emmc's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
angelayoung's review
3.0
Apartment in Athens was recommended by a friend who said it was the best novel ever written (although he didn't elaborate). It is extraordinary in its depiction of - often - unsympathetic characters, or characters trapped so completely by their fear and fear of reprisal that they are powerless. It is the story of the terrible travail, in war-torn Athens, of an ordinary Greek family. Of the insights into their German occupiers and into themselves by the way they manage (or don't manage) to contain their fury with the invaders. But if my friend hadn't said it was the best novel ever written I think I would have had trouble finishing it. I'm glad I did and it's left an impression of the hell and (mostly) helplessness of occupation with me, but it didn't move me and surely a novel that tells the story of such a heartbreak, and such forbearance, should.
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