The gimmicks : a novel / Chris McCormick.
Record details
- ISBN: 9780062908568
- Physical Description: 354 pages ; 24 cm
- Publisher: New York, New York : Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2020]
- Copyright: ©2020.
Search for related items by subject
Subject: | Families > Armenia (Republic) > Fiction. Armenian massacres, 1915-1923 > Influence > Fiction. Extremists > Armenia (Republic) > Fiction. |
Genre: | Historical fiction. |
Available copies
- 9 of 9 copies available at BC Interlibrary Connect. (Show)
- 1 of 1 copy available at Terrace Public Library.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 9 total copies.
Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Holdable? | Status | Due Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Terrace Public Library | MCCO (Text) | 35151001099159 | Adult Fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
- Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2020 February #2
*Starred Review* McCormick's mesmeric first novel begins in Armenia in the early 1970s, where, even half a century later, the aftershocks of the genocide still batter the nation. Two young cousinsâAvo, huge and gregarious, and Ruben, quiet, bookish, seething with righteous rage, and obsessed with backgammonâresolve to escape Armenia. Also living in their small town is Mina, a quiet, seemingly preternaturally lucky backgammon player to whom both cousins are drawn. The narrative then flips from Armenia in the 1970s to the West Coast of America in 1989, and McCormick continues to switch between those settings with each chapter. In the U.S., an old wrestling manager (now a pedigreed cat breeder), is contacted by a mysterious Armenian woman who is looking for Avo, a wrestler he used to manage. Through these dual narratives, McCormick explores the plight of Armenian refugees who arrive in America with their bodies as their only commodity and how a national trauma shapes Armenian identity. Masterfully structured and stupendously ambitious, this sweeping historical epic bears comparison to Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (2000). Always moving, brilliantly realized, and full of wondrous humor, this is a debut of rare depth and brilliance. Copyright 2020 Booklist Reviews. - Kirkus Reviews : Kirkus Reviews 2019 November #1
Two cousins emigrate from Armenia, finding their destinies in backgammon and pro wrestling. You needn't be well schooled in either sport to appreciate the debut novel by McCormick (Desert Boys: Stories, 2016); both serve mainly as metaphors for the mix of smarts, luck, and fakery that are essential to every immigrant survival story. In the early 1970s, cousins Ruben and Avo were as close as brothers in a rural Armenian town that promises nothing but endless reprosecutions of the country's genocidal past. One escape hatch is competitive backgammon, and the game has a prodigy in Mina, a young woman who earns a spot in a tournament in Paris. If Avo knocks down her teacher, killing him, was it an accident, or was Avo angling for a seat on the flight? Regardless, Ruben finds his way to France while Avo heads to California; both become involved in secret terrorist plots against Armenia's Turkish aggressors. A falling-out with those terrorists gets Avo a scar on his forehead and a gig in pro wrestling, where he's known as the Brow Beater. The busy plotting (Avo's former ma nager narrates chapters that move the story into the late 1980s) makes the novel a bit sodden, and anybody looking for lively depictions of wrestling bouts will be disappointed. McCormick is more focused on pro wrestling's notion of kayfabe, of keeping up appearances to advance a narrative, a sustained theme in Ruben's and Avo's lives outside of Armenia. On that front, he fully inhabits the cousins' lives with passion and Slavic dark humor. The truth, McCormick writes "is the only thing that can pin a heart open or seal it off forever." The pathos of this story comes from the struggle of its protagonists to do either. A busy but well-constructed tale about new lands and the ghosts of an old one. Copyright Kirkus 2019 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved. - Publishers Weekly Reviews : PW Reviews 2019 October #3
McCormick's rambling debut novel (after the story collection
Copyright 2019 Publishers Weekly.Desert Boys ) shows the continued influence of the Armenian genocide of 1915 far into the 20th century. The author dramatizes how it affects three teenage characters growing up in a village in Soviet Armenia in the 1970s: Ruben Petrosian, a teenager who lives to play backgammon; Mina Bagossian, his gaming rival; and Avo Gregoryan, Ruben's cousin, who's bigger than most kids and comes to live with the Petrosian family after the death of his parents in an industrial accident. Despite being opposites, both physically and temperamentally, the two cousins become as close as brothers, just as Avo and Mina fall in love. Ruben and Avo are eventually recruited by a secret Armenian liberation group that seeks vengeance for the 1915 genocide. Forced to leave Mina behind, Avo is sent to America, where he grows disillusioned with the cause and becomesâwhat else, given his sizeâa professional wrestler. In 1989, Mina contacts Avo's former wrestling manager to find out what happened to her one-time love. The novel covers much ground, geographically and historically, but never fully pulls together its disparate story elements. Still, there are enough secrets, lies, and betrayals to keep the reader turning the pages. (Jan.)