Review: "Armaveni" by Nadine Takvorian

Armaveni by Nadine Takvorian
Published March 2026 via Levine Querido
★★★

I recently read a couple of graphic novels (Tall Water and Silenced Voices) that cover genocide in Sri Lanka and Guatamala, respectively, and since I know shockingly little about the Armenian genocide, this felt like a natural extension of that reading. Armaveni is a fictionalized retelling of Takvorian's own story and her family history.

As a story, it's heartbreaking. Again, I don't know much about the Armenian genocide, but you don't need to know the specifics of a conflict to understand fear and loss. I could have used more details of the historical background, because I simply don't know that much about the time and place—even the time frame was something I had to look up a couple of times. As a graphic novel, then, it didn't fully do the job for me: I would have liked more history wrapped in with the memoir. The book is also in one color scheme, and while past and present are clear, I struggled to keep track of the different characters in the earlier timeline. (I eventually stopped trying.) I'm not sure if a multiple color schemes would have helped me keep track, but I think I just needed something more.

With all this said, it's an interesting book about a conflict that isn't enough discussed (Türkiye in particular has worked to suppress discussion of the genocide and to reframe it as something, well...pro-Türkiye); a decent one to add to a library collection about oppression and conflict in both past and present.