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The Gendarme

by Mark Mustian (Goodreads Author)

3.66 of 5 stars 3.66 · rating details · 925 ratings · 259 reviews

What would you do if the love of your life, and all your memories, were lost- only to reappear, but with such shocking revelations that you wish you had never remembered...

Emmett Conn is an old man, near the end of his life. A World War I veteran, he's been affected by memory loss since being injured during the war. To those around him, he's simply a confused man, fadin...more

Hardcover, 304 pages

Published September 2nd 2010 by Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam (first published August 7th 2010)

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Aug 11, 2010 Jill rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads

First of all, thank you, Goodreads First Reads, for the opportunity to preview this book! With the one hundredth anniversary of the Armenian deportations only a few years away, author Mark Mustian has set himself a daunting task: to follow his character’s footsteps and to serve as a gendarme, a guide in the wilderness. For the most part, he succeeds admirably.

As Mr. Mustian writes in the epilogue, “Genocide perhaps represents the ugliest of human deeds, the mass killing of often defenseless fell...more First of all, thank you, Goodreads First Reads, for the opportunity to preview this book! With the one hundredth anniversary of the Armenian deportations only a few years away, author Mark Mustian has set himself a daunting task: to follow his character’s footsteps and to serve as a gendarme, a guide in the wilderness. For the most part, he succeeds admirably.

As Mr. Mustian writes in the epilogue, “Genocide perhaps represents the ugliest of human deeds, the mass killing of often defenseless fellow beings…Saying it didn’t happen is a mere recipe for recurrence.”

The focus is on one gendarme – a 92-year-old Turkish man named Ahmet Kahn on the verge of senility with a non-operable brain tumor – who must examine memories of events that he has previously denied or purposely forgotten. Many years ago – in World War I – he was a gendarme, charged with escorting Armenians across the border from Turkey to Syria. Many died from the grueling march and the lack of proper food and shelter and medicine.

Women, in particular, had a tough time of it: they were frequently used as the playthings of the Turkish men who have grown hard and bored and demand women to do their physical bidding before killing them. One woman captures Ahmet’s attention: her name is Araxie and her eyes are her exotica, one nearly turquoise, one greenish-brown. Ahmet falls head over heals for her, sheltering her from the excesses of the trek that become, for all intensive purposes, a true genocide.

Araxie demands of him, “Why not just shoot us all now? What is it about us you hate so?” And he must answer impotently, “I am only a small piece of the puzzle. I have a job to do. I did not ask for it, nor have I questioned its rationale.” As in books from the past – Sadie Jones’ Small Wars, for example, or the more famous A Separate Peace – Ahmet must eventually realize that his answer is non-satisfactory and that his love for Araxie outweighs the senseless slaughter.

The novel is divided into two portions: the present day, where Emmett Conn suffers through mental disorientation, hospital confinement and the coldness of his grown daughter, and the past, where Ahmet Kahn – same person – struggles to survive amidst swollen corpses, monstrous murders, and clannishness, duplicity, and trickery. As the memories swell in intensity, the reader must ask, “How much of his memory is true and how much is a product of extreme guilt? What happened and what didn’t?”

There are no clear answers. But as Mr. Mustian writes, “The point of the story seemed to be that to think is to forget, to filter from the mind the unnecessary, I have told myself this, repeated it to myself. I have called it our gift from God. This headstrong, heedless survival.” At the end of the day, love does survive…and so do the never relenting memories. Mr. Mustain states in his epilogue, “Decades on, even centuries on, our shared history remains vital…”

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Aug 01, 2010 Juliana rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, romance, amazon-vine-program, advance-reading-copy-or-galley, historical-fiction, middle-east, 4-half-stars, human-rights-and-equality, armenian-genocide, war-and-military, war-and-military-fiction, rape-sexual-assault-and-abuse, love-story, soldiers, memory, war-crimes, turkey, ottoman-empire, world-war-i, world-war-i-fiction, 20th-century, set-in-1910s, aging, genocide, turkish-americans, dreams, psychological-thriller-and-suspense, the-elderly, 2010-reads, 2010-aug-reads, 0-own-in-dead-tree-form, 0-reviewed, set-in-1990s, 4-to-5-stars, 2010-reads-my-favorites-of-the-year, 2010-reads-my-supremes-of-the-year

The Armenian Genocide, an old man just beginning to remember, a young soldier falling in love, and the search for forgiveness (4.5 stars)

This book was haunting and beautifully written - this last being all the more noticeable and affecting given the utter ugliness and horror that the language is often portraying. Mustian brings to life with searing vividness the squalor, disease, and everyday violence that made up the caravans, tent cities, and refugee destinations of the Armenian Genocide. He u...more

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Nov 18, 2011 Camie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-bookgroups

I found The Gendarme equal parts interesting and disturbing. I knew nothing about the Armenian genocide, and although I was glad to be enlightened to those events, it was definitely a tough read. But, this book left such a lasting impression that I’m glad I kept enduring.

Emmett Conn fought in WWI and was injured. Through some sort of twist of fate, he ends up recovering and moving to the United States, and he gets married and has children—a normal, unremarkable life by many. However, in his old...more I found The Gendarme equal parts interesting and disturbing. I knew nothing about the Armenian genocide, and although I was glad to be enlightened to those events, it was definitely a tough read. But, this book left such a lasting impression that I’m glad I kept enduring.

Emmett Conn fought in WWI and was injured. Through some sort of twist of fate, he ends up recovering and moving to the United States, and he gets married and has children—a normal, unremarkable life by many. However, in his old age, as he’s becoming ill, he is beset by strange dreams where he’s remembering a past life. At first, he can’t understand how the cruel gendarme from his dream, ushering suffering Armenians out of Turkey, could be him. But the dreams begin to paint a picture that he knows must be true. And at the center of these memories lies a beautiful woman.

I thought this was a creative plot line, and although not a page turner, it kept my interest as I was shifted back and forth between present and past. With the amnesia, we were able to get inside a war criminal’s head without the inherent evil and hate. This fact leaves the reader with a difficult conundrum: what to do with Emmett? Do we hate him, or can we forgive him? By all accounts, Emmett led an ordinary life after his accident, even a benevolent one, considering that he faithfully took care of his ailing wife for so long. But, after he comes to know of his past, and us too, it’s hard to look at him in the same way. And yet, he’s still the same person. That dichotomy is what makes him such an intriguing character. I wonder that the author is somehow illustrating that piece of human nature—that we all have this part of our personalities there, ready to be activated . . . or deactivated, as with Emmett. Are we all of us capable of such heinous crimes? No matter what good a person does in the world, could that same person be capable of the same level of action on the opposite, the evil, side of the spectrum?

And then there’s Araxie, this arrestingly beautiful Armenian woman. Emmett somehow comes to believe he must protect her at all costs. And his dreams do not put his mind at rest about what’s happened to her. What should he do with this information now, that he’s in his 90s? What could he hope to do for her now? How could he go his whole life long, practically, as one person, to find out that he’s someone else entirely. Someone who probably should have spent his life in prison. He is decent enough to know that. He hasn’t abandoned all the values and morals that govern human decency just because he once had none. And yet there are sparks in his character, in his sordid past, that make you stop and wonder where in fact he went wrong. What along his path led him to be vicious, when he is capable of compassion, at least in Araxie’s case. Perhaps compassion could only be compelled from him in the face of a strong and beautiful woman. Although if he was to be as he should have been, as a gendarme I mean, a pretty face should have only made him the more cruel. It is his love for Araxie that becomes his saving grace. It redeems him as a character. When normally I would find him repulsive, in fact it is hard not to do so, I find his determination to save one woman very courageous.

By the book’s description, I was expecting the main part of the text to be somewhat of a travelogue. For Emment/Ahmet to find out his true identity and make for Turkey in search of Araxie. To spend weeks and months there, leaving no stone unturned, and then learn of himself and his past as he went from place to place. But, I have to say that I find Mustian’s creation much more realistic and meaningful. What Emmett spent his whole life looking for, his past, is both terrible and beautiful. It’s a perfect puzzle, one which he will never be able to untangle. One he can only vaguely believe. One he will always regret. Perhaps that is the reason his dreams make him act crazy.

I have to say, this book took dedication to finish. It’s none of it easy to read. I enjoyed the pace, although I found some parts starting to lag. Overall, I found it a very thoughtful read, and I’m sure I’ll be thinking about it for some time still.

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Jun 22, 2011 Karen rated it 3 of 5 stars

This novel is about a 92-year-old man, Emmett Conn, who has memory loss from a head injury he received during World War I, but all of the sudden he begins having dreams about those times, and he realizes they are memories about what happened when he was eighteen. He discovers he was a gendarme, a policeman, escorting Armenians from Turkey (which was basically genocide). Alot of what he did was terrible. He falls in love with one of the Armenians and they get separated and he goes to great length...more

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Apr 11, 2011 Laura Droege rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, historical

Emmett Conn, a WWI veteran, is close to death and suffers from memory loss. Past and present have blurred in his mind. Through dreams, he takes a journey into his past, where he was the Turkish gendarme Ahmet Kahn. In the decades between WWI and his present-day life in America, he has suppressed these memories; he doesn't remember what happened until a magazine article about the Armenian genocide triggers the dreams. He begins to remember his role in the forced deportation of Armenians from Turk...more

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Apr 10, 2011 Wilma rated it 4 of 5 stars

I just finished this book on the recommendation of my hubby. At first I thought: eh, I’m not going to like this. However, I soon found that I could not put this book down.
This is a beautifully written story about Emmett Conn, a 92-year old man coming to terms with the role he played during the genocide of the Armenian people by the Turks. Emmett has lost much of his memory from a head injury suffered during the war. However, during the latter part of his life, his memory returns to him through...more

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Mar 22, 2011 Deepika rated it 4 of 5 stars

The ‘gendarme’ or the policeman in this book is the elderly Emmet Corn (92 years old) who is struggling with age, brain tumor and recurring memories of his long forgotten past life. Emmet Corn was actually Ahmet Khan who worked for the Turkish police during world war I. But he forgets all about it due to a head injury after an explosion, marries an American nurse and settles down in Atlanta. The main theme of the book deals with the Armenian deportation and genocide which is still a sensitive to...more The ‘gendarme’ or the policeman in this book is the elderly Emmet Corn (92 years old) who is struggling with age, brain tumor and recurring memories of his long forgotten past life. Emmet Corn was actually Ahmet Khan who worked for the Turkish police during world war I. But he forgets all about it due to a head injury after an explosion, marries an American nurse and settles down in Atlanta. The main theme of the book deals with the Armenian deportation and genocide which is still a sensitive topic for a lot of people.
The story keeps shifting between past and present and you get to know the atrocities committed during the war, the general attitude of Turkish soldiers, how they justify the deportations and killings so casually, and some truly shameful and horrific things that people do to fellow human beings. Ahmet Khan is a gendarme leading a deportation of a big group of Armenians from Turkey to Syria. One of the members in the group is a young girl, Araxie. Ahmet is captivated by her mismatched eyes (one dark and one light) and falls in love with her. When he sees her he thinks ‘I can have her right here if I wanted to’ but he doesn’t. He does not, however, have a problem killing, maiming and raping others.
All of these long lost repressed memories keep resurfacing in present day Emmet Corn because of his brain tumor and he is struggling to decide if all of it actually happened and is riddled with guilt. He is now a widower (after a long and unhappy marriage), with two daughters who are not close to him (but one of them tries to take care of him anyway) and a culture-confused grandson he desperately wants to be closer to but is unsuccessful. Because of his depressing current situation, the reader finds it difficult to hate the guy for his past crimes. Emmet himself is horrified at what he has done and wants to find Araxie and beg her forgiveness. But his reveries make him violent and his daughter has him committed, as if he wasn’t having enough problems. He finally does escape the asylum to go find Araxie and this is where I found the story to be implausible.
The author, Mark Mustian himself is of Armenian heritage and does a wonderful job with the book. He writes about the war, the horrors, disease, and the current situation of how people treat their elderly very simply. It is almost brutal. The books IS depressing, there, I said it! But despite that, I could not put it down. It is much more than a history lesson. The book tells you some things should never be forgotten and it is never late to ask for forgiveness. (less)

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Nov 04, 2010 Lainie rated it 4 of 5 stars

As a 2nd generation Diasporan Armenian, I typically dread reliving stories about the Armenian Genocide that took place around 1915 in Western Turkey. Growing up, I heard enough stories from elderly relatives who survived, many of whom lost wives, husbands, children, parents, and friends. But my sister's avid recommendation of this book prompted me to try it.

Mark Mustain uses an ingenious plot device: a brain tumor that spurs recollections from many decades before. The protagonist would just as...more

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Oct 13, 2010 Tori rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

Eh. Story of an old Turkish man who worked as a gendarme (basically the police) for the Ottoman Empire during the Armenian genocide. Trick is, he doesn't remember anything due to a past head injury and current brain tumor. Switches between present-day Georgia (the state) and Anatolia around 1915.

Enjoyed the parts where the character (Ahmet Khan, anglicized to Emmett Conn) explored his memory, you know, because I'm kinda into this collective memory, politics of forgetting in relation to war crim...more

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Sep 29, 2010 Rachel rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction

The Gendarme is the story of 92 year old World War I veteran Emmett Conn. He has few memories of the war due to memory loss caused by a war injury. After being diagnosed with a brain tumor, he remembers the war in his dreams and is haunted by these memories. Emmett dreams he's a gendarme, escorting Armenians from Turkey during the Armenian Genocide. During this trek, he meets the love of his life an Armenian girl named Araxie. After remembering her in his dreams, Emmett decides he must track her...more

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Sep 19, 2010 Graziano rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: my-library

A woman with ‘mismatched eyes, one dark, the other light’ and a man following these eyes for almost one hundred years. Meantime history follows its path changing the life of these two people. In all these events memory plays one of its best game: memories. dreams, yesterday, today are playing in a turbulent back and forth.
Emmett Conn is a ninety-two-year-old man, ex-gendarme, when he was young he escorted Armenians from Turkey before the World War I. During this perilous journey he met Araxie....more A woman with ‘mismatched eyes, one dark, the other light’ and a man following these eyes for almost one hundred years. Meantime history follows its path changing the life of these two people. In all these events memory plays one of its best game: memories. dreams, yesterday, today are playing in a turbulent back and forth.
Emmett Conn is a ninety-two-year-old man, ex-gendarme, when he was young he escorted Armenians from Turkey before the World War I. During this perilous journey he met Araxie.

The book starts with a question: ‘Ninety-two years have passed - for what? For what?’ (p.5) And after this question follow several dreams of an old man, or are these dreams only memories?
Emmett and Araxie met the first time as in a dream, without contact: ‘What is your name? She does not respond, or if she does, her name is lost in the leaves.’ (p.12)
As Atom Egoyan has written in the advance praise for The Gendarme: ‘Ahmet Khan’s spiritual transition to Emmett Cann is emotionally resonant’; I’d say also Emmett transition to Ahmet. At the end of the book Ahmet and Emmett become one person, the ends of all stories become just one end.

After Ahmet becomes Emmett in America and the old man what happened? Why Emmett choose Carol instead of rescuing Araxie? Could be the following some of the answers?
‘Race and division and circumstance - these surmountable, all! ... I should speak, I should offer support for rebirth, transformation, but instead I am frozen, my tongue stilled and thick. What is my direction? My offer? ... I could blame the heavens, blame fate or luck or inheritance, but it is all to no gain. My shame is boundless, my guilt so heavy it overweight even truth!’ (p. 198)
‘I am from Turkey. I fought in the war. I was injured, then rescued. An immigrant. A father ... I was a gendarme, a ... murderer. That this is my shame.’ (p. 208)
Could shame affect a whole life? Maybe not, there is an answer at the end: ‘Things weave in and out. I am there, I am here. At the end the past is so great it intrudes like an army!’ (p. 274)
The past could be dangerous, but it’s great.

Until the last chapters I had many doubts about The Gendarme: Is this book too ‘cold’? I mean, written as a lecture about elderly people and old history.
Although the passages from one story (old Emmett) to another one (young Ahmet) seems a relieve of the pain of remembering or dreaming; I preferred the narration of the old Emmett: point of view of an old man like a camera that watches, records, and put down.
Mustian telling the deportation’s story on Turkey border is lacking of ‘spicy’: the deportation is narrated as a summary from history books, so I’d have preferred smell of horses, carpets full of sand, sounds of small bells from running horses, shouting, etc.(less)

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Sep 09, 2010 Felice rated it 3 of 5 stars

The Gendarme
Flower!

Why do you pick up a book? What makes that book alluring as opposed to the one next to it? Everyone has their sucker points. I'm a sucker for: maps, unique type styles, fabrics, patterns, shoes with no feet in them (But never, never ever feet with no shoes on them!), dishes, tea kettles and tea pots, partially revealed figures and the just plain pretty. Since I buy lots of books there must be an awful lot of covers that peak my interest. Of course you may judge a book worthy...more The Gendarme
Flower!

Why do you pick up a book? What makes that book alluring as opposed to the one next to it? Everyone has their sucker points. I'm a sucker for: maps, unique type styles, fabrics, patterns, shoes with no feet in them (But never, never ever feet with no shoes on them!), dishes, tea kettles and tea pots, partially revealed figures and the just plain pretty. Since I buy lots of books there must be an awful lot of covers that peak my interest. Of course you may judge a book worthy of picking up by it's cover but you don't always buy it. I did touch and then buy The Gendarme by first time author Mark Mustian. I had not heard anything about this novel prior to seeing it displayed in an independent bookstore but the cover is so striking (shades of the National Geographic Afghan girl) and so simple that I was compelled to grab it and have a look. If my local chain store was stocking this title at all it was not in one of the many piles of books nor was it faced out in the new fiction section so it did not get my attention.

The gendarme is Emmett Conn. Emmett is a World War I vet near the end of his life. Although he's suffered from memory problems since being injured during the war that prevent him from remembering much of that experience and his life before it, the war has defined his life. Now strange dreams that may or may not be hidden memories from that time are intruding on his life. In these dreams his status as a soldier is confused. He is a gendarme escorting Armenians out of Turkey. He is 'Ahmet Kahn' and he is desperately in love with a young refugee named Araxie. In Emmett's 'real' life his relationships with his grown daughter and grandson are typically complicated and in need of repair. To heal, understand and forgive himself for what may have been his participation in the Armenian Genocide, Emmett must extract the truth of his life from within these illusive and disturbing memories and dreams.

This was an excellent novel. The different periods were brought off beautifully. It was appealing to my love of historical fiction and the contemporary setting was successful as well and so did not suffer by comparison. This is not a history of the genocide but the elements of it that are incorporated into the plot are written with enough authority to capture the level of horrors of that experience. Mustian also writes movingly and believably about Emmett's two lives. The book is told in the first person so our travels with Emmett could very easily have become a tiresome litany of I, I, I and that does not happen. Emmett stays a provocative character throughout the book. Not every character is as fully realized as Emmett and Araxie are but the strength of your interest in the two of them makes up for that lack. Good job Mark Mustian!

Congrats to the wily cover designer of The Gendarme. You tempted me with your mad skills and it paid off big. And. By the way, how much do you love the word gendarme anyway? Don't you want to keep saying it? Gendarme. Great title choice. That makes The Gendarme a triple threat: terrific novel, gorgeous cover and wonderful title.

P.S. That cover art reminded me of another recent triple threat novel, The Heretic's Daughter. Look here my friend. They are practically twins. (less)

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Aug 01, 2010 Kelly Hager rated it 5 of 5 stars

I'm just going to give you the synopsis from the back of the book so I don't accidentally spoil something.

"To those around him, Emmett Conn is an old man on the verge of senility. A World War I veteran, he's been affected by memory loss since being injured in the war. Now, at the end of his life, he's beset by memories of events he andothers have denied or purposely forgotten.

In Emmett's dreams he's a gendarme, escorting Armenians from Turkey. A young woman among them, Araxie, captivates and ent...more

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Jul 27, 2010 Rosanne rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Gendarme by Mark T. Mustian is a novel about a Turkish man who is dying. As the tumor continues to grow in his brain; he is plagued by memories of a time in his life when he was a Gendarme in the Turkish army deporting Armenians from their homeland. Ahmet Kahn is Emmett Conn a 92 year old American citizen who raised a family in America. He married Carol an American nurse who was working in a London hospital where he was a patient recuperating from head wounds he received during the Turkish w...more

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May 18, 2012 Barbarac rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: around-the-world, asia

I'm torn, and don't know how to rate this book. I liked it, don't take me wrong. The first half of the book, through dreams/memories, we get parts of the story Emmet/Ahmet, and his part on the Armenian "transport" to Syria from Turkey during WWI. Yeah, "transport". Note of sarcasm here.
The story is interesting, but slow, and I didn't care much for the present story of Emmet, and his uncomfortable relationships with everybody around him. Specially with his daughters and grandson. The book starts...more

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Feb 04, 2013 Tommy Elliott rated it 5 of 5 stars

A ninety-two year old Turkish-American suddenly recalls the disturbing history of his youth, memories that had been long sequestered due to a brain injury he suffered 65 years earlier in the Battle of Gallipoli.

A sense of urgency descends as he tries to recollect and then come to terms with his past as a Turkish gendarme in charge of escortingArmenian exiles from Turkey through the Syrian desert. Amid the terrible death march, he falls for one of the prisoners. He struggles to shelter her from...more

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Feb 03, 2012 Julie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Emmett Conn is diagnosed with a brain tumour, and along with the confusion he is beginning to have dreams. Dreams of being a Turkish guard, on a forced death march of Armenians across Turkey to Syria. He is both brutal and then disgusted with the treatment of the men, women and children in his care, and becomes protective of one beautiful young girl Ataxie, who he tries to protect.

In the daylight hours he has no memories of this past, instead only remembering his service in Gallipoli, where inju...more

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Aug 01, 2010 Sue rated it 5 of 5 stars

Emmett Conn is 92 years old. Recently widowed and suffering from a brain tumor, he is plagued with headaches and bad dreams. The dreams come to him like a movie being played out in his mind, scene by scene. They begin to feel more like memories than dreams, but a head injury suffered during WWI left Emmett with very little memory of the war or his life before it. In these dreams Emmett is a Turkish gendarme, a position that one would hold before becoming a soldier. He is known as Ahmet Khan, the...more

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Oct 17, 2010 Sandie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010-books, contemporary-lit, historical-fiction

What exactly is Mark Mustian’s book The Gendarme? It’s a story of love set against the background of war and intolerance; it’s a history lesson about the Armenian genocide that most of us didn’t get in school; it’s a commentary about how we treat our elderly when they become physically or mentally incapacitated; it’s the story of dreams and lost memories and what they tell us about ourselves; and finally, it’s an examination of divisive use of religious differences and racism created and justifi...more What exactly is Mark Mustian’s book The Gendarme? It’s a story of love set against the background of war and intolerance; it’s a history lesson about the Armenian genocide that most of us didn’t get in school; it’s a commentary about how we treat our elderly when they become physically or mentally incapacitated; it’s the story of dreams and lost memories and what they tell us about ourselves; and finally, it’s an examination of divisive use of religious differences and racism created and justified by nations in order to advance political agendas. And while this book examines all of the aforementioned, some of it is done in a rather ephemeral and perfunctory manner.

Alternating between Wadesboro, Georgia in the 1990’s and Turkey and Syria 75 years earlier we are given two narratives delivered by the same man at different stages in his life. Emmett Conn (Ahmet Khan) is currently 92 years old and suffering from a terminal brain tumor that has triggered vivid dreams of events buried in his subconscious since he suffered a head injury in WW1. His recollections of the brutality involved in the forced march of Armenians from Turkey to Syria appear, to this reader, to be shockingly authentic however, his memories of Araxie (she of the mismatched eyes) and their bittersweet love teeters on the brink of preposterous and puts me in mind of some old “bodice-rippers” in which the heroine is raped by the hero, falls madly in love and follows him to the ends of the earth. Emmett’s dreams too are suspect because not only do they recall the past in sequence, but his brutality seems to replay as less callous and barbaric than his cohorts like Mustafa.

Finally, I found the circumstances surrounding Emmett’s trip to New York to be implausible for a 92 year old suffering from a brain tumor to accomplish.

Overall – I have mixed emotions about this book. I loved some things about it, hated others. I suppose if you are a person who enjoys historical fiction, and you can refrain from examining the logic of certain story elements to closely you will find The Gendarme to be a pleasant diversion.
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May 23, 2010 Carol rated it 4 of 5 stars

I so wish this rating system was different, but I loved this book and learned so much from it. Mainly, I was deeply moved by Emmett Conn's story, told through his dreams that took place 70 yrs. earlier. Emmett is now 92 yrs. old and ready to die, but his dreams return him to a time during W.W.I when his Turkish Gov. commits genocide against millions of Armenians. His true love, Araxie, was a deportee then, & the plight of these people is vividly described. The extermination of Jews was not t...more

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Feb 11, 2012 Kelly rated it 3 of 5 stars

Gendarme is the story of the forced relocation of the Armenians from Turkey to Syria but as told to us by a 92 year old Turkish Gendarme who has emigrated to America. Emmet Conn (Ahmet Khan) was badly wounded during World War I which caused him to lose most of his memories before the injury and now, at 92, has a small brain tumor. As he undergoes treatment for his tumor he begins to have dreams wherein he is participating in the relocation of the Armenians. Some of what he remembers is so awful...more Gendarme is the story of the forced relocation of the Armenians from Turkey to Syria but as told to us by a 92 year old Turkish Gendarme who has emigrated to America. Emmet Conn (Ahmet Khan) was badly wounded during World War I which caused him to lose most of his memories before the injury and now, at 92, has a small brain tumor. As he undergoes treatment for his tumor he begins to have dreams wherein he is participating in the relocation of the Armenians. Some of what he remembers is so awful that he initially thinks he may be dreaming the dreams of another. However as his treatments for his tumor continue and he is subjected to small humiliations of his own he begins to realize that he is indeed the man in the dreams and that he has participated in rape, mutilation and murder.
The author does not paint Emmet as a one dimensional evil character. Instead we are introduced to the younger Emmet/Ahmet slowly while at the same time learning what his life as Emmet has become. Like most elderly people his children have no time for him, his grandson now wishes to have nothing to do with him and his rights as an individual are curtailed as he, for his own good, is placed in the state mental hospital. The older Emmet certainly has regrets about some of the decisions he has mad ein his life especially in regards to his daughter Violet. So when we first meet him on the journey to Syria it is hard to reconcile that person with the person we know now. It is difficult to read what happens to the refugees as they make their way out of Turkey and Emmet is certainly an active participator in the atrocities. However, he eventually falls in love with one of the young refugees and as the journey takes its toll he begins to change. The young refugee Araxie is in and of herself and very interesting person and I can see how her dignity and composure could have influenced a young man who had begun to question why he was doing what he was doing.
I did find initially, the book was a little slow but after I got into the story I found myself wanting to dive back into the story even though I knew some of what I was going to read would not be pleasant. I found the use of both present and past scenes to be very effective and certainly helped in making Emmet to be a well rounded complex character. I did know a very little bit about the Armenian genocide having worked with both an Armenian co-worker and having date a Turk. What was fascinating to me was the denial of my Turkish boyfriend that this happened and yet his grandparents must have known of the relocations. Reading this story gave me some of the political rationale for why this happened. It has also instilled in me the desire to read other works on the subject.
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Sep 24, 2010 McKenzie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Overall, this was an intriguing read. I did not know much about the Armenian genocide and want to do more research on the topic now.

As far as literary qualities of the book, I had a few minor issues. For one thing, the elderly narrator seems very detached from not only the people around him, but emotions in general. I wanted more information about his relationships with his children, his grandchildren, and his wife; there were only a few moments when he truly seemed to grasp the emotional implic...more

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Oct 25, 2011 Kelli rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book would be a great book club discussion book. It is a story of 94 year old man, who has memory loss of his life before World War I. He now has a brain tumor, and flashbacks of his past come back to him. The story is told in the present, with flashbacks of his past. It is very creatively written. While I like the old man in the present, I did not like his character when he was a gendarme for the Turkey Army During World War 1. He did horrible things. This story is important,, because I do...more

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Aug 28, 2010 Jennifer rated it 4 of 5 stars

I very much wanted to read this book as my sister is an archaeologist who has worked in both Turkey and Armenia, but it was much more than I ever expected it to be. It is a difficult book because of the subject matter, but at the same time, beautifully written.

In present day Georgia (U.S.), a 92-year-old WWI veteran, Emmett Conn, has begun having spells that cause him to have very real dreams; only Emmett realizes he is not dreaming, but reliving the life he has forgotten. Emmett was born Ahmet...more

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Jul 18, 2012 Karen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction

This is a sad story. Yet I liked it; was going to give it four stars ( the highest I usually give), but near the end it was a little hard to practice the "willing suspension of disbelief." Somewhere in the book, the word "absolution" is used. Can we grant that to Emmett? POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOLLOW: Also, there were so many unanswered questions. Did not know whether the actions of the contemporary characters were meant to symbolize those in the past of if the author simply wanted the reader to wond...more

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Nov 03, 2010 Barbara rated it 4 of 5 stars

I actually listened to this book as a cd.
Since my grandfather escaped the Armenian genocide (the rest of his family was killed) I had my own reasons to read this book. The author did an excellent job showing how people can rationalize their actions, even murder. It also shows how so many persecuted people can manage to forgive and go on with their lives. My respect for how my grandfather lived his life here has grown considerably. The conditions forced on the Armenians during the march were mad...more

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Jul 25, 2010 Curt Jarrell added it Recommends it for: Literature lovers, Book groups

The Gendarme is a powerful and poignant journey of a man who uncovers a forgotten past. Following treatment for a small brain tumor memories, long suppressed, begin returning. He was wounded during WWI, a head injury robbing him of his past. The truths slowly returns; he was part of the Armenian genocide. He bonded with a young woman and did all he could to keep her safe from danger, losing his heart in the process. The limits of his humanity come into contrast with his actions and what he knows...more

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Dec 16, 2010 Danielle D'Orlando rated it 3 of 5 stars

I wanted to read this book because of the dramatic cover. I thought the woman and her eyes were captivating and completely drew me into this book. I'm on the fence about whether I liked this story or not. I appreciate the way the story line was set up with all of the flashbacks and the reason for them but the end just didn't sit well with me. The whole story was kind of drawn out and it was more repetition of fact and feelings rather than any sort of character development. The story speeds up at...more

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Mar 13, 2012 Barb rated it 2 of 5 stars

An elderly Turkish man living in America begins to get flashbacks after discovering an inoperable brain tumor, back to his time as a Soldier leading Armenian prisoners out of Turkey during WW1. The atrocities committed against these people, especially women, were committed by HIM. He has conveniently "forgotten" about this chapter in his life until now. During this march, he becomes infatuated by an Armenian woman (Araxie) because of her exotic looks. He protects her and tries to win her admirat...more

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Sep 21, 2010 Carrie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010

Emmett Conn is a family man, a World War I veteran, and a man with a strong work ethic. He is also a man missing part of his past. As a Turk, he fought against the British in WW I, but ended up in a British hospital with head injuries so extensive he wasn’t immediately recognized as an enemy soldier. He has no memory of his life before the hospital. After falling in love with his American nurse, Carol, he marries her and follows her to the US, starting a new life as a husband and father and good...more Emmett Conn is a family man, a World War I veteran, and a man with a strong work ethic. He is also a man missing part of his past. As a Turk, he fought against the British in WW I, but ended up in a British hospital with head injuries so extensive he wasn’t immediately recognized as an enemy soldier. He has no memory of his life before the hospital. After falling in love with his American nurse, Carol, he marries her and follows her to the US, starting a new life as a husband and father and good citizen.

When a brain tumor hits Emmett as an elderly widower, it brings with it memories that at first he doesn’t realize are his own – memories of being a gendarme, herding Armenians out of Turkey, participating in the horrific persecution and genocide of the Armenian people during WW I. As his memories become clearer and more insistent, Emmett must face up to the truth of his past – and the question of what happened to Araxie, the young Armenia girl with whom he formed an attachment. Can he live with the truth of who he was and what he did?

Before reading The Gendarme, I had never heard the story of the Armenian genocide. Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres to read, but it comes with the burden of discovering new-to-me atrocities that humans have perpetrated on one another throughout the ages. I am continually astounded by the depth of evil that resides in the human heart – and it is only in knowing that humans are also capable of great sacrifice and compassion and love that I find comfort.

Emmett is a perplexing character – there is such a dichotomy between the man he was as a gendarme in Turkey and the man he became in the United States. He prided himself on being a good husband, father, and provider, a hard worker and a moral citizen. His head injury during the war caused extreme memory loss, and yet I couldn’t help but wonder if, subconsciously, he was trying to atone for the terrible things he did as a gendarme. His reaction to the uncovering of his memories was intriguing – at first, he did not want to admit that they were memories, wanting to believe that these acts had been committed by someone else. He is left to wrestle with the most basic of questions: what kind of man is he?

Mustian’s first novel is astounding in both the beauty of the writing and the depth of story and character. He has brought to life an episode from history and yet done it the hard way – by writing from the perspective of perpetrator rather than victim, and yet still giving the reader a sympathetic character. And in the midst of the haunting story, he deals with issues like guilt, atonement, and forgiveness. Highly recommended.(less)

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About Mark Mustian

I grew up in Tallahassee, Florida, attended the University of Florida for undergrad and law school, lived in Jacksonville, Florida for a few years, then moved back to Tallahassee. In 2003, in a fit of insanity, I ran for the Tallahassee City Commission and was elected. I continue to practice law, listen to constituent complaints, and write a little bit every day.

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“Time stretches and calms, but still we reach, for we belonged then. We want to know. Sometimes that knowledge is painful, or inconvenient, or even damning. But it is essential. It exposes us for what we have been, and can be.” — 4 people liked it

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