Micheline Aharonian Marcom is a distinguished author whose narratives delve deeply into the complexities of migration and identity. Her literary approach is characterized by a profound exploration of traumatic historical events, particularly the Armenian genocide and its enduring repercussions. Through her writing, she seeks to illuminate the intricate forces shaping the lives of new Americans. Her work serves as a powerful testament to the resilience and endurance of the human spirit in the face of profound adversity.
small pieces is a collaboration between novelist, Micheline Aharonian Marcom, and writer and visual artist Fowzia Karimi, pairing Marcom's short stories, or "miniatures" as Marcom calls them--prose pieces of one page or less--with watercolors done by Karimi. The work is a conversation between two artists in text and image, side by side.
"Emilio thinks he is living the American Dream: his parents, who emigrated from Guatemala to California, sacrifice daily to make sure of it. And his life seems relatively normal until he turns sixteen. Like most teenagers, Emilio is determined to get his driver's license-however, his mother dissuades him from doing so. When Emilio asks why, his parents reveal a shocking secret: he is undocumented. Emilio adjusts to his new normal. Under the Dreamers' Act, he attends Berkley. He falls in love. Everything seems fine...until Emilio gets into a car accident and-without a driver's license or any documentation-the policeman on the scene reports him to Immigration Services. Emilio is deported to Guatemala. But he is determined to get back to California, the only home he has ever known. It is an epic journey that takes him through the cities, jungles, and deserts of South America, towards thieves and corrupt law enforcement but also kind strangers and new friends. Drawing from interviews with Dreamers, and told in lyrical prose, Micheline Marcom weaves a heart-pounding and heartbreaking tale of adventure. This is a timely novel that asks us what we have in common, across experiences and borders, and what truly makes us American"--
A woman s sexual awakening is a tragedy when the woman is married to someone other than the man who awakens her. But until then, her marriage, now doomed, was a sleepwalker s tragedy. This novel will shock and offend some readers. Unapologetically explicit in its language, extreme in some of the acts it catalogues, it makes no pretense of submission to middle-class decency, let alone to expectations of happy endings. All three people in this love triangle are flawed, damaged, human. Things fall apart, and the resolution is unclear. Why does she do it? Why should we read it? The answer is one word: Ecstasy. Micheline Aharonian Marcom has a genius for language that is not only beautiful in and of itself, but also engages the heart. Lusher than Marguerite Duras, more tender and erotic than Cormac McCarthy, but nearly as dark, this is a narrative masterpiece."