A review by p_tremuloides
The Green Shore by Natalie Bakopoulos
5.0
One of the loveliest books I've read this year. I didn't know much about the Greek military coup that began in 1967, and now I know only slightly more, but Bakopoulos seems to have done her research, and on top of that created a number of compelling characters which she managed to shuffle through the duration of the coup.
Part of what I found lovely about this book was the pacing, and the precision with which Bakopoulos wove these characters together -- and how she tied their lives into the background of the coup, which in itself became a sort of character.
I found the book especially poignant given the increasing civil unrest in America at the moment, and how many of the things the characters in this novel were critical of, of the military government of Greece in this time, could be extrapolated (to varying degrees) to apply to some of the critical discourse going on around free speech / police violence / etc. in America today.
Part of what I found lovely about this book was the pacing, and the precision with which Bakopoulos wove these characters together -- and how she tied their lives into the background of the coup, which in itself became a sort of character.
I found the book especially poignant given the increasing civil unrest in America at the moment, and how many of the things the characters in this novel were critical of, of the military government of Greece in this time, could be extrapolated (to varying degrees) to apply to some of the critical discourse going on around free speech / police violence / etc. in America today.