The Sandcastle Girls: A Novel

I couldn't say never read print version.

Elizabeth-She is so brave and bold.

They truly seemed to personify the chractors.

Yes, when Elizabeth discovers Armen's Wife dying in the hospital.

Did not like the ending.

I tried to read this, tried to like it, but it is too large a canvas for my taste. I am not interested in reading about wars, ethnic cleansing, the pointless suffering of innocents - and all the pain that goes along with that, if there is no character development. I can google all about any of those topics without buying a novel or an audiobook. Certainly, I am capable of enjoying a book with a background of war - example: "Sarah's Key" - but only if the individual characters engage. This book offered nothing for the reader in the way of character bonding.

I should have listened to my heart when I read the publisher's summary. When an author whose work I love decides to go in a "different direction", I, too, should go in a "different direction" and walk away.

I like Cassandra Campbell and I thought, "well, with Chris Bohjalian and Cassandra Campbell, what's not to like?". Wrong!!! Alison Fraser, the other narrator and I guess the granddaughter character but I didn't get that far, had an annoying voice that ran too fast, too cheery - you could hear her smiling all the time and for what reason? who knows? - and had a flat accent that was either just too precious and cute (why? is her Armenian heritage "cute"?) or spilling out words at breakneck speed and I just could not tolerate it.

I am interested in varied ethnicities, but does a writer have to make an entire book out of his own heritage? Really? Is Bohjalian not capable of thinking up anything else as a basis for a novel? Can't believe that, and I'll stick to his usual story lines, which are far from clichéd or overdone. Will the writer formerly known as Chris Bohjalian please come back!!!

I am annoyed to the hilt and sad that I have to wait another year or so for the "real" Bohjalian, the writer that I know and love reading, returns.

I would recommend it to someone who likes history

The boldness of Elizabeth in dealing with the thiefs that took the supplies

no

This has not been one of my favorites.It does not move with a flow that makes you want to stop what you are doing to read it .I did finish it but with great difficulties.

I really liked the fact that it was such an eye opener about the attrocities committed against the non-Turkish citizens living in Turkey.

When we discovered the supposed "dead" wife was still alive.

There were too many. Many of the interesting scenes couldn't be called favorites because
they were too gruesome, but still very moving and certainly attention holding.

Epic Story of Genocide in Turkey

I love Historical fiction and this book covers a horrific little known story. Breaking the book between current time and historical time makes the book easier to read.

The story line of the Historical events of 1915

No, but I thought her performance was excellent.

Elizabeth

I loved this story and would not hesitate to recommend it. The characters were interesting and well developed. I also learned some things that I didn't know about Armenian history which was an added bonus.

The history lesson was great. I love books that, after I finish, have me researching more about the topic. With The Sandcastle Girls I walked away feeling like I had learned something new.

There were parts where I was a little lost as to who was who, exactly. There were some characters who had potential, but were never fully developed and others that were developed more than they needed to be.

I purchased this book since I enjoyed "Midwives" so much, but I don't think this one had the same punch. I felt like nothing ever "new" really happened. The story was told, but the fictional characters weren't overly interesting. The ending was anti-climatic.

That it is both a love story and a history of an area of the world that I knew very little about.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, because it also tells a story of another time, the love between two people of different nationalities, and the oppression and pain of war.

Elizabeth

Yes, it opened my eyes to a whole world that I never knew of . . .a time and place that I was unaware of . . . and it helped me to put things into perspective regarding that area of the world today . . .

One of the best audio books I have listened to. I think that men and women both would like this book.

Wow! I winced through a part of this story which describes a brutal killing on a train but it just doesn't compare to the overall story of the Armenian Genocide, largely unknown to me. This historical fiction novel is well done and enlightens the reader about the Ottoman Empire's murder of more than 1.5 million Armenians by forcing them to march into the Syrian desert without food and water.

The story is told in two time settings:
A love story unfolds between Elizabeth an American who goes to Syria to provide medical attention to the Armenians. She meets Armen, an Armenian engineer who has lost his wife and child.

The current day Laura, a novelist who comes upon her grandparents letters and diaries in an Armenian History Museum in MA and begins to research the story of her family.

This is a fascinating story about a genocide that I had never heard of - the Armenians by the Turks during World War I - as seen through the eyes of 2 generations of women in a single family. The first is a young woman from Boston who accompanies her father to Aleppo, Syria, to deliver food and medical aid to the victims of the Armenian genocide and the second is her granddaughter who is just discovering the story as she reaches middle age. There are two narrators for each woman's voice which really adds to the sense of intimacy to how the two women react. As is typical with good historical fiction you learn a lot about history while engrossed in the lives of the characters.

I had never heard of the Armenian genocide and it made me wonder about other genocides that I have never heard of.

Viewing this story from two different perspectives, that of the one living through the experience and that of the grandchild learning something new about her grandparents really fleshes out the impact of the horror of the genocide.