In 1915, Armenian Christians in Turkey were forced to convert to Islam, barred from speaking their language, and often driven out of their homes as the Turkish army embarked on a widespread campaign of intimidation and murder. In this riveting book, Margaret Ajemian Ahnert relates her mother Ester's terrifying experiences as a young woman during this period of hatred and brutality. At age 15, Ester was separated from her family during a forced march away from her birth town of Amasia. Though she faced unspeakable horrors at the hands of many she met, and was forced into an abusive marriage against her will, she never lost her faith, quick wit, or ability to see the good in people. Eventually she escaped and emigrated to America. Ahnert's compelling account of her mother's suffering is framed by an intimate portrait of her relationship with her 98-year-old mother. Ester's inspiring stories, told lovingly by her daughter, will give you a window into the harrowing struggle of Armenians during a terrible period in human history.
The Knock at the Door
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
This personal, homespun account by an American of Armenian descent interweaves two narratives in alternating chapters: Ahnert's mother Ester's firsthand description of coming-of-age during, and miraculously surviving, the Turkish-sponsored Armenian genocide of 1915, and the middle-aged author's own tender yet urgent reflections on her connection to the distant world of her 98-year-old mother. Ester's formidable personality, humor and abiding religious faith pervade Ahnert's debut, while the latter's fluid transcription of Ester's story provides a frank and searing testimony, as well as a vivid depiction of Armenian village life. While Ahnert's oral history doesn't offer a rigorous historical account or analysis of the systematic slaughter, but rather supplements works like Peter Balakian's The Burning Tigris and Taner Akcam's A Shameful Act, its force lies in the interplay between the narratives of mother and daughter. Together, their stories realize in intimate but accessible terms the vagaries of historical memory and Ester's determination to tell the truth despite the understandable urge among some victims to forget in the face of an official policy of denial from Turkey that continues today.. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Amid the chaos and violence of World War I, attacks began against the supposedly disloyal minority Armenian population within the Ottoman Empire. By the end of the war, high-end estimates place the death toll of Armenians at more than one million due to executions and deportations. Ahnert, a producer of television documentaries, interviewed her 98-year-old mother, Ester, a survivor of the massacres, and intertwined her mother's amazingly lucid and vivid recollections of the period with her own memories. The result is a moving yet deeply disturbing account. Ester paints a rather idyllic picture of village life in Turkey. Despite occasional tensions, relations between Armenians and Turkish communities are described as generally friendly before the war. But the screws then slowly tightened against Armenian rights. Still, when the horrific violence exploded, most Armenians were stunned, and many did not react quickly enough to save themselves. Ahnert has provided an invaluable service by putting human faces on the victims. Jay Freeman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Powerful human story,
By avw (Ft. Lauderdale, FL USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Knock at the Door: A Journey through the Darkness of the Armenian Genocide (Hardcover)
The Knock at the Door is an amazing book that chronicles a horrible part of history endured by Ester, a young Armenian woman, in the early 1900's. Normally, it would be very difficult to read of such atrocities. However, the author, who is also Ester's daughter, has filled this story with love, while giving us a close look at some very difficult and personal events in her courageous mother's life. In the book, Ester says that she doesn't know why she was chosen to survive the Armenian genocide when so many others died. Perhaps it was so that she would give birth to a talented daughter who would have the courage to write a human story of this hidden history for the world to read. It occurred to me, as I was reading The Knock at the Door, that the last time I read a book about such a dark story that was filled with such great love, was Frank McCourt's "Angela's Ashes. The Knock at the Door is a powerful book tells an important historical tale in a very interesting way and I highly recommend it.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
HISTORY MADE REAL,
By
This review is from: The Knock at the Door: A Journey through the Darkness of the Armenian Genocide (Hardcover)
This is one of those rare books of historical exegesis that so draws you in, it is almost impossible to put down. Margaret Ahnert opens up a neglected moment in history, one that has haunted her family since she was born. For near a century the Armenian genocide in Turkey has been told through dry statistics and to my knowledge this is the first book that emboldens the atrocities by using the vehicle of a single victim, the author's mother, who tells her the story of what happened to her in Turkey when she was 15 years old. And do we get drawn into the life of this whip of a child as she endures a death march through Turkey. While older people perish early on, Ester slips out of carts full of doomed people, gives herself to lusty Turks who abuse and rape her, and performs slave labor of all kinds in return for a stay of execution. In fact, she does anything in order to survive. Ester's story is retold by her daughter with lyricism and irony. Her eye is a camera, unrolling every quirky detail rather than slipping into maudlin generalizations.
Ahnert is bound to become the center of heated controversy:the Turks rabidly deny that they engaged in ethnic cleansing of their Armenian population and have been known to step up to fight anyone who says differently. Until now, we have had little reason to disagree with them; after all you have to see, hear, experience a phenomenon before it takes on the color of reality. Margaret Ahnert has done that -- and in the process, validated the chronicle of Armenian history. This is a beautiful and engrossing book.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Every so often.....,
By
This review is from: The Knock at the Door: A Journey through the Darkness of the Armenian Genocide (Hardcover)
There are plenty of books which grapple with the ills of humanity. But what renders this book so touching and rare, is the time it took Margaret Ahnert to gather the story, organize the tales of an old woman - her adored mother, and allow it to warm and educate the reader. Time, not in the hours of completing the book-writing task, but instead the decades of devotion listening to her mother speak her story. I could imagine the New York afternoons with Ester telling Margaret about her youth - interspersed with the daily life of the grandchildren, the house, business, etc. What tedious joy it must have been for Margaret; taking notes, luring out the evil, yet delighting in those stories which build a life. What a strong old gal Ester was. And what a great daughter is Margaret to know it and have the insight to write such a personal tale of family love and worldly politics. Bravo.
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