by George Sarrinikolaou ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 2004
A three-months' visit isn't nearly long enough for Sarrinikolaou's intended reckoning.
Slender, elliptical impressions of a troubled country on the eve of hosting the Olympics, by a Greek émigré journalist returning all too briefly to his homeland to revisit and record.
Having emigrated at age ten to New York with his parents (who subsequently separated), and returned only for summer holidays and family gatherings, Sarrinikolaou, now in his early 30s, needs to prove (to himself and his compatriots) that his contact with his native land and people can be more than superficial. To correct his skewed perspective based on memory and loss, he sets out to walk the city and reacquaint himself with the seething urban forces of “greed, corruption, and racism.” In a series of ten loosely connected, engaging essays, the author focuses on different aspects of modern-day Athens, such as the uneasy physical transition between the ancient city, embodied in the tourist magnet Acropolis, and the present metropolis's fierce competition for space and air. In “Center Specter,” Sarrinikolaou starts at the central traffic circle Omonia Square, a metaphorical meeting of discordant elements, once the hub of lowlife in the city, now spruced up for the coming Olympics; from the circle radiate the seven wide streets whose names bear Athens's history, which the author sketchily recounts. From here, he traces some of the important decentralizing forces on the city, such as the influx over the last decades of poverty-stricken Albanians, first deported by the Greeks and then offered the cheapest and most miserable labor; and the so-called Russo-Pontians, the marginalized and repatriated Russian Greeks from the Black Sea who were invited to return after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Sarrinikolaou pursues the suburbs of the upwardly mobile, in “Good Life,” shamelessly sustained by the lowly immigrant labor; and the abject, recalcitrant camps of the universally excoriated Gypsies (“Outside Paradise”), of whom the author reports, 80% are illiterate. Unfortunately, he doesn’t delve any deeper into these distressing first impressions, but veers into more personal proclivities (recorded, at intervals, in diary-like form), such as the country's government-subsided soccer mania; a family outing to the country for Easter, dominated grotesquely by the slaughtering of a lamb; and the despicably venal treatment by the hospital staff of the author's 87-year-old grandfather. The chapters taken alone make suitably superficial magazine pieces—but this archaic, maddening, and infinitely complex city deserves a more thorough, holistic treatment.
A three-months' visit isn't nearly long enough for Sarrinikolaou's intended reckoning.Pub Date: June 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-86547-699-3
Page Count: 144
Publisher: North Point/Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2004
Share your opinion of this book
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
Share your opinion of this book
More by E.T.A. Hoffmann
BOOK REVIEW
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson
BOOK REVIEW
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis
by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
Share your opinion of this book
More by Ludwig Bemelmans
BOOK REVIEW
developed by Ludwig Bemelmans ; illustrated by Steven Salerno
BOOK REVIEW
by Ludwig Bemelmans ; illustrated by Steven Salerno
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.