Bloodvine

BLOODVINE is an unusually good first novel. Janigian writes wonderfully vivid prose, he is a talented story teller, and he clearly signals his intention in this book to grapple with big issues in his writing.In this novel, Janigian evokes with confident mastery the milieu of the San Joaquin Valley at the middle of the last century, and he deftly ties together the relatively unknown sufferings of the Armenians in the first modern genocide with the outlook and behaviour of their American descendents. Difficult subject matter, ably handled by the thoughtful and talented Janigian.The novel is worth reading for its many excellences, but one of the pleasures of BLOODVINE is the exciting sense that one is experiencing a new voice for the first time, one that will only increase in artistic power and range in future novels. It may be that a copy of this first edition of BLOODVINE, like a first edition of Saul Bellow's or Philip Roth's first novels, will one day be a coveted part of the collection of serious readers.

Beautiful imagery, heartfelt emotions, and stinging overtones of social ills resound throughout this well-written novel. This is an important story that needed to be told and needs to be heard. Janigian's future seems bright if he continues to write with the self-evident passion and sweat that he poured into the pages of this book.

Aris Janigian has created a moving, realistic 'roman a clef' reminiscent of early Steinbeck. If he continues to write in this vein, I think it's fair to say he could become a major talent which essentially means that he doesn't just write stories but literature.