"Tell me your story," he said. And I did. Without hesitation, in my own voice, my own language, free from ... the danger of being noticed, of being heard, of being Armenian."
Forgotten Fire - Adam Bagdasarian
If I told you how I found this book you probably wouldn't believe me because it is exactly how you'd imagine one finds a good book. I was at the local library and, despite my love for books, did not quite feel like being there that day. I had forgotten both headphones and a book, therefore I wandered to the nearest bookshelf and grabbed a book. As I did so, Forgotten Fire fell off the shelf (because I'm very clumsy). This book looked more interesting that the one I had in my hand, so I started reading it. And I couldn't put it down. I read all night. From the quote on the very first page to the final chapters, this book grabs a hold of you and I'm pretty sure it'd be impossible to put it down.
It is shocking what you can miss in history. This book was set in World War 1. Very similar to Hitler against the Jews years later, the Turkish people had one mission and that was to exterminate the Armenian race. It is been estimated that nearly 3/4 of the Armenian race in Turkey was killed during this time, and yet how many people have heard of this event?
The story was told from the perspective of a privileged 12-year old boy named Vahan, although the mood of the story quickly changes. The author had a way of writing that was not unnecessarily gruesome but rather told the story with sympathy and compassion. He also had a way of getting the readers attached to characters no matter how long they had been involved in the story.
As I was reading the story I kept telling myself that it could not be true. That the events happening were just based on the Armenian genocide in general and that Vahan and his family were fictional characters. Unfortunately, as I read to the last page I found out that Vahan was a real person, and so were the events that I had just read. (Note: this information was given in the beginning of the book and I missed it. This is not a spoiler.)
This is a story that will stay with you, it is often painful to read and you will find yourself frequently putting the book down only to digest what you just read. Forgotten Fire has become one of my favorite books, in fact, it pales in comparison to books I've read this far. I'm so glad I'm clumsy and this book fell on the ground at the library.
