Customer Reviews

Dinner with Persephone

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Patricia Storace has written a wonderful, interesting and in my opinion accurate account of life in Greece through the eyes of a visiting foreigner. Her perception of Greek people, their mannerisms, their culture and their country was spot-on. I too have spent a lengthy period in Greece and related to so much of what she writes about her everyday experiences. This is however more than just a record of her travels, as she spends much of the book looking in to deeper aspects of the culture and history of the country and its people. A lovely book, and a must for anyone who has spent any time in Greece and has the same love of the country that Patricia Storace so obviously has.

Patricia Storace's book is, if nothing else, an enigma; part travelogue, part historical thesis, part homage. By its very nature it defies classification - somewhat like the subject, Greece, itself. Modern Greece is a country which constantly questions its role in modern society and order; its cultural hayday, after all, was over three thousand years ago! Ms Storace has taken upon herself the unenviable task of observing modern Greece in its everyday clothing and telling it, as well as the rest of the world, where exactly Greece stands today. That she achieves this with aplomb speaks volumes for her ability to get below the skin of history, to explore the microcosm of Greek society with intelligence, humour and unnerving skill. True, it is unlikely that this book, with its generous and poetic honesty, will ever be top of the sales charts with the Greek Tourist Office but that in itself is a recommendation for the sympathetic and painstaking detail which Ms Storace has researched both during her year in Greece and afterwards. Holidaymakers with a conscience intending to visit either the mainland or any of the thousands of Greek islands should allow themselves this as an extra item of holiday reading. Those without a conscience should merely fry themselves to a crisp on Santorini or wherever and forget that they ever heard of the Parthenon Marbles - Elgin to you, mate!

Patricia Storace's book is a best-seller in Greece. I tried to buy some copies of it for a few friends and I could only find one at the biggest foreign language bookstore in Athens.

It is shocking that... Who reads it? Is it foreigners that live in Greece or Greeks themselves? I like to think it is Greeks that read it... I myself am Greek, born and raised. It is incredible to read about how an outsider perceives your culture and your country. And what a perceptive outsider she is. Nothing escapes her. I am in awe of the material she has read and the amount of research she has done on the country and the culture. When she traces sayings and attitudes to antiquity I am shocked by the clarity of the connection and wonder how it came to be that I have never heard of some of the stories she relates.

Most of the Greeks I know will be offended by this book. But I think they should read it and read it carefully.

Because it will offend some Greeks and because she often treads on politically delicate territory, it upsets me when her prose becomes too complex for a clear meaning. I need the meaning, I want to understand what she feels perceived things mean, but she doesn't always give it to me. Often I feel I have to decipher whole paragraphs only to come to the conclusion that she is holding something back.

And it also upsets me when she does leaps of reasoning. I guess it is inevitable when one tries to describe a culture that he/she will be forced to generalisations but I want this book to be good and those leaps undermine her credibility.

It is a very intellectual book overall. The author does not concern herself with the landscape so much as with the stories she is told and with the connections she makes in her own head. There are paragraphs that are hilarious, they make me laugh out loud, but, the way she tends to over-analyse everything, the way she conveys a feeling that she is "on a mission" to rip the signs to whatever made them be, makes me feel she misses the joke sometimes.

Keep these things in mind and read the book. It will prepare you for your trip to Greece better than any tourist guide. If you have been here already, still I suggest you read it. I'm sure you will remember some of the troubles you have encountered here and will thoroughly enjoy the meaning that the author dresses them with. But be an adult about it. When something doesn't stick, don't take her word for it.

Storace is an excellent writer. I marvel at how much she picked up only spending one year in Greece. She writes with great detail, almost brutal honesty, and in so doing, produced an earthy and provocative look at Greece with a foreigner's insightful analysis. With Patricia you smell the herbs, the smog, and the perspiration. "No holds barred" travel writing!

I always open a new book about someone's Greek experience with eager anticipation. This book looked like it was just the kind of thing I would enjoy. I found it quite slow, very "intellectual" and somewhat condescending. I'm sorry, I truly am, but I just didn't really enjoy it. I read it right to the end hoping I'd warm to the author, but it didn't work. I found myself feeling that she'd talk down to me should we ever met over a glass of retsina, which I suppose isn't likely to happen. She seemed to be falling over herself to cite history and literature in an attempt to establish her credentials for the reader.

If you want your Greek reading to be "cerebral" then maybe you'll find this one fulfilling. However, if you prefer to be entertained, I'd say try these: It's All Greek to Me!: A Tale of a Mad Dog and an Englishman, Ruins, Retsina - And Real Greeks,Blue Skies and Black Olives: A Survivor's Tale of Housebuilding and Peacock Chasing in Greece,Feta Compli!,Moussaka to My Ears,Tzatziki For You to Say

Storace not only speaks Greek, but has an extensive background of the country she writes about in prose. Though it is beautifully written and has won literary awards, I think this book is too inaccessible for most people because she expresses thoughts and observations without being concise. Those without a little understanding of Greece will be confused and/or frustrated.

I am not Greek, but live in Greece, and often needed to re-read some passages to understand what she meant. There are also sections of the book where she rambles about certain subjects or people without communicating their perceived importance.

Aside from these shortcomings, there are definitely views and perspectives about Greek life and culture that I appreciated, though some may be offended. She captures small details with enchanting verse and relays unspoken ideas that deserve kudos in their truthfulness and ingenuity.

It took me years to read this particular book. Along the way I read many other Greek books that I found much more entertaining. Although Storace is obviously a well learned and excellent writer I found her approach to be overly-intellectual, arrogant and snobbish in places. I sensed a love/hate relationship with Greece in this book especially in relation to the place of women in Greek society. In Storace's world Greek men are portrayed as unintelligent and ignorant as the stereotypical Greek donkey.

Having said that this book does delve into issues such as politics which you won't find in many other books of its ilk. Certainly not a read for the two-weeker in Greece unless you're A. a feminist B.an academic or c. Both.