Lion Woman's Legacy: An Armenian-American Memoir (The Cross-Cultural Memoir Series) by Arlene Voski Avakian


Lion Woman's Legacy: An Armenian-American Memoir (The Cross-Cultural Memoir Series)
Title : Lion Woman's Legacy: An Armenian-American Memoir (The Cross-Cultural Memoir Series)
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 1558610529
ISBN-10 : 9781558610521
Language : English
Format Type : Paperback
Number of Pages : 296
Publication : First published February 1, 1992

A “vivid and engrossing” narrative of one woman’s journey from shame and internal conflict to becoming a liberated, confident, and proud lesbian ( Kirkus Reviews ). The descendant of survivors of the Armenian genocide, Arlene Avakian was raised in America where she could live free. But even with that freedom, she found herself a prisoner of both her family and society, denying her heritage along with her true sexuality. After marriage and motherhood, Arlene found herself exploring the growing women’s lib movement of the 1970s, coming to embrace the strength of her grandmother—known as the Lion Woman—and realizing her full potential and personhood. Inspired by her passionate feminism and strengthened by a loving lesbian relationship, Avakian recollects and re-examines her personal history and the story of her courageous grandmother, revealing a legacy of radical politics, fierce independence, and a powerful affirmation of ethnic identity in this “extremely readable and often painfully honest book” ( Library Journal ).

Lion Woman's Legacy: An Armenian-American Memoir (The Cross-Cultural Memoir Series) Reviews

  • Pia

    One summer during college, I worked at the campus library and each day I would cart home armloads of books to my hot 2nd floor apartment. There, in the heat of each summer evening, I would lay on the sofa, staying very still in order to stay as cool as possible, and read. During one of those nightly reading fests, I read this memoir and through her awakening as a feminist and a lesbian, it showed me the kinds of brave transformations that are possible to achieve a more satisfying life.

  • Nara

    Disappointing … the only compelling part of the book was when, toward the end, she realized just how important her Armenian identity is to her by quoting a page-long passage from someone else’s memoir 😭😭😭. The last two chapters were good because they focused on her mother and father and grandmother’s survival from the Genocide. But it took her 280 pages to realize she’s the child of survivors 😭

  • Dilara Inam

    A nice memoir by Arlene Avakian who is one of the founder figures in women's studies in States. Her journey starting as refusing her "Armenianness" and being proud of her Americanness continues as her "coming out stories" when she traces her grandmother's survivor stories back. I like every honest memory in the book including her romantic life and her relations with her friends.

    Easy read, good to see the backstage of the academia.

  • Rachel

    This book validated so many things I’ve experienced as a queer Armenian American, decades after it was written. I’m so thankful that a writer like Arlene chose to document her life in this way to be a guide for those to follow.