Forgotten Fire Summary and Reviews

Forgotten Fire
by Adam Bagdasarian

Forgotten Fire
List Price: $7.99
Our Price: $3.78
You Save: $4.21 (53%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


or

Book Summary Information

Author: Adam Bagdasarian
Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2002-04-09
ISBN: 0440229170
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: Laurel Leaf
Product features:
  • ISBN13: 9780440229179
  • Condition: New
  • Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

Book Reviews of Forgotten Fire

Book Review: "We must be very strong now."
Summary: 5 Stars

Oskina Kenderian speaks to her younger brother those words as they realize that their seemingly secure world will never be the same again. Their father was summoned from his home at night and is rumored to have been shot by Turkish gendarmes. Some of their servants are missing...

I think this book is a good one to start with if you know nothing about the genocide of Armenians and others in 1915. The story is told from a young boy's perspective, that of Adam Bagdasarian's great-uncle Vahan Kenderian, who, along with his sister Oskina, were the only survivors out of their large family. The book is simply and beautifully written, easily read in a day. The only historical details are found in a two page foreword of the book. The bulk of the story is Vahan's ordeal which began as a 12 year old orphan and ends three years later at the war's end in 1918 when he has finally found refuge at an orphanage run by Armenians in Constantinople. I already know quite a bit about the plight of the Armenians from other books and movies and from Armenians themselves. What this book offers that others don't is that it reveals the psychological impact on Vahan of seeing his loved ones, one by one, killed violently right before his eyes, and yet you wonder why this sweet christian boy doesn't lose it altogether. You wonder why, having seen such cruelty, that he doesn't become as cruel as they. He remembers his father's words to him when times were tough, "This is how steel is made." So he keeps on going and has many adventures, scares, tragedies along the way.

Yes, this book does not explain why the Armenians would be hated so much. Did they do something deserving their punishment, you may ask? I think that one has to understand the culture in which they were living at that time, and understand that, as christians by faith, ironically, by others, then and now, they're considered infidels and blasphemers. All I can say is that the Armenians I came to know, I've admired them for their quiet faith and their intense devotion to G-d which is so evident in their very, sweet natures. My explanation for their suffering, though partly explained by where Armenia is located geographically, is that there is an unseen, spiritual dimension to it based on what we've been taught by Christ and his disciples. His disciple Paul writes in Ephesians 6:12 that 'we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.' With so many people, so many factions, vying for others' loyalties today, as a person of the christian faith, it is imperative that one does 'not participate in evil deeds of darkness'. And King Solomon writes in his proverbs 'They that forsake the law praise the wicked, but such as keep the law contend with them'. Vahan's father was a lawyer, was one of the first in his town to disappear. These Armenians are contenders with and nonparticipants in the evil deeds they witnessed. Adam Bagdasarian heard a recording of his great-uncle who told of his experience. Possibly he had a key to Vahan's diary and edited his story somewhat. Yes, the story cannot be categorized as heart-warming, yet, from all I've read about Armenians, I'm always impressed by their families, how loving, sincere, and kind they are; that's a rarity these days.

Historical Fiction Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Historical Fiction Books
A TALE OF TWO CITIES ImageA TALE OF TWO CITIES
by Charles Dickens
Puffin Classics; Published: 1995; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.90
Price in other shops: $2.99
Tiger, Tiger ImageTiger, Tiger
by Lynne Reid Banks
Harper Collins Childrens H/B; Published: 2004-12-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $32.98
Pagan in Exile (Pagan Chronicles) ImagePagan in Exile (Pagan Chronicles)
by Catherine Jinks
Harper Collins Childs; Published: 2004-08-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.01
Wreckers 1 (High Seas Adventures) ImageWreckers 1 (High Seas Adventures)
by Iain Lawrence
Harpercollins Childs; Published: 2003-07-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.00
Ithaka ImageIthaka
by Adele Geras
Harcourt Children's Books; Published: 2006-01-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $0.41
Price in other shops: $17.00
Upon the Head of the Goat: A Childhood in Hungary 1939-1944 ImageUpon the Head of the Goat: A Childhood in Hungary 1939-1944
by Aranka Siegal
Puffin; Published: 1994-05-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.73
Price in other shops: $5.99
The Beduins' Gazelle (Harper Trophy Books) ImageThe Beduins' Gazelle (Harper Trophy Books)
by Frances Temple
HarperTeen; Published: 1998-01-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.70
Price in other shops: $5.99
The Luxe ImageThe Luxe
by Anna Godbersen
HarperCollins; Published: 2007-12-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops: $17.99
Surviving Antarctica: Reality TV 2083 ImageSurviving Antarctica: Reality TV 2083
by Andrea White
Harper Collins Publishers; HarperTeen; Published: 2006-11-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.76
Price in other shops: $6.99
The Slave Dancer ImageThe Slave Dancer
by Paula Fox
Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books; Published: 1982-12-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.95
Price in other shops: $16.95
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
S.: A Novel about the Balkans ImageS.: A Novel about the Balkans
by Slavenka Drakulic
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2001-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.95
Price in other shops: $15.00
Julius Caesar (New Folger Library Shakespeare) ImageJulius Caesar (New Folger Library Shakespeare)
by William Shakespeare
Simon & Schuster; Published: 2004-01-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.85
Price in other shops: $5.99
Auschwitz: True Tales From a Grotesque Land ImageAuschwitz: True Tales From a Grotesque Land
by Sara Nomberg-Przytyk
The University of North Carolina Press; Published: 1986-08-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.83
Price in other shops: $20.95
Troy ImageTroy
by Adèle Geras
Graphia; Published: 2002-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.20
Price in other shops: $7.99
Romiette and Julio ImageRomiette and Julio
by Sharon M. Draper
Simon Pulse; Simon Pulse; Published: 2001-05-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.45
Price in other shops: $6.99
Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy ImageStop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy
by Sonya Sones
HarperTeen; Published: 2001-01-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.06
Price in other shops: $8.99
The Gospel According to Larry ImageThe Gospel According to Larry
by Janet Tashjian
Dell Laurel-Leaf; Published: 2003; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.04
Price in other shops: $6.99
Witness ImageWitness
by Karen Hesse
Scholastic Paperbacks; Published: 2003-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.27
Price in other shops: $6.99
A Tale of Two Cities (Paperback Classics) ImageA Tale of Two Cities (Paperback Classics)
by Charles Dickens, Lucinda Dickens Hawksley
Usborne Pub Ltd; Published: 2003-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.28
Price in other shops: $4.99
The Road From Home: A True Story of Courage, Survival and Hope ImageThe Road From Home: A True Story of Courage, Survival and Hope
by David Kherdian
Greenwillow Books; Published: 1995-08-24; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.33
Price in other shops: $6.99