Family of Shadows: A Century of Murder, Memory, and the Armenian American Dream – Three Generations, Genocide, Diaspora, and Political Prominence

by Garin K. Hovannisian

Combining the historical urgency of The Burning Tigris, the cultural sweep of Middlesex, and the psychological complexity of Bending Toward the Sun, Garin K. Hovannisian's Family of Shadows is a searing history of Armenia, realized through the lives of three generations of a single family. In Family of Shadows, Hovannisian traces the arc of his family's changing relationship to its motherland, from his great-grandfather's flight to America after surviving the Armenian Genocide to his father Raffi Hovannisian's repatriation and subsequent climb to political prominence as the head of the Heritage Party. Hovannisian's articles on Armenian issues, including the Genocide, the Armenian Diaspora, and the challenges of post-Soviet statehood, have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Christian Science Monitor, Chicago Tribune, Armenian Observer, Ararat, and numerous other publications.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, Biography, Biography Memoir, Memoir

323 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 21, 2010

About the author

Garin K. Hovannisian is a writer, filmmaker, and illusionist who was born in Los Angeles and lives in Yerevan, Armenia. He is the author of Family of Shadows (HarperCollins 2010) and has written for The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and The Atlantic.

Reviews

[Toni · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember a former boss telling me when she was young and wouldn't finish her dinner she was always told, "Remember the poor, starving Armenians" and I kind of remember something about Armenia. But I was never aware of the horrific genocide that was visited upon these vulnerable people in 1915, that wiped out a 1.5 million citizens and sent the rest into exile.

Garin Hovannisian has written a compeling homage to his forefathers in Family of Shadows. As a young boy, Garin's great-grandfather, Kaspar Hovannisian witnessed the capture of his pregnant mother and baby brother, as well as the atrocities of so many other of his countrymen. Kaspar managed to escape his homeland and ultimately settled in California's San Joaquin Valley.

The Armenian legacy that continued in Kaspar was in turn instilled in his own children. His son, Richard helped pioneer the field of Armenian studies in the United States and became a history professor at UCLA as well as a recognized authority on genocide. Richard's son Raffi was so inspired by his Armenian history that he eventually renounced his American citizenship to help found the original act of repatriation to Soviet Armenia and the creation of a new and independent republic.

All this brings us to Garin, Raffi's son, who has compiled all his ancestor's memiors and given us a truly readable story.

[Leroy Erickson · Rating 5 out of 5]

First, this is a very good book. Garin Hovannisian is a good writer and I would consider reading other books by him. I now know a lot more about Richard Hovannisian than I did before and am surprised that I hadn't known about Raffi Hovinnisian. If you are at all interested in the recent history of the Armenian diaspora and the early years of independent Armenia, read this book.

[Aleks · Rating 4 out of 5]

No conocía la historia de Armenia y la verdad que leerla desde la perspectiva de este autor es muy triste. Generaciones de una familia y sus conocidos luchando por una Armenia independiente y pidiendo reconocimiento por el genocidio al que fue sometido su pueblo solo para acabar con un país independiente pero profundamente corrupto. Al final del libro, el autor comenta lo pesado que se le hizo a su padre sentir nostalgia y cariño por un país de nunca fue y que nunca llegará a ser. No soy yo la persona más patriota de ninguna de mis nacionalidades, pero debe ser desolador dedicar todo tu tiempo y esfuerzo a defender el terreno y la historia de tu pueblo y no lograr apenas nada.
Es una historia compleja y se agradece que el patriotismo y nacionalismo de la familia del autor no le ciegue de cara a un análisis crítico de la realidad armenia una vez lograda su independencia. La primera mitad del libro te lamentas por el éxodo del pueblo armenio a causa de la presión y ataques de los países vecinos y la segunda mitad te lamentas porque una vez recuperado su país, el gobierno falla al pueblo.

[Noric Dilanchian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly researched, very engaging, and an exceptional history of an Armenian, nee global, family.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the story of 3 generations of a prominent diasporan Armenian family as told by the great grandson of the family patriarch Kaspar Hovannisian. Hovannisian escapes his native Kharpert during the Armenian Genocide perpetrated by Ottoman authorities in 1915. He wanders around Historic Armenian into the Russian Empire, eventually settling in the Fresno area in the midst of a large Armenian community. He escapes his trauma through extreme workaholism, acquires some property and material success all the while marrying and raising 4 sons. One of those sons, Richard, becomes a history professor at UCLA, a founder of the field of Armenian studies. One of Richard's sons Raffi, the author's father studies law and diplomacy and becomes the Foreign Minister of the fledgling Republic of Armenian after the breakup of the USSR. This a remarkable family whose achievements are fueled by the pain of the Genocide. As a member of the Armenian Diaspora, this is a story that is close to me. I was most interested by Kaspar's story. Richard and Raffi's stories were somewhat interesting, particularly the story of the beginnings of the modern Republic, but the story ends in 2010 before the Velvet Revolution in 2018. I read through the second half of the book quickly as I sometimes found it tedious. I also felt an aversion to the excessively nationalistic tone of this family. My own father disapproved of this segment of the diaspora. The real question is whether non-Armenians with limited knowledge of the subject matter will want to read this. I would say no. Peter Balakian's "The Black Dog of Fate" and "The Burning Tigris" come to mind as better books. Part of the problem here is the young author's proximity to the subject matter. He works hard at objectivity but it's difficult to achieve, particularly when writing about one's own father.

[Joseph Donigian · Rating 5 out of 5]

A pretty complete history of the Armenian peoples.

I am an Armenian, also. My great, great, grandfather escaped the Ottoman Empire in 1904-5. He was an interpreter who spoke Armenian and Turkish in the courts. He was about to get arrested for having Armenian leanings so his family stowed away on a ship. So I know about The First Genocide.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

The history of the evolving Armenian nation in the 20th and 21st centuries permeates the memoir of an Armenian-American family deeply involved in the politics of Armenia. Fascinating read.

[Sandie Nease · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

This book takes you on a journey through the eyes of the Hovanisian family starting with the patriarch Kaspar Hovannisian escaping the Armenian genocide in WWI after being separated from his mother and brother and making his way to the US were he established himself as a business man and important figure in the Armenian community in across the US.

It then goes on to talk about his son Richard, and then his son Raffi, until we get to present day with the author Garin and all of their contributions to the Armenian diaspora as they nurture cultural connections with their fatherland.

There is a trove of information within this book, about the hardships these people faced, and the struggle to keep the pride and culture alive through each generation through the lens of this one family.

While this book is useful in gaining a broader perspective of Armenian-American culture as well as the political history of Armenia, it was a dry read where I struggled to get through the book.

I think it’s a phenomenal book for someone that may be more passionate about this topic, but it wasn’t for me.

3/5

[Birte Klug · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s difficult to fully express what this book means to me. In it, Hovannisian tells the history of his own family, tracing all the way back to his ancestors’ survival of the Armenian Genocide in 1915. The thing about Armenian family narratives, and Armenians in general, is that our stories are collective. His family story reads so close to mine, even though our ancestors’ paths diverged in many ways from each other’s. Deftly switching back and forth between family history and global history, he does in this book what I did in my own college thesis: tracing ancestry through its inextricable links with global history: genocide, war, migration, diaspora... and elucidating the importance of family, culture, and identity. He does an incredible job expressing the complicated responsibility and duty Armenians feel to remember and fight and advocate for a homeland that has been challenged and ravaged time and again for thousands of years. A must-read.

[Louis Agate-Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Armenia:

This book was incredible. I absolutely loved it.

To be able to weave a story through 3 generations of people, while simultaneously informing the reader of Armenia’s history but also personal stories, is an incredible feat.

Tackling the issues of the brutal Armenian Genocide is one thing, but for an entire country and population to still have their history denied in the 21st century 110 years later is unbelievable.

I knew of the Armenian Genocide, but not that it was still denied even today by many in Turkey and unspoken by the political powers outside of the region.

I felt so deeply for every single person in this story and just could not put this deeply personal, deeply historical and deeply Armenian book down.

Incredible.

[Janine · Rating 3 out of 5]

A factual historical book about the author’s family, starting with his great grandfather who fled from Armenia to the US after the Armenian genocide

[The Book : An Online Review at The New Republic]

GARIN K. HOVANNISIAN, the young author of this book, has been journalistically blessed (and historically cursed) with a family tree that exemplifies Armenia’s past hundred years. His great-grandfather Kaspar survived the Armenian genocide and traveled through violent post-war Turkey and the surrounding region before immigrating to the United States. His grandfather Richard is a leading scholar of the brief history of the Armenian Republic of 1918-1920. His father Raffi became Armenia’s first foreign minister upon independence from Soviet rule in 1991, and is currently a deputy in the Armenian National Assembly as an outspoken crusader for the independence of the Mountainous Karabagh region that has been a source of decades-long conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Read more...

[Mary Whisner · Rating 5 out of 5]

A family memoir, from the generation that perished or survived the Armenian genocide in 1915 to California and back to Armenia.

If you like this, see The Family: Three Journeys into the Heart of the Twentieth Century, by David Laskin, and Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1948, by Madeleine K. Albright.

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, Family of Shadows, caught my interest initially due to my exposure to the Armenian culture in the USA. Through my children's friends I have been enlightened by the closeness and determined efforts of the Armenian community within Massachusetts to hold on to and to propagate the sense of nationally of people from Armenia. This book relies on historical events to tell the story of how one individual came to America from the turmoil in Armenia. Despite the advantages of the freedoms here, that immigrant instilled in the hearts and emotions of his growing family the traditions of his native country.

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting history of the Armenian genocide and subsequent history of Armenia as told through the lens of the Hovannissian family. I enjoyed learning more about Armenia and its troubled history, of which I knew almost nothing. The writing itself I felt did not do a great job of weaving in the history with the family -- felt disjointed often, and hard to connect with the people involved except for perhaps Raffi. Still, worth reading for the history alone.