Dreams of Bread and Fire [Paperback]

Nancy Kricorian (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 20, 2004

Ani Silver is a young American woman whose half-Jewish, half-Armenian heritage seems a mere footnote to her own identity. But when the dark shadows of history insinuate themselves into her otherwise peaceful life, she is propelled into a profound and passionate series of journeys-a quest for a long-dead father, a search for the clues of a nearly forgotten genocide, and a love threatened by a quietly gathering storm of murder and retribution. After college, Ani leaves for a year in Paris, taking along her boyfriend's pledge of fidelity and the promise of their future together. When she receives a letter from him ending their relationship, she falls into a series of romantic misadventures. It is not long before Ani reconnects with a childhood friend, an elusive and intriguing character whose preoccupation with the Armenian heritage they share provides Ani with a new connection to her identity-even as she begins to suspect that he has a secret, and dangerous, identity himself. Both funny and heartbreaking, clear through to its bold and exquisite conclusion, Dreams of Bread and Fire is an irresistible novel of passion, ideals, and the temptations—and dangers—of trying to outrun our origins.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

On a university fellowship in Paris, Ani Silver recovers from a failed love affair and comes to terms with her Armenian heritage in this fitfully lyrical but clumsily plotted novel. Just a few weeks into her stay in France, Ani is dumped by her self-involved trust-fund boyfriend in the U.S. Still hopelessly smitten, she finds it hard to forget him, even with the distraction of her semiotics classes at the Sorbonne and her duties as the au pair for a rich American couple and their daughter. Only a fortuitous encounter with her distant cousin Van Ardavanian, who grew up with her in the Armenian enclave of Watertown, Mass., rouses her from her depression. After they meet on Christmas Eve in Paris, they begin to see each other often. Van says he is working for an Armenian relief agency, but he disappears on odd errands. After a romantic trip to Corsica, Ani discovers that he is carrying a fake Cypriot passport and confronts him. His confession comes close to shaking her love for him, but also launches her into a study of the fate of the Armenians at the hands of the Turks. Her mother's parents fled Armenia during the genocide and now live in Watertown; her father's parents were devoutly Jewish and disowned their son after he married outside the faith. Back in the U.S., Ani sets out to learn all about both sides of her family, while worrying about Van, who disappeared just before she left Paris. Kricorian (Zabelle) can paint vivid tableaus, but she often strains for poetic effect, and Ani's self-conscious romantic musings vie awkwardly with the Armenian themes for top billing. All sorts of threads dangle at the novel's hasty conclusion, and readers will be left wishing Kricorian had focused her tale more tightly.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Working in Paris as an au pair, Ani Silver is a student striving to forget an unfaithful man who filled her head with false promises. Adding to her misery is the nonexistent link between her paternal relatives and the melting pot of American and Armenian customs that complicate her identity. Her Jewish father was killed in an accident when she was just a child and his family never acknowledged her birth, nor did they forgive him for marrying Ani's mother. Love and heritage meet at the crossroads when Ani runs into a childhood friend in Paris who is heavily involved in the Armenian cause and holds a mysterious job. Perplexed by his peculiar behavior, Ani realizes how little she knows about the people she loves most. She has no history for her father, her grandparents are tightlipped about the horrors they suffered in the old country, her mother is changing daily, and the man she loves is an enigma. Ani Silver is a young woman en route to self-discovery through her own devices. Elsa Gaztambide
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press (February 20, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802141234
• ISBN-13: 978-0802141231
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,599,475 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful read, August 6, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Dreams of Bread and Fire (Hardcover)

After Zabelle, I was dying to read Dreams of Bread and Fire and while at first I was a little unsure about the Paris episodes and the love affair, I was very excited by the second half of the book.
The main character, Ani, is an interesting character who seems to come alive halfway into the book. The New York episodes are particularly riveting.
The only shocking aspect (and I don't mean scary) is the ending, I hope there is a sequel because at the end it feels like the real Ani is coming of age.
The book is a good read with well-crafted prose. Kricorian finds some interesting angles, though the Paris episodes make me thankful my college years are far behind me becauase they were a little pretentious.

4.0 out of 5 stars slender volume with lingering themes, June 29, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Dreams of Bread and Fire (Hardcover)

After coming across an interview with the author in the webzine, ..., I was sufficiently intrigued to pick up her book, Dreams of Bread and Fire. I could not put it down until I had completed it. At certain points, I grinned or even felt tears come to my eyes in recognition of some of the themes that Ms Kricorian deftly weaves into a compelling narrative--not necessarily the themes that relate specifically to Armenian history, but the universal ones of self-realization and identity, how they relate to relationships and the search for love, the need to belong and the choices inherent in one's background and "Old World" heritage.

Ms. Kricorian gives enough details to form carefully observed and vivid depictions of characters without a single wrong note; this allows for a very credible and engaging portrayal of the main character's relationships that are formed and transformed over the course of the book. Some of my favorite moments occur between the main character, Ani, and her comic-tragic grandmother (an short glossary is provided at the back of the book for added enjoyment of her colorful exclamations) and also between Ani and Sydney, the little American girl she is a nanny to in Paris. And especially when it comes to Ani's experiences with men, Ms. Kricorian accomplishes the difficult task of portraying encounters between people of differing class sensibilities and differing views of nationality and gender relations without being didactic or (a worse offense) resorting to cartoonish stereotypes. You can understand the choices that Ani makes even if you don't agree with them.

One does not need to be Armenian or even half Armenian (as the main character is) to appreciate this book--but anyone who has ever been confronted with issues of class, an "Old World" background (and implied obligations) and/or compensation for a non traditional upbringing--all the while navigating what it means to be "in love"--will find a lot to relate to in this slender but thought provoking book.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I was disapointed, August 25, 2003

By 

Wendy (Zionsville, Indiana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dreams of Bread and Fire (Hardcover)

I loved Zabelle...one of the few books that I cried like a baby after reading, but this latest one left me with a feeling that it was not complete. If you liked Zabelle and have an interest in the Armenian genocide then please do yourself a big favor and read "Rise the Euphrates" as beautiful and painful book as Zabelle.