Narine Yurievna Abgaryan

This was so very wonderful. I sought it out because of a Read Across Asia challenge (the author, Abgaryan, is Armenian), and listen, the "balm for the soul" claim on the front cover was not an oversell.

At first this felt like a collection of connected short stories, but the chapters and various characters wove closer and closer together until it was all clearly a single piece. The story of Anatolia, but really of all of the village of Maran, which after earthquake, locusts, famine, and war, is home to only a few dozen old people. But this isn't a tragic tale of disappearing ways of life, but rather an affirming one of second chances, the ties of relationship and remembrance, the mutual care and aid that makes a community.

Really beautiful.… (more)

Anatolia is 58 and one of the villagers of Maran, a village in the mountains of Armenia that's had its share of disaster and heartbreak. When Anatolia starts bleeding, she prepares to die, and thus begins the story of not just Anatolia but many of the villagers, their family and history.

The old Armenian saying that's the epigraph for this book gives it both title and structure:
And three apples fell from heaven:
One for the storyteller,
One for the listener,
And one for the eavesdropper.

The beginning is slow and I wasn't sure what to make of the story. I didn't always think to pick it up, but when I had more than a few minutes and could really sink into the story, I enjoyed it greatly, getting to know the villagers and their stories. Their lives are simple, and the village has been through so much: mudslides, famine, and war. But there is so much hope, and the day-to-day life of Anatolia, Vasily, Yasaman, and so many more are given dignity and importance in the storytelling. Before I knew it, I became invested and cared deeply about each of them.… (more)