Three Apples Fell from Heaven - Hardcover

Marcom, Micheline Aharonian

3.95

298 ratings by Goodreads

9781573221863: Three Apples Fell from Heaven

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1573221864 ISBN 13: 9781573221863

Publisher: Riverhead Books, 2001

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A powerful, lyrical novel set in Armenia in 1915 to 1917 traces the destruction of an entire village at the hands of Turkish authorities and the consequences for the survivors of the Armenian genocide. A first novel. 12,500 first printing.

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Review:

The fierce beauty of her prose both confronts readers with many breathtaking cruelties and carries us past them But the novel is much more than a catalog of horrors, however brilliantly described. It is also about love and tenderness, the pleasures of custom and ritual, the moments of unexpected generosity and courage and, above all, the necessity of rememberingoneself, one s family, one s language, one s history. Margot Livesey, The New York Times Book Review

Powerful Marcom s writing is intensely poetic. Washington Post Book World

An exquisite, vivid, heartbreaking book breathtaking. Cristina Garcia, author of The Aguero Sisters

Marcom opens up a human and historical drama in startling ways. This is an impressive debut. Peter Balakian, author of Black Dog of Fate

Like those who write about the Jewish Holocaust, Marcom faces the well-nigh impossible task of speaking the unspeakable; unlike them, she cannot count on her readers to be familiar with the outlines of the story already. She rises to this double challenge not with a diatribe or a lengthy historical account but by writing a relatively short, intensely vivid, novel...as we turn the pages of this dark and brilliant book, we feel ourselves to be in the presence of a noble act. Margot Livesey, The New York Times Book Review

Chronicles the 20th century s first genocide with an unnervingly effective blend of imagination, artistry and grisly historical fact these unsparingly visceral vignettes assume an almost unbearable potency. San Francisco Chronicle

Lyrical from the start you feel as though you are in the presence of an authentic voice, in this case a voice that weeps and wails and growls and shouts and chants and moans and sings about the 20th Century s firstbut least-knownethnic massacre Marcom is so talented [Three Apples Fell From Heaven] will stay with its readers a good long while. Chicago Tribune

A disturbing, powerful work Marcom s writing is intensely poetic The effect is surreal, imparting the sense of how it is to continue living when all normal things have gone awry. Washington Post Book World

Reading Three Apples Fell From Heaven, I can believe that poetry can stop war. Micheline Aharonian Marcom s elegy to the Armenian deadher family, her people, precious individual livessings so strong, rings so true that surely the hell of genocide can never happen again. She has written an invaluable work in this age of devastation. Maxine Hong Kingston

[A] heartbreaking, beautiful, painful first novel the highly mannered style manifests a debt to the postmodern novel and the fairy tale, resulting in something between a cry and a reminiscence. This book is not for the faint of heart, but its readers will be well rewarded. Publishers Weekly

Micheline Aharonian Marcom has woven a heartrending tapestry from the lost time, lost places, and lost voices of the Armenian genocide. Spectacularly gifted, tender, wise, and terrible in rage, Marcom has produced a powerful novel that attempts to retrieve one of the most infamous crimes of the twentieth century from the event horizon of history. Junot Diaz, author of Drown

This is an exquisite, vivid, heartbreaking book. It lushly restores one s soul while giving voice to the many silenced souls of the Armenian genocide. Cristina Garcia, author of The Aguero Sisters and Dreaming in Cuban

Micheline Aharonian Marcom has written a poetic and inventive novel set in eastern Turkey, in the epicenter of the Armenian genocide of 1915. With a Joycean affinity for detail, character, and cultural nuance, Marcom opens up a human and historical drama in startling ways. This is an impressive debut. Peter Balakian, author of Black Dog of Fate

[Marcom] has chosen an unusual structure, a tapestry of many vignettes that depict a shattered Armenian culture and way of life through the memories of victims and bystanders, those who hid, those who died, and those who tried vainly to help her story has a certain brutal force that stays in the memory. Kirkus Reviews

As a third-generation American-Armenian, Micheline Aharonian Marcom bears the weight of her own family history with extraordinary grace moving Marcom doesn t resort to sentiment or shock tactics, but lovingly renders each scene with slow, languorous rhythms. The Guardian (London)

Animated by a resolve that ancestral stories will not be forgotten, and that those who are dead will continue to be cherished. The Daily Telegraph (London)

Powerful. Scotland on Sunday

"

"The fierce beauty of her prose both confronts readers with many breathtaking cruelties and carries us past them...But the novel is much more than a catalog of horrors, however brilliantly described. It is also about love and tenderness, the pleasures of custom and ritual, the moments of unexpected generosity and courage and, above all, the necessity of remembering--oneself, one's family, one's language, one's history."--Margot Livesey, The New York Times Book Review

"Powerful...Marcom's writing is intensely poetic."--Washington Post Book World

"An exquisite, vivid, heartbreaking book...breathtaking."--Cristina Garcia, author of The Aguero Sisters

"Marcom opens up a human and historical drama in startling ways. This is an impressive debut."--Peter Balakian, author of Black Dog of Fate

"Like those who write about the Jewish Holocaust, Marcom faces the well-nigh impossible task of speaking the unspeakable; unlike them, she cannot count on her readers to be familiar with the outlines of the story already. She rises to this double challenge not with a diatribe or a lengthy historical account but by writing a relatively short, intensely vivid, novel...as we turn the pages of this dark and brilliant book, we feel ourselves to be in the presence of a noble act."--Margot Livesey, The New York Times Book Review

"Chronicles the 20th century's first genocide with an unnervingly effective blend of imagination, artistry and grisly historical fact...these unsparingly visceral vignettes assume an almost unbearable potency."--San Francisco Chronicle

"Lyrical...from the start you feel as though you are in the presence of an authentic voice, in this case a voice that weeps and wails and growls and shouts and chants and moans and sings about the 20th Century's first--but least-known--ethnic massacre...Marcom is so talented...[Three Apples Fell From Heaven] will stay with its readers a good long while."--Chicago Tribune

"A disturbing, powerful work...Marcom's writing is intensely poetic...The effect is surreal, imparting the sense of how it is to continue living when all normal things have gone awry."--Washington Post Book World

"Reading Three Apples Fell From Heaven, I can believe that poetry can stop war. Micheline Aharonian Marcom's elegy to the Armenian dead--her family, her people, precious individual lives--sings so strong, rings so true that surely the hell of genocide can never happen again. She has written an invaluable work in this age of devastation."--Maxine Hong Kingston

"[A] heartbreaking, beautiful, painful first novel...the highly mannered style manifests a debt to the postmodern novel and the fairy tale, resulting in something between a cry and a reminiscence. This book is not for the faint of heart, but its readers will be well rewarded."--Publishers Weekly

"Micheline Aharonian Marcom has woven a heartrending tapestry from the lost time, lost places, and lost voices of the Armenian genocide. Spectacularly gifted, tender, wise, and terrible in rage, Marcom has produced a powerful novel that attempts to retrieve one of the most infamous crimes of the twentieth century from the event horizon of history."--Junot Diaz, author of Drown

"This is an exquisite, vivid, heartbreaking book. It lushly restores one's soul while giving voice to the many silenced souls of the Armenian genocide."--Cristina Garcia, author of The Aguero Sisters and Dreaming in Cuban

"Micheline Aharonian Marcom has written a poetic and inventive novel set in eastern Turkey, in the epicenter of the Armenian genocide of 1915. With a Joycean affinity for detail, character, and cultural nuance, Marcom opens up a human and historical drama in startling ways. This is an impressive debut."--Peter Balakian, author of Black Dog of Fate

"[Marcom] has chosen an unusual structure, a tapestry of many vignettes that depict a shattered Armenian culture and way of life through the memories of victims and bystanders, those who hid, those who died, and those who tried vainly to help...her story has a certain brutal force that stays in the memory."--Kirkus Reviews

"As a third-generation American-Armenian, Micheline Aharonian Marcom bears the weight of her own family history with extraordinary grace...moving...Marcom doesn't resort to sentiment or shock tactics, but lovingly renders each scene with slow, languorous rhythms."--The Guardian (London)

"Animated by a resolve that ancestral stories will not be forgotten, and that those who are dead will continue to be cherished."--The Daily Telegraph (London)

"Powerful."--Scotland on Sunday

About the Author:

Micheline Aharonian Marcom was born in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia and raised in Los Angeles. She has published five novels, including a trilogy of books about the Armenian genocide and its aftermath in the twentieth century, and The Brick House. She has received fellowships and awards from the Lannan Foundation, the Whiting Foundation, and the US Artists' Foundation. Her first novel, Three Apples Fell From Heaven, was a New York Times Notable Book and Runner-Up for the PEN/Hemingway Award for First Fiction. Her second novel, The Daydreaming Boy, won the PEN/USA Award for Fiction. In 2008, Marcom taught in Beirut, Lebanon on a Fulbright Fellowship. Marcom lives in Northern California where she teaches Creative Writing at Mills College. She is also on faculty at Goddard College in the MFA program in Creative Writing.

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