Skylark Farm

By Antonia Arslan

Book Overview

A beautiful, wrenching debut novel chronicling the life of a family struggling for survival during the Armenian genocide in Turkey, in 1915. At the center: Yerwant, who, at thirteen, left his home in... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1400095670
• ISBN13: 9781400095674
• Release Date: March 2008
• Publisher: Vintage
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Powerful story

The ravages of war are merciless in its treatment of civilians. And often, unless the media feels a particular people are important enough, the genocide goes largely unnoticed by the rest of the world. Except for those who live. We all know about the holocaust of WW II, but how many of us know about the 1915 Armenian Genocide of WWI? Antonia Arslan's debut novel, Skylark Farm, is the personal recounting, in novel form, of her ancestors who were killed and those who managed to survive the WWI Armenian Genocide. Sempad Arslan looks forward to his older brother's return. Yerwant traveled to Italy as a teenager to study-stayed forty years. Sempad's preparations are elaborate and thorough, including updating Skylark Farm, the family's country home. Yerwant is also preparing to travel in a new car filled with gifts. Before the family reunion can take place, WWI begins. Italy entered the war and the borders were closed, thus preventing Yerwant's travel. Yerwant's concern about his family's safety continues to rise. He is unaware that there is a plan underway to destroy Turkey's Armenian minority population. Meanwhile all the Armenian men are rounded up and murdered. The city's women and girls are forced into prison camps where they starve, have little water, are humiliated and suffer horrible cruelties. A law makes the punishment death for anyone who helps the Armenians. The novel follows the family's desperate attempts to live and the people who help them survive. Early on you know who will survive, yet it doesn't make you put down the book as you are compelled to continue reading the `real' life drama. You can't quite believe man's inhumanity. Would we risk our lives to save people who have been determined, by `someone,' to have no value? We also must confront the evil of people and the consequences of evil running rampant. Arslan's account of her family's history will leave you breathless and choking back more than a few tears. When I become too complacent about the `untouchable' life I live, it would be good to reread it. Armchair Interviews says: Highly recommended. Skylark Farm is a keeper.

hearfelt

This story traces the ravages of the genocide as the Turks tried to elimante the Armenian race in the Ottoman Empire. This well documented event is traced through one family as they attempt to escape the Turks.

Heart-wrenching story, beautifully written

I believe I have read all the novels about the Armenian Genocide, and have been touched by all of them, but this was the only book that made me cry. Ms. Arslan's description was heart-wrenching, painful to read, and I couldn't bring myself to put it down. Knowing that this is based on Ms. Arslan's own family, made it all the more moving. Sadly, the reader clearly comprehends that the events depicted were not a singular episode, but multiplied tens of thousands of times. A beautiful book that should become required reading for schoolchildren, starting in middle-school.

Poignant reading

I had ordered this book and received it very quickly. The moment I started reading, I couldn't put it down. I think it is well written and extremely sad, but not overly dramatized. A story of tremendous courage and family love in the face of unimaginable brutality. I have just returned from a visit to Armenia and visited the Genocide Museum in Yerevan and some of the horrible photo's on display, made me think of the family in this book and what they suffered. If ever another book comes out written by Antonia Arslan, I will buy it immediately.

Skylark Farm

I am always reticent when I pick up a book that discusses the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1917. Being the offspring of parents who survived the Genocide in Marash, Turkey, I've lived in a cocoon--my cocoon being the United States. On the other hand my reality is that my parents went through these atrocities. Professor Arslan must have faced many of the same issues that I have in dealing with her families tortured past. Her book truly reflects the depth of her emotions in committing her families' story to paper. I could not put her book down although I was tempted to do so many times particularly during the forced march to Aleppo, Syria. Although I knew the outcome, I still wanted to live the experience despite that fact that none of it was new to me. My families' story parallels Professor Arslans as would undoubtedly be true of many other Armenian families that were subject to this tragic period in history. This is a book for everyone. One does not have to be Armenian to become a member of the family as they lived and loved in their city in Turkey. Skylark Farm is a story of love, passion, sacrifice, hope and the will to go on despite the evil that was perpetrated.