Customer Reviews

MY NAME IS ARAM

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I am a high school student, and we read an excerpt from this book in our literature class. I immediately was intrigued by Saroyan's method of writing and the fact that his novels are autobiographical. This is a story of Aram Garoghlanian, a boy living in Fresno with his large family of Armenian immigrants. Throughout the book, such ideas are touched upon as maturity, honesty, and acceptance. My Name is Aram is a portrait not only of Aram Garoghlanian and William Saroyan himself, but Americans in general. Americans struggle with basic values and ideas everyday, and accepting our eccentric family members is something we learn to do. Saroyan describes small details in hi writing that bring the story to life and open up a new world. Readers will soon realize when they open this novel that each of us holds Aram inside us, whether it means we struggle with the idea of stealing a horse or keeping the families reputation. I strongly recommend this book to anyone.

The book is composed of different events that happened in the author's life. It is the life of an Armenian immigrant family in the beautiful San Juaquin Valley. Although, the story is about events that are happening in a particular Armenian family, in reality it is the life all immigrants in America. The stories some how effects all Americans. I am positive that some where in our lifetime we were criticized for a certain cultural trait. It is the story of the ultimate underdog who is determined to succeed. At the same time it is a very fun and easy book to read. I could not put the book down.

Saroyan has to be the best writer to come out of the West. He should have been recognized more for his genius work.

This is a nice small book of short stories which offers a pleasing weekend or evening read. Book is about a young boy by name Aram Garoghlanian and his family, Armenian immigrants living in Fresno, CA. It describes Aram's adventures during his early teenage years and events happening in his great and proud tribe of Garoghlanians.

Book is base on episodes of the author's childhood, and the characters of Aram's tribe are based on real individuals, Saroyan's relatives. The book is sensitive and pleasant, and each of the 14 chapters, is written as a separate short-story.

William Saroyan who is also the author of the famous song, made immortal by Rosemary Clooney, "Come On A My House" wrote these great tales. He and a nephew, Ross Bagdasarian (David Seville) wrote the song in their enthusiasm while on a road trip to visit an Aunt somewhere out west. Rosey Clooney added her seductive slant to the song in 1951 and we got the famous million seller.

I read this book for the first time over forty years ago. I loved it and never forgot many of the stories.
As I held the book in my hand to write this review, I began relating some of the tales in it to my wife. Then I sat down and read the book again to see how good my memory was. My memory was pretty good ... but not as good as the book.

This book was one among many books of short stories that have served to inspire my own writing. Until re-reading this book, I did not realize how much of this book and this writer I had incorporated into myself.

These are all true to life tales of childhood (granting poetic license) and growing up on the West Coast, in Fresno, California way back when. The stories are about mom, dad, grandpa, and uncle Khosrove and the author's unique immigrant heritage.

I grew up decades later on the East Coast in an old industrial mill town - nothing like the rural settings in this book. But other than replacing a "borrowed" car with a stolen pony, the humor and the sentiments are all universal. Today as I review this book, the movie "My Big, Fat Greek Wedding" comes to mind. The immigrant nature, the humorous relatives, the contrasting values and the crazy antics and situations brought together by life in the new country are common to the book and the movie.

Two of the stories that I never forgot are "The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse" and "Old Country Advice to the American Traveler."

"A Nice Old-Fashioned Romance" isn't bad either. The only thing bad about this book is maybe you haven't read it yet.

The writing is cleaver, entertaining, humorous and spun through with simple wisdom. In this modern copy I have, I have noticed that the punctuation is rather radical. There are no quotation marks used. Rather strange but easily readable nonetheless. I didn't notice that 50 years ago when I read this book the first time. But there are many things quite evident today that I didn't notice 50 years ago.

Not many people write books like this these days. Writing has become too sophisticated. There are no monsters from outer space, no demons, no devils, no spirits or ghosts. There are no serial killers, perverts or criminal insanity. Nobody eats any children in this book. No one flies on a broomstick in this book. There are no spells or even "little people." I suppose the younger crowd would find it boring.
I have always loved it ... and still do.

Richard Edward Noble - The Hobo Philosopher - Author of:

"Just Hangin' Out, Ma," Humorous Anectdotes

This is Saroyan's collections of short stories from his youth in the early 1900's. The stories are a glimpse of life through the eyes of a young, first generation boy. Entertaining and perceptive.

One of the most poignant, honest, sad, joyful, deeply human books I ever read. William Saroyan is an absolute master storyteller, one of those who made me become a writer.

One of my all-time favorite books. The warm and accurate, unsentimental humor in the way Saroyan portraits people and their life is unforgettable.

This book has the most endearing charm of any book I have ever read. It got me hooked on Saroyan. Even though he wrote the book many many years ago, it still reminded me of the life I had growing up in the San Joaquin Valley. His portrayal of the innocence of childhood and his hilarious laugh outloud stories still linger in my mind, and every so often I pick up the book again to get lost in a land and time that I love to go back to

"My Name Is Aram" is a collection of short stories set in Fresno, California in the early 20th century featuring a boy named Aram and his extended Armenian family. The stories are essentially in chronological order and include recurring characters, but the book isn't truly a novel, as all the stories are self-contained and could really be read in any order.

Most of the stories in "My Name Is Aram" are superbly written gems of short fiction. The first, "The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse," has frequently been anthologized and with good reason: it is an expertly crafted short story, with a childlike sense of wonder and some unforgettable characters (such as the easily irritated Uncle Khosrove, who reacts to EVERYTHING by shouting "It is no harm! Pay no attention to it!"). Another favorite is the offbeat "Locomotive 38, the Ojibway," about a wealthy, eccentric Native American who wanders into Aram's town. These are two stories that everyone should read at least once. I also particularly enjoyed "The Circus" (Aram can't resist skipping school whenever the circus comes to town), "The Pomegranate Trees" (about an attempt by Aram's uncle to grow a field of pomegranate trees in harsh desert land), and "The Three Swimmers and the Grocer from Yale" (on the way home from a swim, Aram and two other boys encounter a very strange grocer). A couple of the other stories have a somewhat sad or serious tone, which helps balance the book as a whole.

Many of these stories reminded me of the works of Jean ("A Christmas Story") Shepherd. Aram is often getting into minor trouble and clashing with the authority figures at school, but even when they're punishing him, most of the adults realize he's just being a kid. A common theme in this book is the conflict between people who are artistic (or "poets") by nature and those who consider such pursuits to be foolish. William Saroyan clearly sympathizes with these "poets," who he admits may not always be practical, but who nonetheless make the world a much more colorful, interesting place.

Originally published in 1940, "My Name Is Aram" is a timeless classic that everyone should read. If you've never read any of Saroyan's short stories, you're in for a treat!

I reached for this book because I was thinking about stories that I had loved in my junior high years, and I remembered some of Saroyan's stories about a boy growing up in a rural area during World War II. I don't think the author's reputation has really grown much in recent years - up until the 1970s or 80s he was part of the cohort of great American 20th century writers, and I am not sure he is in that category any more - but he is a very interesting writer. His stories are a little odd, yet deeply American and very human. He writes a fair bit about what seem like fairly minor, ambiguous incidents in his characters' lives.

This book of short stories is based on his memories of growing up near Fresno, Cal. between 1915 and 1925. His family was Armenian, and they were farming people. These are well-written and charming little yarns, which have the ability to appeal to both younger and older readers. "The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse" is the best, and I used it in a class I was teaching. It tells the story of two cousins, one around 10 and the other around 13. The older boy has stolen a white horse which they ride around at night so that no one can see them. Eventually they are caught, and give the horse back to its rightful owner. In another one I liked, a few boys go for a long hike and a swim in a river. On the way back they meet an eccentric shopkeeper with a Yale education. It describes a kind of adventure which is mostly gone from the American landscape today. In a funny piece, one boy keeps getting sent to the principal's office, where the principal half-heartedly flogs him, and the boy somehow gets in between a possible budding romance between the principal and a teacher. In a sweet yet slightly disturbing tale, an Indian who apparently has come into some money hires a boy to drive him around town and show him where the good fishing is.

Not all of these were good for today's students - in fact only a couple would be. But I enjoyed reading them, and I look forward to someday dipping into some of Saroyan's more adult works.