Book Reviews

The Armenian Mirror-Spectator
July 31, 2004

Memoir Recounts Life in Cleveland's Armenian-American Clan

This is the story of Sarkis Eminian and his four friends, whom he calls "the boys of '26." All were born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1926, the sons of Armenian-American immigrants who were survivors of the Genocide. Along with their brothers, sisters, and cousins, they made up what Eminian characterizes as a clan—a close-knit group of families who shared much of the same history.

In addition to the Eminian family, there were the Keshisians, the Dadaians, the Mesrobians, the Baajaksouzians, the Gararians and the Pilobosians. All of these families settled in the Old Newburgh neighborhood of Cleveland—nearly all had come from the town of Malatia [today] in central Turkey, which had been in old Armenia before Atitila the Hun and Tamerlane led the Turks into Asia Minor and parts of Europe and Africa.

In his introduction, Eminian says he was motivated to write the story when the last members of the older generation died. "When they passed on, my friends and I felt the loss. Almost a century had been erased with their deaths. We felt that our parents had simply vanished as if they never existed, carrying all those terrible memories."

Eminian's first experience of the Genocide was when, as a child, he stumbled across some old magazines in his family's attic. He was riveted by photographs of Armenians who had been killed by the Turks. His parents had never discussed the Genocide. Later, he said, he "recalled those photos in the magazine and I realized that the Genocide victims were me and the members of our clan and all the Armenians in our community."

The book is about the Armenian community that survived and thrived in this small corner of Cleveland. It's a story about learning to speak English and roller skating and biking in the local parks, about Eminian's aunt who made root beer, and the picnics that boasted an abundance of Armenian foods—behleeg (bread) and marinated shish kebab. It's also a story of Eminian's learning what was behind his father's silence and anger.

The book is also a tribute to a way of life that has now virtually passed, when the egg man and the milk man delivered to the door, when communities were more tight-knit and families would gather for an evening of Armenian songs and memories of the Malatia that they had left behind.

West of Malatia is Eminian's first book. He is a graduate of Western Reserve and worked in advertising for many years. He is also the author of a novella, Whatever Happened to Joey Baronian, that was a winner in the 2003 novella contest sponsored by the Middle English Literary Group. He lives in Cleveland, OH, with his wife Joanne, and is at work on several writing projects.