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readingwithhippos's review against another edition
4.0
So many war novels, in an effort to convey the massive scale of death and destruction in wartime, end up bogging themselves down with too many characters, too many storylines, too many tragic details. It’s unfortunate, because this oversaturation leads to the opposite effect the authors had in mind—a reader can’t feel the full impact of events, can’t empathize as deeply, because the barrage of pain is just too much. It washes over instead of sinking in.
The brilliance of Orhan’s Inheritance is in its razor-fine focus on two small families. Few historical events are as hugely devastating as genocide, and if anything could threaten to overwhelm a narrative, it’s the attempted annihilation of Armenians during World War I. But Ohanesian insists on limiting her story, a choice that not only lets us feel keenly the experiences of her characters, but then invites us to imagine all the other thousands of similar stories that aren’t encapsulated within the novel. Paradoxically, it’s this method of scaling down that ultimately makes Orhan’s Inheritance a universal story of love, loss, and forgiveness.
The book opens in 1990 Turkey, where a young man named Orhan’s grandfather has just died. His death brings with it an unwelcome surprise: he has bequeathed their family home to a stranger, specifically an old woman named Seda who lives in America. Orhan immediately makes plans to travel to the US to meet this Seda and firmly inform her that he has no intention of giving up his birthright.
Of course, as you can probably guess, it won’t be that simple. Orhan loved and respected his grandfather, and the knowledge that his Dede wouldn’t have done this odd thing without a good reason lingers in the back of his mind. Who is Seda? How did she know Orhan’s grandfather? To reveal the answers, Ohanesian flashes back to 1915, when the world was at war and Turks and Armenians became enemies—and Orhan’s grandfather was just a teenage boy named Kemal.
Even in the flashback structure Ohanesian is restrained—the sections are long, giving the reader enough time to sink into each timeline without the distraction of frequent transitions. In less capable hands, this would have been compelling historical fiction; thanks to Ohanesian’s skillful artistic choices, it’s a powerful emotional experience, too. Highly recommended.
More book recommendations by me at www.readingwithhippos.com
The brilliance of Orhan’s Inheritance is in its razor-fine focus on two small families. Few historical events are as hugely devastating as genocide, and if anything could threaten to overwhelm a narrative, it’s the attempted annihilation of Armenians during World War I. But Ohanesian insists on limiting her story, a choice that not only lets us feel keenly the experiences of her characters, but then invites us to imagine all the other thousands of similar stories that aren’t encapsulated within the novel. Paradoxically, it’s this method of scaling down that ultimately makes Orhan’s Inheritance a universal story of love, loss, and forgiveness.
The book opens in 1990 Turkey, where a young man named Orhan’s grandfather has just died. His death brings with it an unwelcome surprise: he has bequeathed their family home to a stranger, specifically an old woman named Seda who lives in America. Orhan immediately makes plans to travel to the US to meet this Seda and firmly inform her that he has no intention of giving up his birthright.
Of course, as you can probably guess, it won’t be that simple. Orhan loved and respected his grandfather, and the knowledge that his Dede wouldn’t have done this odd thing without a good reason lingers in the back of his mind. Who is Seda? How did she know Orhan’s grandfather? To reveal the answers, Ohanesian flashes back to 1915, when the world was at war and Turks and Armenians became enemies—and Orhan’s grandfather was just a teenage boy named Kemal.
Even in the flashback structure Ohanesian is restrained—the sections are long, giving the reader enough time to sink into each timeline without the distraction of frequent transitions. In less capable hands, this would have been compelling historical fiction; thanks to Ohanesian’s skillful artistic choices, it’s a powerful emotional experience, too. Highly recommended.
More book recommendations by me at www.readingwithhippos.com
leilas's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
dllh's review against another edition
3.0
I liked this one but didn't love it. If I had ever heard about the Armenian genocide that began in 1915, I had sure forgotten it, so I was glad to read a book dramatizing that nasty bit of history. I found nothing really objectionable about the writing in this book -- it went down easily and was pleasant enough to read -- but it also didn't knock my socks off. At times I suppose the pace seemed a little sluggish, which is weird in what turns out to be a pretty short book (it's shorter than the page count suggests). I'm glad I read it but was not so captivated that I'm likely to read it again or go out of my way to watch for more by this author.
alisarae's review against another edition
5.0
Orhan is a young man whose grandfather recently passed away. The grandfather willed the family business to Orhan, bypassing Orhan’s father, and left the family property to Seda, a woman that no one had ever heard of before. Orhan decides to go track this woman down and find out why she gets the property.
The story goes back and forth between WWI-era Turkey, following Seda’s narrative, and present-day with Orhan. It’s a beautifully woven tale that humanizes the politics of the time to show how it affected an average village in Turkey.
Seda is Armenian, and as such, is Christian. Armenians are a minority people-group in Turkey, and her family were the minority in a primarily Turkish-Muslim town. During this time, Turkey was undergoing political and cultural turmoil, which contributed to the start and execution of an ethnic cleansing. The Armenian people were the target.
As dense, heavy, and sorrowful as it is, the author, Aline Ohanesian, does a wonderful job of providing hope to the reader through Seda’s story.
Read the full review, including some lovely photos from Turkey, on Papercuttts.
ps I got this as an e-ARC but that didn't affect my honest review!
The story goes back and forth between WWI-era Turkey, following Seda’s narrative, and present-day with Orhan. It’s a beautifully woven tale that humanizes the politics of the time to show how it affected an average village in Turkey.
Seda is Armenian, and as such, is Christian. Armenians are a minority people-group in Turkey, and her family were the minority in a primarily Turkish-Muslim town. During this time, Turkey was undergoing political and cultural turmoil, which contributed to the start and execution of an ethnic cleansing. The Armenian people were the target.
As dense, heavy, and sorrowful as it is, the author, Aline Ohanesian, does a wonderful job of providing hope to the reader through Seda’s story.
Read the full review, including some lovely photos from Turkey, on Papercuttts.
ps I got this as an e-ARC but that didn't affect my honest review!
albertmarti's review against another edition
4.0
Una buena novela histórica ambientada en la Anatolia de la primera guerra mundial, durante el genocidio de la comunidad Armenia. La historia es dura, muy dura, pero se lee con placer. Sin llegar a su calidad, me ha recordado bastante a "Cometas en el cielo" de Khaled Hosseini. Como esa novela, está bien escrita, tiene personajes con profundidad y un buen ritmo narrativo. Pese a que el libro tiene momentos emotivos no ha llegado a emocionarme como lo hizo Hosseini. Da gusto encontrar con una novela que necesita únicamente 350 páginas para contar una historia. Ahora que se acerca el centenario de la catástrofe Armenia, puede ser un buen libro para conocer mejor ese momento trágico de la historia europea en la que murieron entre 800.000 y 1.500.000 de personas.
mj44223's review against another edition
emotional
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
This book was pretty good. Some of the metaphors were a little tortured, but the history was interesting.
mary412's review against another edition
4.0
I had to make an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of the characters, but it was worth all the work.
napkins's review against another edition
4.0
There's a balance in telling stories that carry pain: is telling the story cathartic, lancing the boil and sharing the pain, or poking the wound, tearing back the scab and keeping the pain fresh, never healing?
When it comes to history and the atrocities buried in the years, stories that are covered until those who can speak of them can't speak any longer, there's another layer: learning the full history of a land, of a culture, of how these acts happened and how to prevent them in the future.
But there's still pain, still that choice of both the teller and the listener to utilize it, to embrace it. Ohanesian does a masterful job of telling not only a story of families broken apart and pieced together in a way never intended, of war and the Armenian Genocide, but of the importance of stories. Of telling them and listening to them, the balance of past, present, and future, and of the balance of words and the emotions and intents behind them.
It's a beautifully done debut novel; Ohanesian weaves words and phrases elegantly and evocatively, bringing the story to life with all its pain and beauty intact.
When it comes to history and the atrocities buried in the years, stories that are covered until those who can speak of them can't speak any longer, there's another layer: learning the full history of a land, of a culture, of how these acts happened and how to prevent them in the future.
But there's still pain, still that choice of both the teller and the listener to utilize it, to embrace it. Ohanesian does a masterful job of telling not only a story of families broken apart and pieced together in a way never intended, of war and the Armenian Genocide, but of the importance of stories. Of telling them and listening to them, the balance of past, present, and future, and of the balance of words and the emotions and intents behind them.
It's a beautifully done debut novel; Ohanesian weaves words and phrases elegantly and evocatively, bringing the story to life with all its pain and beauty intact.
linda_rose's review against another edition
3.0
I found this book to be really interesting at first but then the story line took a turn that I didn't expect and I wanted to put it down but I pushed myself to finish. The bulk of this story is about the deportation of the Armenian people out of Turkey or otherwise known as genocide. I knew nothing about this history so it's good that I know about it now. The story fell flat in the middle and my interest waned.
heavywater's review against another edition
5.0
The Armenian Genocide at the hands of the Turks is another bit of important history that I need to educate myself about.
5 stars for making me understand some of the injustice that went on, and still is going on against Armenia and the survivors of its holocaust.
5 stars for making me understand some of the injustice that went on, and still is going on against Armenia and the survivors of its holocaust.