Armaveni: A Graphic Novel of the Armenian Genocide - Nadine Takvorian - ★★★.½

AUTHOR: Nadine Takvorian

GENRE: Graphic Memoir

PUBLICATION DATE: March 10, 2026

RATING: 3.5 stars.

In a Nutshell: An OwnVoices graphic memoir offering some insights into the Armenian genocide. The intent is worth appreciating; the content needs more detailing. Good illustrations, but I didn’t like the colour scheme. A valiant attempt at highlighting a part of history that’s never discussed. Recommended for awareness. Not an easy read.

In September 2025, I read Pablo Leon’s ‘Silenced Voices: Reclaiming Memories from the Guatemalan Genocide’,

a graphic novel highlighting a genocide in Guatemala I had never heard of. When I saw this book, I was stunned that yet another graphic memoir has opted to showcase a genocide that doesn’t get attention anywhere. It makes me wonder how many mass massacres throughout history have actually been brushed under the table or even been denied their occurrence as propaganda. Kudos to such graphic novelists for making their voices heard and showing the truth.

The author is a professional illustrator who has sketched for several children’s books and graphic novels. This is her debut writing effort. While it is a creative first novel exploring several facets of Armenia’s past and present, it still needs some finetuning.

Takvorian, whose family was originally from Turkey, is a first-generation Armenian-American,. When Turkish Muslims declared “Turkey for Turks” (So many variants of this slogan exist around the world even today! 😢), they started to assassinate the local Armenians, who were Christians. The author’s grandmother Armaveni lived through these painful times, but passed away without revealing much about those dark days or how much she had lost. Her daughter – the author’s mother – also refused to speak on the genocide for a long time. When she finally revealed her suppressed trauma, the author could understand the crux of her Armenian identity.

The story comes through interconnected historical, contemporary and fantastical sequences. The contemporary section was the most appealing to me as the journey of a young girl towards her roots showed awareness and spunk.

As this book is mostly autobiographical, there is a undertone of genuineness to the narrative. We see the pain of Takvorian and her family, we see her excitement at visiting her homeland for the first time, and we see the emotional upheavals she faces in Turkey. All of these emotions come out strongly.

However the narrative stays focussed only on her personal experiences and doesn’t dive much into the political and cultural status quo in Turkey during those years of upheaval. Several necessarily facts have been skipped from the book. As it is, the timeline isn’t always clear; the book randomly jumps across the past story, the present-day events, and the imaginative interludes, all juggling for attention. To add to this confusion, the book focusses a lot on the whats of the genocide but offers barely a line or two about the whys. There’s no historical note explaining the political situation in the Middle-East during that era, which should have been the logical first course of action. This makes me feel like the book is not a great starting point to learn of the genocide as it presumes familiarity with certain historical events.

It might have helped if I had had some awareness of this massacre. But this book is the first time I have even heard about it. This lacuna in my knowhow affected my comprehension to a great deal, especially at the start. As the chapters progressed, I got a vague idea of the genocide, but even after completing this 344-page graphic memoir, I doubt I have grasped all the intricacies precisely.

That said, it is not easy to read such books during these dystopian times, when so many countries are still committing the same mistake that these countries did: considering one race/ethnicity/religion superior to the others. When humans look at each other only through the distorted lens of race or religion and not through the 6/6 vision of humanness, our future seems dire. Such books help spread awareness of historical crimes, and hopefully, (which is just a teensy-weensy barely-present glimmer of dull hope at present), someone somewhere will read such books and say, “I need to stop viewing others based on their race or religion. We are humans first.” (Such a big assumption on my part that racist bigots like to read diverse books!)

There is a helpful glossary at the end of the book for the Armenian and Turkish words. But even more fascinating is the author’s note: a marvellous way of setting things straight and clear.

The text is in typeface created from the author’s own handwriting. No complaints at all about this; her writing is very legible. The Armenian dialogues are indicated by a <> in the text bubble.

The illustrations left me with mixed feelings. I loved the sketches of all the human characters. Nadine’s curls are especially lovely. However, the colour scheme is monochromatic, mixing white with a darkish purple shade. Given how there are three types of stories in the book; present, past, and imaginative, the colour scheme could have reflected this, using one distinct colour scheme for each story. In its current format, the only indication of a shift in narrative is a king of page border at the bottom of the historical narrative focussing on Armaveni’s timeline.

Overall, I did like this memoir, but I expected to learn a lot more from it. Given that it is aimed at adults, it could have gone darker and deeper into history so that the contemporary timeline were perfectly clear. In its present format, it feels more YA, even though the events it covers are far from YA.

Recommended to fans of true-life narratives focussing on a tragic events of the not-so-recent past.

3.5 stars, rounding up wherever applicable for the intent.

My thanks to Levine Querido for providing the DRC of “Armaveni: A Graphic Novel of the Armenian Genocide” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.