereby securing for herself a safe future. Again, she refuses to live as anything other than an Armenian, nor would she rest when the fate of her sister and friends remain unclear.
Mariam is a protagonist of protagonists—morally strong, with a well-developed sense of responsibility and integrity, and a deep understanding of who and what she is. As a child forced to grow quickly into adulthood by horrific circumstances, she never once indulges in self-pity but always has the welfare of her siblings in mind. Likewise, Kevork is a well-wrought character, demonstrating considerable growth and development through the story. It would have been nice if Marte’s character was equally well fleshed-out. Her story-line was the one unaccounted for until the very end when she makes an abrupt appearance, though perhaps her story will be told in a sequel.
The author has managed to tackle the grim and weighty topic of genocide in such a way as to make it suitable reading for a young teenager, yet without pulling any punches where the horror and injustice are concerned. Also, she does not paint people in black and white—some of her Turkish and Arab characters are portrayed as decent people sympathetic to the Armenians’ plight.
The phases of the Armenian genocide (over a period of twenty years and ranging from the 1896 Hamidian massacres to the 1909 Adana massacre to the one in 1915) are all referenced in the novel. This is an ugly page in history that has not been as widely-acknowledged as, say, for instance, the Holocaust.
The title phrase ‘nobody’s child’ is used only once in the novel. Even though it’s the correct description for Mariam, Marte and Kevork and all the other orphans who have lost their parents to genocide, it is not used in pity. Mariam uses it to steel herself for what may yet come. By it, she means that she’s not a child to be beaten down by hardships. Though barely in her teens, she sees herself as a grown woman, forced to grow up quickly by circumstances beyond her control.
Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch wrote the successful The Hunger before Nobody’s Child . However, even though Nobody’s Child is described as the sequel to The Hunger , some readers (who have read both books) have said that Nobody’s Child is more of a prequel. I will have to find The Hunger from the library, and decide for myself which is true.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
jc_hall
|
|
Member: JC Hall
Location: Toronto, Canada
Reviews written: 199
Trusted by: 54 members
About Me:
Going back to Vancouver for Christmas! Happy Holidays, everyone!!
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.