Customer Reviews

The Last Day of the War

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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Between 1894 and 1915, almost a million Armenians were killed in a series of massacres by the Turks. Here author Mitchell seizes on the fact that many Armenian-Americans who fought in Europe during World War I were committed at the same time to finding and punishing the leaders of these massacres, many of whom had escaped to Europe. One of these soldiers is Doubleday (Dub) Hagopian, an American who goes to war in Europe and stays on to work as a translator during the Paris Peace Conference. He is part of a secret society of Armenians dedicated to capturing three leaders of the massacres who have escaped to Germany, along with a former police chief, now in Paris, who locked the doors of an Armenian church, then set it afire, killing scores of worshipping families.

Yale White, formerly Yael Weiss, an adventurous eighteen-year-old from St. Louis, lies about her age and her religion to follow Dub to Europe, where she works as a "canteen lady" for the YMCA. She and her unconventional best friend, Mary "Brennan" White, presage the "flapper" attitudes that will develop after the war, while Dub and Raffi Soghokian, an acquaintance from Providence, serve the serious cause of Erinyes, a secret organization seeking to avenge the massacres. As the story develops, the author presents flashbacks which reveal the terrible history of the Armenians, not in generic terms, but as it affects individuals in the novel, a history that has remained relatively unknown to westerners. As Yale's love for Dub grows, she becomes a passionate and active supporter of his cause.

The novel depends to a great extent on coincidences to resolve the action, with the right people being in the right places at the right times, and the story occasionally wanders. There is little foreshadowing to provide unity, and while some of the characters begin to question some of their initial decisions, they do not change very much. The author steps out of "character" to teach the reader history-the basics of how World War I got started, along with details of the peace treaties at the end of World War I, which promised sovereignty to the Armenian people. Overall, however, the novel is fast-paced and exciting and pays long-overdue attention to the Armenian people, their history, and culture, a good debut novel from an author whose story reaches beyond pure plot. Mary Whipple

While I wasn't sure I would like this book after the first ten pages, I quickly reached the critical point at which I couldn't stop reading. This novel manages to educate the reader about the Armenian Holocaust on a personal rather than statistical level while also providing an engrossing story about its protagonists and asking many ethical questions about justice, revenge, commitment and truth in an open-minded way. I found the book's tone very engaging, especially after the first third, and it encouraged me to read The Burning Tigris to learn more about the Armenian Holocaust and Paris 1919 to learn more about the Peace Conference against which the second half of this novel is set. I highly recommend this book and look forward to more by this author.

I had been looking for novels about World War I, and someone recommended this . I am so very glad they did; its probably one of my favorite reads this year

Yael Weiss is an 18 year old living in St Louis. She happens to meet an American soldier who also is involved in a group taking revenge on Turks responsible for the Armenian genocide of 1915. When he goes to France, she decided to follow him. She fakes her age and volunteers with the YWCA who is recruiting young women to Paris, helping as soldiers start coming home at the end of the war. You can probably guess what happens, but there is so much more to this book than a love story. There is the history of the Armenias people's survival, the response to the massacres by the powers that were in the world. The author brings up many heavy moral issues, and while her characters don't always work them through, how they respond to them moves the story. Its not all somber tho; The author manages to include some hilarious and ironic situations that don't cheapen the story at all, but make it all the more human. There are coincidences here that might be a little implausible, but I was so interested in the story and characters that they didn't bother me in the slightest. Oh, and her characters - I suspect I am going to be thinking of them quite a bit over the next day or so.

In the author notes, she gives an excellent summary of the sources she used, how she developed characters and which events were true, as well as a helpful time line. As always,I appreciate this in a HF book!

I should note that I don't give many 5 stars; most books are not perfect. But this one gave me just what I was looking for, and I really couldn't find a thing to fault it. Its a quick read, but one that is sobering, and yet life affirming. Highly recommended. I am looking forward to reading more books by this author.