Forgotten Fire

`Who does now remember the Armenians,' said Adolph Hitler in 1939 in reference to the impending Jewish mass murder. Certainly The Fuhrer hit the nail on the head. Where is the history channel episode on the Armenian genocide? Aside from Ararat, where are the great Hollywood films on the subject? And, at a profoundly deeper level, where, my friends, is the vigorous debate within Turkish society on the genocide . . . even today . . . the silence is deafening. Why such sensitivity about the truth; surely the events happening ninety years ago deserve reflection today. As a child, one of the first books whose cover intrigued me was The Destruction of European Jewry by Hilberg. I read Night, marveling at Wiesel's poetry. I watched in awe Polanski's masterpiece The Piano and Spielberg's emotional Schindler's List. I saw the tattered number's burned on my cousin's arm, a memento of a concentration camp. The subject of `restorations' to the state of Israel in the 1950's provoked vigorous debate within Israel(and an emotional dissent by a young Begin of the future Likud party). But, the Israeli's accepted; more important, the Germans offered. Many would say this was a shallow restitution for the mass murder of six million, but a debated occurred, official acknowledgment was fact. In the case of the butchering of one and a half million Armenians . . . silence. It is in this emotionally charged backdrop that Adam Bagdasarian's debut novel The Forgotten Fire occurs. First it is a well told story based on the verbal recounting of a relative's tape recording before his death. Painful to read because of the subject matter, The Forgotten Fire tells about the ability to withstand almost an imaginable degree of suffering. There are moments of great emotion in the story. The writing, at times, reaches soaring heights. A wonderful example near the end is this excerpt: `And then the current of the river began to slow; and that night, when we finally got into our beds and lay our heads on our new pillows, it handed us back to time and disappeared beneath us. ` There are many such examples with such emotional power. This is great storytelling; this is a story that needs to be heard.

I am not going to waste anyone's time here and re-summarize the book. What I will say is this.I am a 10th grade teacher and I assigned this book for the first time this year to my 10th grade World History students. The student reaction to this book was unbelievable.Repeat: I forced students to read a book for a class and they loved it.Actually it was quite unbelievable, both before, during, and after class the students were discussing, and arguing with each other over the book.I even caught kids reading the book in the lunchroom and cafeteria, and study hall!As a teacher my only criticism of the book is that it does not really explain why the Turks targeted the Armenians. To me that was the one thing this book needed but did not really have.But the best way to sum up how thought provoking and good this book is is a quote from a 70-80 student who told me"I normally do not like to read, but I loved this book."A forgotten piece of history that needs to be read, and students will actually like!

I read this book two years ago and its impact is still fresh in my mind. The point of view of this story ... from the eyes of a child ... is creative and strong. I could not put this book down. I have recommended this novel to all of my friends and was thrilled to see that it was on the summer reading list of required books at the local high school. Finally, through the words of an Armenian author, the youth of our nation will be educated in the Armenian Genocide. Pass the word on to your local schools. A word of caution... there are portions of the novel that deal with sensitive issues, apart from violence. Teachers and parents should be made aware of this fact, yet use it in educating the students as to the ultimate brutality of the genocide. Thank you Adam Bagdasarian, your ancestors are smiling down at you and thanking you for such a moving novel. "Abrees!"

I once read where the Pulitzer Prize winning novelist Carol Shields said that a great novel should follow the characters' search for a metaphoric home. Forgotten Fire does that, both literally and metaphorically, and the result is a masterpiece of a novel.The novel's protagonist is Vahan. At the beginning of the novel, he is one of the sons of a very rich and influencial Armenian lawyer. He is twelve. The family's life is certainly one of luxury and security. Then, the Armenian Holocaust begins, though. Vahan sees brothers murdered, his grandmother shot, and his sister's suicide among other almost unspeakable atrocities. Eventually, Vahan is forced to try to run, and that results in his three year struggle to survive alone in a country torn by war and the hatred of his race.There are so many things that make this novel great. First, the characterizations are wonderful as you see Vahan forced to grow into a man. It is also inspiring to see a person like Vahan moving ahead in life in such horrible conditions. The writing is so good; the prose flows smoothly yet the narrative is unflinching and unsentimental. The novel also has the ability to blow you away with one beautiful piece of insight or one loving human relationship amongst the chaos. This is one of the most powerful reads I've had, and I'm sure that Forgotten Fire will never be forgotten. It will survive to remind the world of the plight of the Armenian people.

Bagdasarian's first novel, based on his great uncle's childhood, is one of the best books I've read this year. The story is not only compelling, but the language the author uses is exquisite, as he describes the three years an Armenian boy survived on his own during the holocaust carried out by the Turks. The book opens with the famous 1939 quote from Adolph Hitler: "Who today remembers the Armenians?" After reading Bagdasarians books, we will all remember.