For years, I’ve been interested in reading a book from every country and watching a movie from every country, as one of those stretch goals to expand my media consumption. But it will be easier to complete with some degree of accountability, so I’m going to start posting about it here! I’m starting with Armenia. For each country, I will choose a novel, a nonfiction book, and a movie.
Background on Armenia: It was the first country to adopt Christianity as its official religion back in 301 AD. Its location put it at the crossroads of many empires, including the Byzantine, Ottoman, Persian, and Russian empires over the various centuries. It suffered from a genocide during WW1 and about 1.5 million Armenians were killed. Armenia briefly declared independence in 1918 and then was pulled into the Soviet Union in 1920, only gaining true independence in 1991 when the USSR dissolved. It has ongoing border disputes with its neighbor, Azerbaijan, as well as with Türkiye for their refusal to acknowledge the Armenian genocide.
My visit: My friend Alan and I spent four busy days in Armenia, including a trip all the way to Tatev Monastery in the southern part of the country. They have beautiful landscapes, a lot of monasteries, and a unique winemaking culture that is only found in the Caucasus region. We based ourselves in Yerevan, the capital, and visited the genocide museum, the Mother Armenia statue, and the Cascades, as well as a couple truly haunted Soviet-looking theme parks. The food is an interesting mix of Middle Eastern and Eastern European cuisine, and they put pomegranate in everything. I really enjoyed my visit overall and felt like I saw a lot of the country.
Fiction: The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian
This focuses on an American nurse who volunteers with the Friends of Armenia to provide aid to the refugees of the Armenian genocide, and ends up falling in love with one of the men she meets. Then there is a second storyline set in the present day, which follows the granddaughter of the main character discovering her family history. It touches a lot on the Armenian diaspora experience, which I liked, and I also liked the main character’s perspective of trying to give aid even as the local government resists their help.
Nonfiction: The Hundred-Year Walk: An Armenian Odyssey by Dawn Anahid MacKeen
This was a five star read for me. It alternates between the author’s grandfather’s journals, meticulously translated and fact checked wherever possible, and the author’s own journey to follow his steps in what is now modern day Türkiye and Syria. I read this before I traveled to Armenia and it gave me a much better understanding of their history.
Movie: The Color of Pomegranates (1969)
I first learned about The Color of Pomegranates while I was researching my trip to Armenia. One of the places you can go in Yerevan is the house of the director, Sergei Parajanov, which was turned into a museum shortly after his death. We put it on the itinerary and said “if we have time,” and then we ran out of time. Still, I found myself interested in tracking down the movie, which is considered a landmark in film history. The movie itself is meant to capture the life of Sayat-Nova, an 18th-century Armenian poet. The experience of watching it is something of a fever dream. I’m not sure if I would say I…. understand the film, but it was certainly an interesting watch. It’s got some beautiful color grading and cinematography.
Reflections: A lot of the book options in Armenia are focused on the genocide. It’s been about 110 years, and the country is still reconciling with what they went through. What I like about this particular set of the fiction and nonfiction books is that they focus on different elements, so it gives a more holistic picture of the events that occurred during this time frame. I also found it interesting that most of the book options I found in my research were from the Armenian diaspora, instead of people currently living in Armenia. I suppose that the genocide and conflict in the early 20th century led to a lot of refugees.
Overall, a strong start for this project! Next up is Belgium.