I think I've read some stories from this author year ago, because some parts of the book rang a bell, but I'm not sure. I found a collection of Hakkas stories titled "Heroes' Shrine for Sale or The Elegant Toilet" in a hotel lobby -from all places!- and I read it in one afternoon. The writting style is quite direct, almost verbal at parts, writting style obviously coming from someone who has lots of life experience and a structured ideology and line of thinking but from someone who is quite educated and can phrase his thoughts in a simple, but never a simplistic, way. I think the book is easy to comprehent for everyone, but knowing the significance of the place and era and the author's personal stoty, one can feel more compassion and get a better understanding of it. The translation is quite good too and doesn't spoil the intended "ambiance"of the author.
This is a book that I guess not many people would seek out for, but it's not one to ignore when it falls on one's hands...
I read "Heroes' Shrine for Sale or The Elegant Toilet" by Marios Hakkas (translated by Amy Mims -1997 Kedros Publishers). This is a collection of 12 short stories - though connected in various degrees. For the most part, each story touches on events and people within a southeastern neighborhood of Athens called Kesariani. Maybe I liked this book because I read it in Greece and it gave me more perspective on the place I was visiting, or maybe I'm a sucker for metaphor. Probably both. "But for once, let's try to talk in a serious tone: Freedom, we are browsing like lambs, we are bleating for the milk of your breasts. Freedom, we await you as we wait for some heaven-sent gift; in books we plead for you. Freedom, I have written you upon the mountain as well as on the sea; I've made my lungs bleed for you and I've wasted my youth. Freedom...out of the way, cut the melodrama. Kick it away, give it a smack, let's end this fabricating of myth." (The Holy Water of Kesariani pg. 25)