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4.0 out of 5 stars
"Armenians don't kneel.", Jun 17 2004
Between 1894 and 1915, almost a million Armenians were killed in a series of massacres by the Turks. Here author Mitchell seizes on the fact that many Armenian-Americans who fought in Europe during World War I were committed at the same time to finding and punishing the leaders of these massacres, many of whom had escaped to Europe. One of these soldiers is Doubleday (Dub) Hagopian, an American who goes to war in Europe and stays on to work as a translator during the Paris Peace Conference. He is part of a secret society of Armenians dedicated to capturing three leaders of the massacres who have escaped to Germany, along with a former police chief, now in Paris, who locked the doors of an Armenian church, then set it afire, killing scores of worshipping families.Yale White, formerly Yael Weiss, an adventurous eighteen-year-old from St. Louis, lies about her age and her religion to follow Dub to Europe, where she works as a "canteen lady" for the YMCA. She and her unconventional best friend, Mary "Brennan" White, presage the "flapper" attitudes that will develop after the war, while Dub and Raffi Soghokian, an acquaintance from Providence, serve the serious cause of Erinyes, a secret organization seeking to avenge the massacres. As the story develops, the author presents flashbacks which reveal the terrible history of the Armenians, not in generic terms, but as it affects individuals in the novel, a history that has remained relatively unknown to westerners. As Yale's love for Dub grows, she becomes a passionate and active supporter of his cause. The novel depends to a great extent on coincidences to resolve the action, with the right people being in the right places at the right times, and the story occasionally wanders. There is little foreshadowing to provide unity, and while some of the characters begin to question some of their initial decisions, they do not change very much. The author steps out of "character" to teach the reader history-the basics of how World War I got started, along with details of the peace treaties at the end of World War I, which promised sovereignty to the Armenian people. Overall, however, the novel is fast-paced and exciting and pays long-overdue attention to the Armenian people, their history, and culture, a good debut novel from an author whose story reaches beyond pure plot. Mary Whipple
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