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My Last Lament

by James William Brown

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6110426,627 (3.67)3
Aliki is one of the last of her kind, a lamenter who mourns and celebrates the passing of life. She is a part of an evolving Greece, a country moving steadily away from its rural traditions. To capture the fading folk art of lamenting, an American researcher asks Aliki to record her laments, but in response, Aliki sings her own story. It begins in a village in northeast Greece, where Aliki witnesses the occupying Nazi soldiers execute her father for stealing a squash. Taken in by her friend Takis's mother, Aliki is joined by a Jewish refugee and her son, Stelios. When the village is torched and its people massacred, Aliki, Takis and Stelios are able to excape just as the war is ending. Fleeing across the chaotic landscape of a postwar Greece, the three become a makeshift family. They're bound by friendship and grief, but torn apart by betrayal, madness and heartbreak. Through Aliki's powerful voice, an unforgettable one that blends light and dark with wry humor, this book delivers a fitting eulogy to a way of life and provides a vivid portrait of a timeless Greek woman whose story of love and loss is eternal.--… (more)
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Showing 1-5 of 10 (next | show all)
Set in modern Greece during WWII and after, the story of a woman, Aliki, and those close to her, in a small village and then after bearing the brutality of the Germans, wandering from her small village to Athens to Crete and back, told in her own words. She is the last of her kind: a professional lamenter at funerals, before the church service. Orphaned, she is taken in by a kind neighbor and her son. Harboring a Jewish mother and son, they are betrayed to the Nazis. Hiding in her "foster mother's" basement, the son entertains them with Karagöz shadow puppet plays. After atrocities in which the two woman are killed, the survivors band together and wander, using the puppet plays to eke out a living. On Crete, they find the guerrillas [ex-partisans] are just as cruel. Enthralling story, a different aspect of those years. I enjoyed learning something about the history of Greece in that period.

Highly recommended. ( )
  janerawoof | Mar 20, 2018 |
This book is written and delivered on sides of cassette tapes by Aliki as an old woman and on the tapes she tells the story from her childhood to present time.

When she was young, Aliki witnessed her father's murder in Greece during WWII. She lamented the dead, the first time not knowing what was happening. After her father's death, Chrysoula, and her son, Takis, took Aliki in. Sophia and her son Stelios-- two Greek Jews were hidden in Chrysoula's "basement" from the Nazi's but a terrible incident happens and Sophia and Chrysoula are killed leaving the 3 youngsters alone to fend for themselves. The majority of this story is about the three of them just trying to survive after the war in Greece. Takis is a little nuts or maybe he is having visions. This is really a sad story and is just sad that things like this probably did happen to people in Greece after WWII. I'm always fascinated by things involving WWII and this is another angle I had no idea existed. Very interesting and I would like to learn more about Greece after the war.

I received a free copy from NetGalley for an honest review. ( )
  MHanover10 | Feb 4, 2018 |
This novel was well-written and had an interesting premise. However, it wasn't the story I was expecting. Reading the premise, I thought that the focus would be more on how Aliki became a lamenter and what it all means culturally, as lamenting is a process I am not familiar with and would love to read more about. Instead, this novel focused on how Greece was affected by the invasion of Nazi soldiers. Yes, this is a perspective I have not read about as of yet. But there was really nothing to make this novel stand out in my mind in comparison to every other novel on the same topic. The switch from the present time to the recounting of past memories was not always very clear; at times, I found it to be jarring when the switch happened and had to read the page over again to be clear. This wasn't a terrible book by any means, but it wasn't what I was expecting, and so it left me a bit disappointed. I would recommend this book for anyone wanting to read about the Nazi occupation of Greece. Because that is the main focus of the book. Not lamenting.

I received this novel as an advanced copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. ( )
  veeshee | Jan 29, 2018 |
This book took so long to finish. The story was good but it was easy to put down and walk away. If you like reading WWII stories, this one is set in Greece which was different and interesting. ( )
  cwhisenant11 | Jan 19, 2018 |
Thanks to the publisher, Penguin Random House, via Bookreporter, for a copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

To lament means to vocally express grief or regret. The protagonist, Aliki, who lives in Greece, is one of few people who still practice lamenting. She is asked by an ethnographer from the U.S. to record her laments on cassettes so the history of why and how Aliki does it will be preserved. While doing her recordings, Aliki gets sidetracked and tells us of her life as a child during WWII while living in Greece and on the island of Crete. There are disturbing flashbacks to Aliki's youth while she struggles to survive during WWII and then Greece's Civil War. Horrors of WWII are described in this historical fiction. I found the history of Greece's part in the War to be educational since I think mainly of Germany when WWII is mentioned. After reading The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, I realized the part France had in the War as well.

Aliki felt she had the obligation to care for the son of the woman who cared for her after she was orphaned no matter what actions he took. Mental illness was not recognized and just dealt with as though the person was bad or a criminal.

I especially liked the segments on shadow theater (puppeteering) which added enjoyment to an otherwise sad novel. I feel this is well-written and informative. The characters seemed real to me. Mr. Brown writes with knowledge about Greece since he lived and taught there for 10 years. In his author's note, he gives us many reference books for anyone wishing more information on the craft of shadow theater, the art and practicing of lamenting, and the civil fighting in Greece. These references are a nice touch. ( )
  pegmcdaniel | May 9, 2017 |
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Aliki is one of the last of her kind, a lamenter who mourns and celebrates the passing of life. She is a part of an evolving Greece, a country moving steadily away from its rural traditions. To capture the fading folk art of lamenting, an American researcher asks Aliki to record her laments, but in response, Aliki sings her own story. It begins in a village in northeast Greece, where Aliki witnesses the occupying Nazi soldiers execute her father for stealing a squash. Taken in by her friend Takis's mother, Aliki is joined by a Jewish refugee and her son, Stelios. When the village is torched and its people massacred, Aliki, Takis and Stelios are able to excape just as the war is ending. Fleeing across the chaotic landscape of a postwar Greece, the three become a makeshift family. They're bound by friendship and grief, but torn apart by betrayal, madness and heartbreak. Through Aliki's powerful voice, an unforgettable one that blends light and dark with wry humor, this book delivers a fitting eulogy to a way of life and provides a vivid portrait of a timeless Greek woman whose story of love and loss is eternal.--

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