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Marcia C. (Jeffersonville, PA)
A Modern Day Greek Tragedy
Aliki is a lamenter. When someone known to her dies, she attends the funeral, stands in a pair of shoes of the deceased person and sings of that person's life as a final farewell. Lamenters are a dying breed in Greek culture, and so Aliki is approached by a Greek American scholar to record her "dirge-poems." The researcher leaves Aliki a tape recorder and several cassettes. But, instead of recording her laments, Aliki records the story of her life--her own lament. We are invited into the world of Aliki, Takis, Chrysoula, Stelios, Yannoula, and a host of other characters who all are struggling to live through the
…more horrors of the Second World War and the civil wars that waged on in Greece in the aftermath of WWII.
I was intrigued with this book from the very first page. This is a thoughtful book. The characters are complex and their relationships even more so. The question of good and evil is always present, along with all the possibilities in between. I laughed. I cried. I loved the shadow puppet theater that helped pull Stelios, Aliki and Takis together. I despised the ruthlessness of first the Germans and then the Greek rebels and the misery that it caused. There is much tragedy in this book--not always an easy one to read. The characters are heroic, each in their own way, trying to come to terms with the tragedies that life has dealt them. This is a book worth reading on many levels. It offers book clubs a great deal of material for discussion. It offers readers of historical fiction of WWII, an opportunity to experience how that war affected the land and people of Greece. A great read! (less)This is a historical novel, and a sad one, about the Nazi invasion of Greece during World War 11 and the devastating aftermath for the Greek people when the war ended.
The crisply-drawn characters encounter dreams unfulfilled, blame unwarranted, serious illness undiagnosed, unimaginable losses, and great love. Except for a somewhat slow-moving section in the middle of the book, the plot moves along briskly with some surprising twists. MY LAST LAMENT demonstrates so surely that life NEVER turns out the way we expect it to, and the human spirit has resilience even under dreadful circumstances, A good read!
Carol F. (Lake Linden, MI)
What We Learn
The real story of war is not found in sterile history books that record facts and figures. The real story is told by the survivors of war and in this book those survivors are the innocent children. The choices they make to survive are also the choices they must make to forget. The characters are brought to life beautifully but the story drags a bit in the middle.
Kay D. (Strongsville, OH)
Greek Tragedy in Modern Times
I found this book to be well written and an interesting story. It covered a time in Greek history that I knew little about, and provided a personal view of life there during World War 2 and the immediate aftermath of the war. Using an elderly woman and the tale of her younger life as told by her was done well. Not totally a true "lament" as she performed for others that died, but one of her own life and story.
The juxtaposition of real life against the stories of the shadow puppets was interesting. It help support the underlying storyline that our lives are dictated by random things and could be very different if
…more just one thing were to happen or not happen. It also played on the well known Greek theatre elements and literature to make the universality solid. The book is full of heroes, villains, and innocents, just as life is full of them. And true to life, there were many interwoven character stories that impacted each other.
Overall, a worthwhile read on many levels. (less)Alika is an elderly woman living in a remote village in Greece. The time is now when we meet her, speaking into a recording device. The request has come from a young American researcher who is tracking the practice of lamentation. Alika discovered this gift when she was young, channeling the immediate departed and chanting the story of that life. While she is recording, she tells her story from the time of the Nazi occupation to the present. While there is a painful love story and a telling of her young charge's mental problem, later thought to be schizophrenia, the big story here is the aftermath of World War 2
…more and the damage done to Greece by its own people. The fighting between the communists and nationalists, the intervention by the U.S. under Harry Truman and later abandonment (what else is new?) brings the country to its current problems. The story is engrossing from start to finish and gives the reader another little history lesson, i.e., the art of of shadow puppetry. This style of theatre may go back to ancient times. The Turks popularized it in the 16th century and shortly after, traveled to Greece. (less)Lament: "a formal expression of sorrow or mourning, especially in verse or song; an elegy or dirge."
Aliki, wizened and dressed in black, is the last lamenting crone in a small village in northeast Greece. Aliki tells us "Actually I don't really compose them (laments). I seem to fall into kind of a state and they really compose themselves and just pour through me like a long sigh."
An American college student leaves cassettes and a request for Aliki to record this fading folk art.
Aliki decides instead to concentrate on her haunting story of three children struggling to survive in post WW2 Greece. So, we're privy
…more to the joys and tragedies of Aliki's personal life from the 1940s to present day. The present day holds not only a look at the art of lamenting but also the unfolding of secrets of the past.
Copy received from Book Browse First Impressions. Thank you. I recommend this unique WW2 story. (less)
Suzanne G. (Tucson, AZ)
An interesting story
This was an enjoyable book. I felt a connection to the characters; they were real. The despair of each one talked to me throughout the whole story of Aliki about happiness and sadness created in her life. Decisions she and others made in a time of such unrest and sorrow provided the plot. I looked forward to each chapter written in the form of tape recordings she narrated, describing the war and aftermath of the many events taking place within her life. I'd not known about the Greek tradition of lamenting so that information was a plus. The ending was a surprise but not unexpected.
Marcia S. (Ackley, IA)
There is much in life to lament
The Last Lament is not a happy story. The main character, Alita, performs laments at funerals. She seems to fall into a trance and memorialize the deceased and their life through verse. When asked to tell her story as a lamenter, she actually tells her life story. The majority of which, concerns her life during the war in Greece. It is also the story of her first love, Stelios, and a young neighbor boy with some mental problems. The characters are well-developed. There is a twist at the end of the book, which leaves the reader, and Alita, with further questions.
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