Cathy Burnham Martin

I received this book "Destiny of Dreams: Time Is Dear" by Cathy Burnham Martin in exchange for an honest review.

At the origin of the genesis of this historical memory, two peoples went into contention: The Ottomans on one side, the Armenians on the other.
Sultan Hamid II (Abdülhamid II), who represented the barbarian persecutor, massacred almost all of the Armenian population because of their origin and their beliefs.

In 1894, an Armenian rebellion was severely suppressed in the mountainous region of Sassun. The Europeans then demanded protection for the Christian Armenians, to which the sultan responded with a series of massacres! These will be the "Hamidian massacres".

However, during the summer of 1908, the "Young Turks" revolution broke out and Abdülhamid, learning that troops from Thessaloniki were threatening to march on Constantinople, was forced to abdicate.
It will be his younger brother, the quiet Mehmed V, who will accede to the throne at the age of 65! Under his reign will occur - because of the "Young Things" to which he conferred full powers - the Armenian genocide, the Assyrian genocide and the beginning of the Pontic Greek genocide!

The minister's telegram to the leadership of the Young Turks in the prefecture of Aleppo is edifying:
“The government has decided to destroy all Armenians residing in Turkey. Their existence must be ended, however criminal the measures to be taken. Age and gender should not be taken into account. Scruples of conscience have no place here. (quote from Interior Minister Talaat Pasha in 1914)

This book, or rather this brilliant anthology, is the first act of a trilogy that offers a bloody armed foray into the past during the Armenian genocide of 1915 to 1916.

This volume 1 has its own dramatic arc and it is the meeting here, of the main character, Hrant: a 9/10 year old boy who takes us into the history of his family where he is distinguished from the other characters by his ability to understand the mechanisms and interactions that it will face. He will thus have to protect both his mother and his older brother suffering from a genetic disease which makes him extremely weak.
We will see how Hrant will evolve: his progress (or his persistence) will be crucial because it is on him that the success or failure of the story will rest.
We will identify with his courage, his bravery and his ability to overcome what scares him.

The book begins with the Turkish ambush that will prove deadly for Hrant's father, accompanied by his own father, as they return home.

An intrusion into the present then surprises us, since in the guise of "Cassie", one of the three little girls of Hrant and Marjorie - married in the US who have become their new home - we learn that she has reminiscences in the form of recurring nightmares, abominable events from 1915/1916... As if she had lived through them!

The author redid another foray into the past, when a banquet brought together the whole family to celebrate the forthcoming departure of the second son - the eldest having already established himself in the US in 1896 as an official Tailor of M Kennedy -

Aghavni, Hrant's mother, awaits the return of her husband and her own father to prepare to flee Armenia. Suddenly, one of the merchants who had accompanied them comes to warn her of their deaths as an example of the Armenian rebellion!

Then at the same time, soldiers burst in, abduct, rape and kill Hrant's two sisters, and take the rest of the family away!
The fragile mother, Hrant and brother manage to escape with the help of a Turk who was their friend, and end up engulfed in the secret tunnel under their house.

It is Marjorie, Hrant's wife, established in the US, who recounts the flight of her husband Hrant, then 9/10 years old between 1915 and 1916, accompanied by his mother and his brother.
It is through the memories and eyes of her husband that she tells us the story of their exile and their exploit. From their interminable march towards the north, towards Russia, while they skirt lakes and streams strewn with corpses... of neighbors, of friends!
They were thus the unfortunate witnesses of the raids in the villages where the mountain Kurds were executing everyone!
From their arrival on the mythical Mount of Ararat, the Armenian high plateau and national symbol of Armenia, but also the place where, according to some legends, Noah's Ark landed after the Biblical Flood.
Unexpected help from the Russians, eager to help all Christians, while they were being chased by the Kurds on their heels!
From their status as refugees in the Russian city of Kars where many were sick because of the water and the lack of everything.
From their departure to the US via Moscow, Riga, Copenhagen, Norway, and finally Ireland from where they finally reached New York, welcomed by the eldest son!

A very moving story! The incredible faith of this Armenian family, reduced to three people... animated by the intimate conviction that God will save them!

I was moved by these vibrant testimonies, by these exemplary people guided by God, by their absence of hatred!
A book that will mark me, and that we can not forget!… (más)

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from LibraryThing in exchange for an honest review.

"Destiny od Determination" is the second book in a trilogy of historical fiction, dedicated to the author's mother, and inspired by the forced exile of her family of Armenian origin.
They are forced to flee their country because of the genocide perpetrated on the orders of the Ottoman Government of the Young Turks in 1915. At the origin of the massacre, Armenia is the first nation in the world to have married Christianity, which has inflamed the ire of the Ottoman Turks. Long ago, in the 15th century, the Turks annexed the Christian land of Armenia to their Muslim empire.
They will be locked there, defenseless, enslaved.
On April 24, 1915, the genocide began. The entire working male and Armenian population was exterminated. Only the old, children, women and the infirm will remain. Those suspected of sympathizing with the Russian enemy, will thus be deported for military reasons far from the war zone in a fictitious place, where they will die on the way. The book begins with a list of Armenians in his family who were murdered or raped and then killed in 1915.

Then the author remembers the life of his ten-year-old grandfather, when he experienced the crossing of the Atlantic to New York on a boat from their native land via Norway, and the immense grief of to have left behind him, his father, his sisters and his grandfather, all massacred... Hrant, his first name, is with his 18-year-old brother, who is more fragile than him, and his 45-year-old mother. The trio was able to escape from certain death by a clever subterfuge: that of disguising themselves as girls! - the Turks exterminating all the young Armenian boys of age to be enrolled in the army -

Believing in Jesus had since the dawn of time, raised nations between them, but was ultimately only an excuse to enslave, dominate and annihilate peoples to appropriate their lands.

Their wonder is at its height when they see the Statue of Liberty, the immaculate symbol of a word they no longer remember. Too many emotions overwhelmed them all. The show is breathtaking.

The turpitudes of the landing ended not without linguistic difficulties, the trio finally find the two eldest of the siblings, and head for their new residence, a large farm in Boston where they can cultivate while going to school to learn the language.
A whole new life opens up to them, a great Adventure strewn with small victories, discoveries like those of the train, the metro, baseball! The eldest of the siblings exercises the lucrative profession of Tailor and dresses...Mr. Kennedy! A major ally who recognized himself through the difficult integration of this Armenian family, having himself been the son of exiled Irishmen.
Drunk with gratitude, the little boy learns the language quickly and follows brilliant studies in electrical engineering.

1918 signs the armistice. The war is over. Turkey is summoned to repair its wrongs towards Armenia despoiled of everything, and must return the stolen goods.

Subsequently, Hrant, a naturalized American, bravely defies the advice of his older brother who officiates as the head of the family, and categorically refuses to submit to the sham marriage he has organized by pre-selecting a Armenian wife, to respect the Tradition. He is deeply in love with a young student like him; an Irish American with whom he shares the same interests.
The marriage will be celebrated, without the presence of the parents-in-law, however, then followed by a difficult twin birth of two little girls, followed by another birth, when he graduated as an electrical engineer.

1933, America is in recession because of the banking crisis and many are unemployed! It's "the Great Depression". Unable to find work, he then accepts the surprising proposal to be a teacher. They had left the spacious farm for a small accommodation next to the school and were faced with food shortages.

In 1938, a force 5 hurricane suddenly struck the northeastern US and caused untold damage, requiring Hrant's electrician skills.
And in 1941, he was offered a job wiring submarines on the east coast. They moved to Maine again and discovered the joys of the beach. Their lives were all taking shape and he was enjoying more now, while saving. He was eternally grateful to this Land of Welcome, this United States of America which had saved them, and allowed them to bounce back by offering them an existence worthy of the name, and granting them American citizenship.

1941 heralded the attack on Pearl Harbor, and brought the US to war. From the shipyard where Hrant worked hard, newly built submarines were produced faster, but the war effort required rationing, including of basic foodstuffs. Then their three adult daughters, life progresses, they get married, have children but Hrant succumbs during his second heart attack.

A story that I particularly liked, moving and rich in feelings and gratitude dedicated to America, a real breeding ground of opportunities and land of welcome for this persecuted people.
This is the story of the survivors!
Coming from a family made up of a mother and her two sons who defy the unthinkable, they escape the massacre of the Turkish enemy guilty of racial crimes against them and rebuild at the other end of the world, where alone the USA mobilized so that they could obtain political asylum for the refugees.

An unsustainable duty of memory, so that no one forgets the atrocities under the guise of religious war, which masked the real and shameful desire to purely and simply make an entire Armenian people disappear.… (más)

NOTE: I won a free eBook copy of this book in PDF format from LibraryThing's Early Reviewers (August 2021).

Like many Americans, I entered adulthood knowing next to nothing about the Armenian genocide that was perpetrated by Turkey in the early 20th Century. This novel helped to fill in the gaps in my understanding and gave me insight into the socio-political history of the Caucasus region. The novel follows an early adolescent boy named Hrant and the trials he and his family face as they strive to escape Armenia alive. Throughout the novel, Martin details Armenian culture as well as the horrors of the genocide, weaving in a sense of deep pride in her Armenian heritage and family history. The novel is told mostly in the third person, with occasional digressions that border on the nationalistic, which has a somewhat adverse impact on character development. For example, the family history that the senior Hrant imparts upon his granddaughter Cassie in the early chapters of the novel is largely told without dialogue between the two characters, which I think weakens the whole revelation. Similarly, I felt that more dialogue between characters in the subsequent chapters would have heightened the novel's plot pacing and suspense. Martin compensates for some of the weakened character development by narrating the inner thoughts of both Hrant and his mother Aghavni, allowing readers to feel more compassion towards them and their struggle to survive. The result is a tale of Martin's own family history that encourages readers to reexamine what they know about world history.… (más)