As an eight-year-old boy, author Peter Balakian (Bal-AYE-KEY-en) had a hard time understanding his Armenian grandmother's parables, particularly her story about the black dog of fate. She recounted a story in which Fate, represented by a beautiful woman, rejects an offering of a luscious meal from a rich woman, but instead welcomes the gift of a dead dog from a beggar woman. When Balakian asked his grandmother to explain the story, all she would tell him is that things aren't always what they seem and that life is mysterious. In his award-winning memoir "Black Dog of Fate," Balakian retraces his childhood in suburban New Jersey where things also weren't always what they appeared to be, and his family's past was mysterious. Balakian eventually discovered his grandmother was a survivor of the Armenian genocide. --------------------------------------------------------- | D-CART ITEM: 8023 | TIME: 7:27