Black Dog of Fate

A Memoir

By: Peter Balakian

Narrated by: Peter Balakian

The first-born son of his generation, Peter Balakian grew up in a close, extended family, sheltered by 1950s and '60s New Jersey suburbia. He was immersed in an all-American boyhood defined by rock 'n' roll, adolescent pranks, and a passion for the New York Yankees that he shared with his beloved grandmother. But beneath this sunny world lay the dark specter of the trauma his family and ancestors had experienced: the Turkish government's extermination of more than a million Armenians in 1915, including many of Balakian's relatives, in the century's first genocide.

In elegant, moving prose, Black Dog of Fate charts Balakian's growth and personal awakening to the facts of his family's history and the horrifying aftermath of the Turkish government's continued campaign to cover up one of the worst crimes ever committed against humanity. In unearthing the secrets of a family's past and how they affect its present, Black Dog of Fate gives fresh meaning to the story of what it means to be an American.

©1998 Peter Balakian (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"A rare work of seasoned introspection, haunting beauty, and high moral seriousness." ( Kirkus Reviews)

"Balakian writes with power and poignancy, confronting his past with justified outrage and transforming that outrage into art." ( Library Journal)

Great book!

If you could sum up Black Dog of Fate in three words, what would they be?

Memoir
History
Shocking

Who was your favorite character and why?

Peter

What about Peter Balakian’s performance did you like?

Poetic intensity

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

. . . and you thought "Stand By Me" was a good story!

Any additional comments?

Loved it

Eh

Eh, it was alright. I had to read it for school and audible helps. Kind of boring but it was interesting to learn about some of the stuff about the genocide.

Amazing storytelling - for an amazing story

Peter Balakian was able to recreate for the reader his own experience of discovery - of his family’s past and the terrifying and wonderful past of the Armenian people. The book asks: how could this genocide have happened—in full view of the world? How, in the face of the thousands of eyewitness accounts, is the silence and denial of governments entangled in geopolitical interests allowed to persist? These questions hang in the air for all of us, unanswered, like the ghosts of the unacknowledged and unburied.

Author /reader?

What did you love best about Black Dog of Fate?

I could not get past the reader's tedious monotone...if I had not needed to finish this book for a book group, I never would have made it to the end. I wanted to put it down after an hour.

Story everyone should read

It's been years that I had purchased the hard copy of Balakian 's book but unfortunately I've never read it. The audio version helped me to finish it in one week. Very convenient, even though sometimes I had to redo my make up. Thanks Balakian for writing this memoir to keep your grandmother' s and your people story alive.