Aris
Janigian,
Bloodvine
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About
the Author
Aris Janigian, a second-generation Armenian American,
was born in Fresno, California. He is a professor of
humanities at the Southern California Institute of Architecture
in Los Angeles and he returns to the Fresno area annually
to work as a grape packer and shipper. |
About the Book
Bloodvine
is a riveting first work of fiction that resonates with
family struggle, ethnic legacies, and a richly captured
sense of place within California’s Central Valley.
It is a complex and devastating story of two half-brothers
who toil on and are torn apart by the farmland they have
inherited. It is a compelling novel of intense relationships,
of people unraveling as they struggle with the unpredictability
of weather, soil, and fate.
Recently
optioned for movie rights, Bloodvine is not only
Janigian’s first original novel, but Heyday’s
as well. It is a declaration of what it means be a Californian,
an experience long known as one of exploration, discovery,
alienation, and acceptance. This book, part of Heyday’s
Great Valley series, is a shining example of the rich artistic
and cultural abundance that is found alongside the agricultural
largesse of the Central Valley.
Critics
/ Reviews
"A
touching and very real story..."
—Kirkus Reviews
"Janigian
invites comparison to William Saroyan."
—San Francisco Chronicle
"Aris
Janigian is a strong, welcome new voice."
—Los Angeles Times
"An
absorbing debut novel….Janigian brings immediacy and
naturalism to the story of the Armenians who immigrated
to California."
—Washington Post
"Bloodvine
is a novel as dark as Turkish coffee, pungent as soil turned
for planting, and as mysterious as only a family story can
be. Add Aris Janigian to the harvest of California writers
nurtured by the harsh and bountiful Central Valley; he knows
its sorrows and its sweetness."
—D. J. Waldie, author of Holy Land: A Suburban Memoir
"A
riveting and beautiful novel—full of passionate human
drama and the large elemental sense of the San Joaquin Valley."
—Peter Balakian, author of Black Dog of Fate: A Memoir
