In The Name Of The Father And The Son
In this intricately woven, cinematic novel, the rigid worlds of Hrayr, an Armenian teacher, and his inflexible father collide in 1980’sHollywood, when an on-the-run prostitute finds refuge in their apartment. Reckless Hrayr falls helplessly in love with the American prostitute, alienating all around him. Tensions rise as the clash of cultures and morals takes a haunting turn, fundamentally changing the three protagonists. Berberian’s heartfelt novel unravels a sexy and brutally honest world that seethes under the veneer of respectability and traditional values.
In the Name of the Father and the Son was originally published in Armenian, in 1999, then in Turkish, in 2008, and in English in 2015. The novel is one of the most widely read books, and the Armenian copy has been out of print for a few years.
Review
Why We Should Read…
Armenian News Network / Groong
May 15, 2000
By Eddie Arnavoudian
'Every story has an end and every end, its story. This is the story of an ending. The story of my father's ending'. Thus begins Vahe Berberian's latest novel 'In the name of the Father and of the Son'. Like his first novel 'Letters from Zaatar' this one also casts a critical eye on aspects of contemporary life in the USA. Hrair, the narrator, a teacher at an Armenian school and amateur actor, reconstructs the history of his relationship with his father beginning his account at the point when their humdrum existence is disturbed by a prostitute seeking refuge from her violent pimp. As the story unfolds Vahe Barbarian, with his simple, fluent and agile Armenian, reveals features of that complex of emotions which constitute the perennial drama of father-son relationships.
The family home in which father and son live alone is a cold and barren place. It has none of that sense of security or human warmth we normally associate with the concept of home. It is in fact no more that a physical convenience. Despite their physical proximity father and son are in reality remote, isolated, emotionally paralysed, full of suppressed mutual anger and silent bitterness. But then Jamie the prostitute appears: a catalyst who shakes up their ossified, ritualised everyday life and brings to the surface suppressed loves, feelings and needs. Indeed 'the girl', as Jamie becomes known, will prove Paul Nizan's dictum that 'There is no desert in human life over which the grass cannot grow again.' She proves but in a manner that would startle even the most imaginative reader.