GLENDALE—Author Viken Berberian and filmmaker Gariné Torossian will be in town to present a new graphic novel titled, ‘La Structure est Pourrie, Camarade” as well as a short film based on the book on Thursday, June 29 at 7:30 p.m. at Abril Bookstore, 415 E. Broadway, Glendale. Admission is free with reception to follow.
La Structure est Pourrie, Camarade (The Structure is Rotten, Comrade) is a graphic novel written in French about Frunz, an unassuming boy born in Paris. As his parents separate, little Frunz turns inward, then to his Lego blocs for sustenance. Little Frunz is a disaster waiting to happen. He grows up to become an architect and decides to leave Paris. He first heads to Moscow, then to Yerevan, where as a university professor, he lectures his students about the principles of good design – and his unremitting love of cement. Meanwhile, Yerevan is in the middle of a building boom. Its denizens live in slums, outraged at the destruction of the historic city. Most of them have lost their homes to an ominous plan to reinvent the Soviet city. Yerevan is also a city on the verge of revolution as residents are flushed out of their homes with tragic results. Yet Frunz’s father forges ahead with his urban plan to rebuild the city anew – a city without memory or history.
Viken Berberian is a novelist and author of The Cyclist and Das Capital. He has written for The New York Times, the Financial Times and the Los Angeles Times. He has lived and worked in Manhattan, Paris and Yerevan.
Gariné Torossian was born in 1970 in Beirut. She emigrated to Canada in 1979. A filmmaker and visual artist, she currently lives in Armenia.
