Zabelle is really an amazing story. I am a Bulgarian-Armenian American teenager growing up in Washington, but the story of Zabelle was really touching. Zabelle is a character that transcends time and space, and hers is a story that was shared by many other Armenian American women coming to the New World after the Genocide of 1915. My favorite episode from Zabelle was when she quarelled with her mother-in-law, the domineering Vartanoush Chahasbanian. Really, a domineering mother-in-law is one of those things that Armenians all over the world know about. The story of Zabelle is truly one of the best novels on Armenian American women, and perhaps the only one currently available, that spoke to me directly and Ms. Kricorian did an excellent job of making the words speak for themselves. I enjoyed reading this book greatly and it encourages me to read other books about Armenian Americans. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

I loved this book! Zabelle is an inspiration to us all. An orphaned survivor of the Armenian Genocide, this amazing woman never loses her dignity, her strength, or her sense of humor. This book is not only about surviving oppression. It's about rebuilding one's life in a new country (Zabelle marries an Armenian grocer and moves from Constantinople to Watertown, Massachusetts). It's about coping with an overbearing mother-in-law. It's about unrequited love. And it's about finding one's center through family, friends, and community. Nancy Kricorian's wonderfully crafted story will remind you what's important in life. It will also make you laugh, cry, and wish you were Armenian.

I loved this book! I was unable to put it down for the 2 days it took me to read it. Even read it at work!

The journey begins with Zabelle as a little Armenian girl in Turkey, who must remain strong enough to survive the massacres without the help of her parents. She finds two friends who help one another through the terrible time.

As the novel continues, the reader sees Zabelle mature into a young woman, then into a mother, and grandmother respectively. When she is still young, her "guardians" help arrange a marriage for her to an Armenian man (a few years her senior) who lives in the U.S.A. Once she moves to America, Zabelle then gets to deal not only with learning English, but also with his mother-in-law, who cannot stand her!

You'll laugh and cry while reading this book. Zabelle is an incredible woman, who makes the best of tough times. A sub plot to her life story runs continuously through the latter part of the book--what happens to Armenian children growing up in the U.S. (or any "foreign" country). Zabelle must struggle with seeing her children rejecting the values and traditions she'd grown up with.

The best part about this book was the ending, but I can't comment on it. I don't want to ruin the surprise. I'm sure you too will enjoy it. It's a magnificent read!

After coming across an interview with the author in the webzine, ..., I was sufficiently intrigued to pick up her book, Dreams of Bread and Fire. I could not put it down until I had completed it. At certain points, I grinned or even felt tears come to my eyes in recognition of some of the themes that Ms Kricorian deftly weaves into a compelling narrative--not necessarily the themes that relate specifically to Armenian history, but the universal ones of self-realization and identity, how they relate to relationships and the search for love, the need to belong and the choices inherent in one's background and "Old World" heritage.

Ms. Kricorian gives enough details to form carefully observed and vivid depictions of characters without a single wrong note; this allows for a very credible and engaging portrayal of the main character's relationships that are formed and transformed over the course of the book. Some of my favorite moments occur between the main character, Ani, and her comic-tragic grandmother (an short glossary is provided at the back of the book for added enjoyment of her colorful exclamations) and also between Ani and Sydney, the little American girl she is a nanny to in Paris. And especially when it comes to Ani's experiences with men, Ms. Kricorian accomplishes the difficult task of portraying encounters between people of differing class sensibilities and differing views of nationality and gender relations without being didactic or (a worse offense) resorting to cartoonish stereotypes. You can understand the choices that Ani makes even if you don't agree with them.

One does not need to be Armenian or even half Armenian (as the main character is) to appreciate this book--but anyone who has ever been confronted with issues of class, an "Old World" background (and implied obligations) and/or compensation for a non traditional upbringing--all the while navigating what it means to be "in love"--will find a lot to relate to in this slender but thought provoking book.