What do you think?
Rate this book
250 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1959
螖喂伪尾维蟽蟿蔚 魏伪喂 蟿畏谓 蔚位位畏谓喂魏萎 魏蟻喂蟿喂魏萎 蟽蟿喂蟼 .
Those Greek writers that were born in Asia Minor before WWI, and have vivid memories both of their peaceful lives there and of course what followed afterwards (wars, genocide, evacuation) wrote at least one book usually autobiographical in essence novel. Usually it was a nostalgic book about the memories of peaceful life before the war, and one more of the tragic events of being war and genocide survivors.
So books that were written between 1923 and 1963 were usually concerned with this historical period that was branded on every Greek's mind.
And of course this book is about a family of Greeks living in Aidini a small town near Smyrna. The first part shows their peaceful life between Aidini and Smyrna as a family with a comfortable life, an almost affluent family.
The second part though, shows their escape from the Turkish pogroms and massacres their arrival as refugees in Greece and their post-war life in poverty and destitution.
It was the author's first book so it was not as perfect as her 3rd one, which was a required read for me back in school. What made it almost perfect was the last 40 pages that narrate a period of 15 at least years (1924-1939). There were so may events to be told in 40 pages that I felt it was a bit rushed and compressed.
If this section was absent or longer it would have been a perfect book.
But of course I liked it and I'm now ready to discover more books by this author.