Last Rites: The Death of William Saroyan [Hardcover]

Aram Saroyan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1982

Hardcover book with dust jacket chronicles the last days of William Saroyan as observed by his son.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow & Co; 1 edition (July 1982)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688012620
• ISBN-13: 978-0688012625
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,850,362 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Aram Saroyan is a poet, novelist, biographer, memoirist and playwright. His website is www.aramsaroyan.com.

Ebook editions of his books The Street: An Autobiographical Novel; Trio: The Intimate Friendship of Oona Chaplin/Carol Matthau/Gloria Vanderbilt; and Rancho Mirage: An American Tragedy of Manners, Madness and Murder, as well as two new titles, My Own Avedon and Artie Shaw Talking, are now available.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A son tells the story of the dying of the famous father who has abused the family, September 1, 2011

By 

Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman" (Jerusalem,Israel) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Last Rites: The Death of William Saroyan (Paperback)

Aram Saroyan tells the story of the last days of his father, William Saroyan. He tells us that his father was abusive to himself and his sister. He tells the story of how William Saroyan who lost his father at the age of three was in his own inner and family life in total contradiction to the image presented in his literary work. The public knew him as a lover of people, but Aram Saroyan reports him to be a totally self- enclosed person, incapable of giving emotionally to others. Aram Saroyan tells the story of his parents marriage. The last chapters involve his bringing his own children to see their dying grandfather. The son strives hard to be a human being at the end to a father who has rejected him. Literary comparisons are in order here but the Saroyans are nowhere on the level of the Kafkas. William Saroyan was a writer who was perhaps given far more recogniztion than he truly deserved. In any case this is not a work of profound relationship and example. It is rather a sad story decently told.