 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Armenian National Committee of America
1711 N Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036
Tel. (202) 775-1918 * Fax. (202) 775-5648 * Email.anca@anca.org
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release ~ 2012-07-23
Contact: Carina Khanjian ~ Tel: (202) 775-1918 / (703) 585-8254 cell
|
OPRAH.COM PICKS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE EPIC
“THE SANDCASTLE GIRLS” AS BOOK OF THE WEEK
|
 |
|
|
WASHINGTON, DC -
Oprah Winfrey’s Blog today declared New York Times best-selling author
Chris Bohjalian’s novel on the Armenian Genocide, “The Sandcastle
Girls”, as the must-read Book of the Week, reported the Armenian
National Committee of America (ANCA).
The announcement was first posted on Oprah.com, where the editors of O
and Oprah.com informed their fans about “the newest releases that they
couldn’t stop reading.” This week, “The Sandcastle Girls” was at the top
of their list.
Oprah.com’s Nathalie Gorman explained “Best known for his thrillers like
Midwives, Chris Bohjalian has come out with a different kind of page
turner—a searing, tautly woven tale of war and the legacy it leaves
behind.” She goes on to note, “This rendering of one of history's
greatest (and least known) tragedies is an nuanced, sophisticated
portrayal of what it means not only to endure, but to insist on hope.”
The complete Oprah.com review is posted below.
“The overwhelming and well-deserved praise for Bohjalian’s masterful
literary piece about the Armenian Genocide in prominent mainstream
American media outlets, such as Oprah’s Blog, highlights the powerful
role that his novel is playing in educating readers about this crime,
and Turkey’s ongoing denial of both truth and justice,” said ANCA
Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “The Sandcastle Girls" represents -
in addition to a great literary work - a great contribution to the
American and global public awareness that will be required to end,
forever, the cycle of genocide and denial."
More Praise for “The Sandcastle Girls” in Newspapers Across the U.S.
In addition to captivating the interest of Oprah Winfrey’s editors, “The
Sandcastle Girls” and the Armenian Genocide issue has caught the
attention of many notable American newspapers and online publications,
including -“The Miami Herald”, “The Florida Times Union”, “The
Minneapolis Star Tribune”, Ohio’s “The Columbus Dispatch”, “The
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel”, South Carolina’s “The Hilton Head Island
Packet”, Boston.com and MyCentralJersey.com.
Amy Driscoll, in her review for The Miami Herald, wrote about the real
potential impact the novel has on educating American civil society about
the Armenian Genocide. “Bohjalian’s book is about the ways the past
informs the present, about the pain but also the richness of heritage.
If his goal is to educate us, make us see what has been almost left
behind in the dust of history, he succeeds. And after reading this book,
we aren’t likely to forget,” noted Driscoll.
The complete Miami Herald review is available online and was published in the Friday, July 20 issue of the print edition.
Brandy Hilboldt Allport of The Florida Times Union wrote, “Bohjalian
deftly widens a telescopic lens to encompass the ‘Meds Yeghern,’ or
‘Great Calamity’ of the Armenian genocide and then narrows it so that
readers focus on the characters and join them in their passage through
the story. The well-researched history that forms the background
informs, intrigues and enchants — even as recollections of horror
mount.”
The complete Florida Times Union review is available online and was published in the Sunday, July 22 issue of the print edition.
Margaret Quamme of The Columbus Dispatch claimed, “For a historical
novel, ‘The Sandcastle Girls’ is remarkably supple, employing only the
most telling of details.” Quamme further wrote about the novel’s
potential of galvanizing a growing movement to help raise awareness
about the cycle of genocide. “Laura and Bohjalian keep their eyes on the
personal, the little moments that illuminate broader social movements.
But moment-by-moment, and passage by passage, the novel lights up a
disturbing period of history.”
The complete Columbus Dispatch review is available online and was published in the Sunday, July 22 issue of the print edition.
Additionally, last week, “The Sandcastle Girls” received stellar
appraisals from the Washington Post, USA Today, The Boston Globe,
Entertainment Weekly and People Magazine. These follow powerhouse
literary reviews from Publisher’s Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, Library
Journal, and Booklist, collectively offering exceptional praise for both
the author and the book, with excerpts posted on www.chrisbohjalian.com/the_sandcastle_girls.
Hours before his novel hit book stores, Bohjalian launched his book tour
in Los Angeles and continued traveling to events in San Francisco,
California and Watertown, Massachusetts. Bohjalian will be having a
Capitol Hill Debut of the book in Washington D.C., co-hosted by
Congressional Armenian Genocide Resolution lead sponsors,
Representatives Robert Dold (R-IL) and Adam Schiff (D-CA). Bohjalian
will be meeting with Congressional members throughout the day on August
1, 2012 and then offering remarks and signing books beginning at 6 p.m.
at the Rayburn House Office Building, Room B-369.
Bohjalian will also be in New Milford, New Jersey at 7:30pm on August 2
at the Hovnanian School for an event sponsored by the ANC of New Jersey,
as well as and event organized by the ANC of New York and hosted by the
Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) at 7:00pm on August 3, 2012.
The complete roster of events across the country is available online at http://www.chrisbohjalian.com/events.
In his 15th book, The Sandcastle Girls, Bohjalian brings us on a very
different kind of journey. The spellbinding tale travels between
Aleppo, Syria in 1915 and Bronxville, New York in 2012 – a sweeping
historical love story steeped in the author’s Armenian heritage, making
it his most personal novel to date.
Armenian Americans and interested readers are encouraged to purchase
“The Sandcastle Girls” online from Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble and
Indiebound or from their local book sellers.
To join the ANCA in helping put “The Sandcastle Girls” on the
Congressional summer reading list through a contribution to the ANCA
Endowment donate-a-book program.
####
Oprah.com Book of the Week Announcement
Read more:
http://bit.ly/NPV48M
Book of the Week: The Sandcastle Girls
Posted: Mon 07/23/2012 01:30 PM | By: Nathalie Gorman
Each week, we'll be letting you know about new releases the editors of O
and Oprah.com couldn't stop reading. This Monday, we're bowled over by
the new novel:
The Sandcastle Girls
By Chris Bohjalian
Best known for his thrillers like Midwives, Chris Bohjalian has come out
with a different kind of page turner—a searing, tautly woven tale of
war and the legacy it leaves behind. The novel is actually two stories
in one: That of Elizabeth Endicott and Armen Petrosian, lovers who meet
in Syria during the Armenian genocide, and that of Laura Petrosian,
their adult granddaughter, who, nearly a century after her grandparents
met, wants to make sense of why they were so silent about their youth.
Laura's suburban existence is radically different from the violent
setting in which her grandparents fell in love. Yet all three want the
answer to one question: After such horror, is any kind of happiness
possible? As a reader you want so badly for Bohjalian's passionate
characters to find some version of yes. And find it they do—but at a
terrifying cost. This rendering of one of history's greatest (and least
known) tragedies is an nuanced, sophisticated portrayal of what it means
not only to endure, but to insist on hope. |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment