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leonidasm's review against another edition
Ζατελικό σύμπαν. Απόκοσμο και απρόβλεπτο, κανόνες και λογικές ενός άλλου κόσμου. Του δικού της. Που αν καταφέρεις να μπεις ταξιδεψες. Πόσο τυχερός είσαι... Αν πάλι όχι... Έχασες ένα ταξίδι σε έναν κόσμο σκοτεινά παραμυθένιο.
marinetta's review against another edition
2.0
Μέσα 7ης ιστορίας !
Προσπαθώ να το τελειώσω αλλά δεν με τραβάει καθόλου.
Ένα αστέρι για την τεράστια λαογραφική έρευνα της Ζατέλη και άλλο ένα για την υπέροχη γραφή της. Αυτά.
Προσπαθώ να το τελειώσω αλλά δεν με τραβάει καθόλου.
Ένα αστέρι για την τεράστια λαογραφική έρευνα της Ζατέλη και άλλο ένα για την υπέροχη γραφή της. Αυτά.
clarereadstheworld's review
4.0
I was surprised at how much I struggled to find a book for Greece. I got a few recommendations which I couldn't source, and eventually decided on Zateli,as it has been called 'a touchstone of contemporary Greek literature' and was awarded the Greek State Prize for Best Novel in 1994.
The novel was less of a novel, and more of an epic saga, following the life of Christoforos, his 3 wives (he only has one at a time, there's no bigamy) his many children, grandchildren and further descendants. Picking up the book felt like diving down a rabbit hole, into a whole new world, much like in ancient Greek mythology. It is called 'A Novel in Ten Tales' and each chapter is a separate tale, although sometimes the story just seemed to keep running from one tale to the next as if there was nothing more than a full stop at the end of the page.
I enjoy the narrative use of 'we' which was used throughout. The narrative style was very evocative of the oral tradition of story telling, and made it feel like a whole village was telling me their memories, with all the rambling detours that memories take. I struggled quite a bit early on, because I tried to understand who everyone was and how they were relate. I had the same problem with the somewhat non-linear time line, but just decided to roll with it.
There is some beautiful magic realism worked into the narrative, characters with dream powers and premonitions, and highly symbolic animals. I loved interactions with animals and dreams.
Overall, while I definitely didn't hate this book, I didn't exactly love it either. That's not a critique of the book in anyway, I'm just personally not a big fan of the epic style of narration. I'm impressed with Zateli's writing she has created a very impressive saga which could easily stand alongside the more well known classic Greek sagas. However I was a bit too overwhelmed by the scale of everything. If you love legends and myths you will probably enjoy this more modern saga.
The novel was less of a novel, and more of an epic saga, following the life of Christoforos, his 3 wives (he only has one at a time, there's no bigamy) his many children, grandchildren and further descendants. Picking up the book felt like diving down a rabbit hole, into a whole new world, much like in ancient Greek mythology. It is called 'A Novel in Ten Tales' and each chapter is a separate tale, although sometimes the story just seemed to keep running from one tale to the next as if there was nothing more than a full stop at the end of the page.
I enjoy the narrative use of 'we' which was used throughout. The narrative style was very evocative of the oral tradition of story telling, and made it feel like a whole village was telling me their memories, with all the rambling detours that memories take. I struggled quite a bit early on, because I tried to understand who everyone was and how they were relate. I had the same problem with the somewhat non-linear time line, but just decided to roll with it.
There is some beautiful magic realism worked into the narrative, characters with dream powers and premonitions, and highly symbolic animals. I loved interactions with animals and dreams.
Overall, while I definitely didn't hate this book, I didn't exactly love it either. That's not a critique of the book in anyway, I'm just personally not a big fan of the epic style of narration. I'm impressed with Zateli's writing she has created a very impressive saga which could easily stand alongside the more well known classic Greek sagas. However I was a bit too overwhelmed by the scale of everything. If you love legends and myths you will probably enjoy this more modern saga.
sampulham's review
5.0
You can hear an in-depth discussion of this book on Sherds Podcast: http://www.holdfastnetwork.com/sherdspodcast/2/12/2017/4-at-twilight-they-return-by-zyranna-zateli
abookishtype's review
2.0
Zyranna Zateli’s meandering collection of tales, At Twilight They Return (translated by David Connolly), reminds me of sitting down with an elderly relative. Bits are fascinating. Others seem like tangents until the storyteller gets back to their original point. Yet more parts are shocking, tragic, or both. At Twilight They Return tells ten stories about various members of the Christoforos clan at the end of the nineteenth century...
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley for review consideration.
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley for review consideration.
risky_oak's review against another edition
Δείτε την κριτική στα Ελληνικά στις βιβλιοαλχημείες
One of those rare times when a modern Greek novel is translated in English.
The behemoth all-swallowing language of English. The book is available in English by Yale University Press as: [b:At Twilight They Return: A Novel in Ten Tales|29563662|At Twilight They Return A Novel in Ten Tales|Zyranna Zateli|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1459384077l/29563662._SY75_.jpg|3315598]
It is a Greek equivalent of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's [b:One Hundred Years of Solitude|320|One Hundred Years of Solitude|Gabriel García Márquez|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327881361l/320._SX50_.jpg|3295655].
Well that's the easier way to explain what this book is about.
But it's not entirely wrong to say that it is a Greek equivalent of the 100 years' family saga of magical realism, with its many-many characters.
Here we also have a big family with many mothers, sons, daughters, in-laws, and mother nature as characters. In an undefined rural Northern Greece.
A story oscillating between the real and the magical, the natural and the unnatural, history and story (fiction).
Zateli's writing is great. It never allows the story to become boring, no matter how many names, plots, and subplots you experience.
By reading this book you have the feeling only described by the German word Waldeinsamkeit.
A German word that refers to the feeling one has while being alone in the woods, usually a sublime or spiritual one.
That's the feeling I had while reading this book.
And that's the feeling I want to have when I will be reading my next Zateli.
Soon
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