Review: ‘Choose To Rise: The Victory Within’, by M.N. Mekaelian

 

Published by: M.N. Makaelian

Publication Date: 17th May 2017

I.S.B.N.: 9780692385166

Format: Paperback and Kindle

Price: £16.38 or £3.78

I received a pdf. of this book from the author in return for an honest review

 

 

 

 

 

Blurb

Set in a forgotten land in the heart of World War One, Choose to Rise: The Victory Within paints the vividly realistic portrait of one of the most horrific atrocities of the modern world – The Armenian Genocide of 1915.

Told through eyes of an old Armen Hagopian reliving his youth, you will be immersed in this unbelievable story of survival against the merciless Ottoman Turkish government. Through his journey, Armen and his older brother, Vartan, must discover what it takes to overcome the brutality while deciding who will live, who will die, and whether or not they have the strength to save an entire race from total annihilation.

Filled with passion, suspense, love, and inspiration, Choose to Rise is a book that is hard to ignore. It questions everything you know about humanity, what it means to be alive, and will stay with you long after you finish.

My Review

Good story, over all, covering the period from 1912 to 1915. During those terrible years, the Armenians of the Ottoman Empire became more and more oppressed and were eventually the victims of the first genocide of the twentieth century. They had long been the victims of Turkish oppression but believed the overthrow of the sultan by the Young Turks would bring a new period of unity and freedom. They were, sadly, mistaken and deceived.

We follow the brothers Armen and Vartan as they grow up and discover that the world is more complicated than they understood. Slowly their freedoms are reduced and one by one their friends and neighbours are killed or disappear. Eventually, the brothers make the death march across Turkey to Syria and finally to Jerusalem, having lost almost everyone of their friends and family. It is told by Armen in the first person through flashbacks, while the events that precipitate the telling of Armen’s tale to his family, while they wait for Vartan to die in the hospital, are told in the third person. I might not have written the story the way the author has, because I find first person awkward, but it works nonetheless.

The plot is enhanced with realistic descriptions of setting, time and place. One feels the heat of the Armenian summer and the ripeness of the apricots, the jolting of the ox cart along rutted roads, the desperation of thrust and hunger, the fear of the men who had to dig their own grave pits, the women who jumped to their deaths in to the Euphrates. The author has used all the senses in describing the background of the story.

The characters are rounded, although necessarily our picture of most of them are limited by Armen’s view and experience. We can see Armen’s personal growth, indeed he describes it in florid tones, and his growing understanding that the people around him are also changing with time. The relationship between the families are particularly poignant.

Nice bit of historical fiction based heavily on survivor interviews, contemporary accounts and history book. This novel brings the almost forgotten Armenian Genocide to life.

3/5