San Francisco Chronicle, CA
April 18 2004
Our Editors Recommend
[parts omitted]
The Daydreaming Boy by Micheline Aharonian Marcom (Riverhead; 224
pages; $23.95): Micheline Aharonian Marcom’s second novel focuses on
the aftermath of the Armenian genocide and revolves around the
experiences of one man: Vahé Tcheubjian, a middle-class Armenian
businessman in 1960s Beirut. Tcheubjian and his wife appear to have
an idyllic life, soaking up the sophisticated culture that marked the
pre-civil war city as the “Paris of the Middle East.” But inside,
Tcheubjian is an emotional train wreck, racked by memories of escape
from the genocide that killed his family and years endured in a
brutal Armenian orphanage. Marcom’s seamless, ethereal prose is
suffused with raw emotion; there is heartbreak on every page, but
also hope.