Raffi Meneshian
Meline Toumani’s “There Was and There Was Not: A Journey Through Hate
and Possibility in Turkey, Armenia, and Beyond” is arguably one of the
more critically acclaimed Armenian Genocide themed books to come along
in years. It has been nominated as a finalist for the 2014 National Book
Critics Circle Awards in the category of autobiography and has garnered
an impressive array of glowing reviews from publications ranging from
The New York Times to The Economist. Having signed with the imprint
Metropolitan/Henry Holt/Picador, part of the McMillan family of book
publishers, Toumani has major muscle behind promoting the memoir. Her
appearances on various radio talk shows, television programs and a
recent high profile Op-Ed have had two overtly consistent themes- 1.
Armenians need to get over the issue of Armenian Genocide recognition
and 2. They have been brought up to indiscriminately hate Turks. Yet, as
many strain to recall exactly who Meline Toumani is, her book has been
met with some interest, some anger, and a whole lot of blank stares
within the Armenian community.
