Kirkus: Letters to Barbra
LETTERS TO BARBRA by Paul Chaderjian ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 7, 2018 An engaging, fragmentary tale about longing and memory. Kirkus Reviews An Armenian immigrant’s Hollywood dreams run up against American realities in this debut novel. Beirut, 1975. As the Lebanese civil war rages outside his window, 10-year-old Armenian Adam Terzian composes fan letters to his favorite movie star, Barbra Streisand. “At night in my bed and I cannot sleep because there are bombs,” writes Adam to the star of the film What’s Up, Doc? "I am scared. Then I think of you and Mister Ryan O’Neal going backwards down the hill on a bicycle….I laugh and laugh. You are very funny. Then I can sleep. I forget about the bombs and that I am going to die.” His family is eventually able to immigrate to Fresno, California, where Adam grows up as an outsider obsessed with American music and movies. He’s able to attend film school in Los Angeles, though he still carries a fear of violence left o...