Algo va a pasar, ya lo verás

by Christos Ikonomou

Christos Ikonomou, calificado por el diario italiano La Repubblica como el Faulkner griego, se adentra en el corazón de Grecia, cuna de nuestra civilización, para mostrarnos la manera en que la ruina y el sufrimiento puede alcanzarnos en cualquier parte. Considerado por la crítica como El Decamerón de la crisis y publicado en toda Europa, este libro nos habla de la intrahistoria unamuniana en un momento en el que todo parece deshumanizarse en nombre de los mercados.
Por sus páginas pasan un joven que pinta los parabrisas de los coches como protesta, una muchacha a quien su novio le roba sus escasos ahorros, un grupo de ancianos que esperan toda la noche en la puerta de un hospital público para ser atendidos, un padre desesperado por volver a casa con comida para su hijo, un fabricante de cubitos de hielo que recita poemas de Miguel Hernández, una limpiadora que tiembla cada vez que el banco envía un aviso a su buzón o cada vez que suena el teléfono...
Todo un mosaico de la desesperación y del acoso permanente que sufren los más desfavorecidos.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Greece, Literature, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, 21st Century

196 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2010

About the author

CHRISTOS IKONOMOU was born in Athens in 1970. He has published three collections of short stories, The Woman on the Rails (2003), Something Will Happen, You'll See (2010), and All Good Things Will Come From The Sea (2014). Something Will Happen, You'll See won Greece’s prestigious Best Short-Story Collection State Award and became the most reviewed Greek book of 2011. His work has been translated into six languages.

Reviews

[Eliasdgian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ρεαλισμός και λυρισμός συνάμα από έναν συγγραφέα που αφουγκράζεται τους ανθρώπους δίπλα του, εμβαθύνει στις ενδόμυχες σκέψεις τους, και μιλάει τη γλώσσα τους∙ που με τη ματιά καθαρή και με ευαισθησία ξέχωρη, προξενώντας –όχι σπάνια- την αδολίευτη συγκίνησή μας, αφηγείται τα πάθη όλων εκείνων των ανθρώπων, που, αν και πρωταγωνιστές στη ζωή, δεν θα ανταμώσει κανείς στον επίπλαστο κόσμο των media και την ιλουστρασιόν καθημερινότητά του.

Δεκαπέντε και ένα αριστουργήματα περιέχονται στο ‘Κάτι θα γίνει, θα δεις’, σε ένα ψηφιδωτό ιστοριών με επίκεντρο τον Άνθρωπο – την απάντηση, δηλαδή, σε κάθε ερώτηση, όποια κι αν είναι αυτή (κι ας με συγχωρέσει ο σπουδαίος André Breton για την αδέξια αντιγραφή).

Για τους φτωχούς ανθρώπους της Κοκκινιάς, της Αμφιάλης και του Περάματος («Μολυβένιος Στρατιώτης»), για τους απόκληρους της ζωής («Τα πράγματα που κουβάλαγαν»), για όλους εκείνους που η μυρωδιά της μοχθηρής φτώχιας διαπότισε τα σώματά τους και τελικά ροκάνισε τη θέλησή τους για ζωή («Έλα Έλλη τάισε το γουρουνάκι»), για όσους επιμένουν να ονειρεύονται, έστω κι αν αόρατα χέρια παραφυλάνε να αρπάξουν τα όνειρά τους («Το αίμα του κρεμμυδιού»), για όλους αυτούς γράφει ο Χρήστος Οικονόμου, και το κάνει εξαιρετικά καλά. Πρώτο βιβλίο του που διαβάζω, κι όμως, δηλώνω ήδη φανατικός οπαδός του!

[Sara Bakhshiani · Rating 2 out of 5]

بسی زیاد فضای داستان برام عجیب غریب بود
نمیدونم چرا اصلا سبکش انگار با کل کتابایی که تا الان خونده بودم فرق میکرد :/
اگ اشتباه نکنم نویسنده یونانی بود
نمیدونم حالا ربطی به ملیت داره یا نه
ولی داستان قابل درک نبود زیاد.
اگ بخوان از اسم های داستان های روسی ایراد بگیرن وبگن سخته
اسم های به کار برده شده تو این کتاب درجه سختی بالاتری داشت
بعد مشکل بعدی که داشت این بود که در حین تعریف راوی بدون اینکه بگه کی داره صحبت میکنه
یا بدون گذاشتن علامت نقل قول وارد مکالمه میشد :/
دوسش نداشتم!

[Βαγγέλης Μπέκας · Rating 5 out of 5]

Εξαιρετικά διηγήματα της "διπλανής πόρτας" με εύστοχη δραματοποίηση και ευαισθησία, μα το σημαντικότερο για με: πραγματικό μάθημα για το πώς με τη στίξη και τη σύνταξη δημιουργείς συναισθήματα.

[Antonis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Αυτή η βραβευμένη συλλογή διηγημάτων του Χρήστου Οικονόμου δύσκολα διαβάζεται μονορούφι· στο τέλος κάθε διηγήματος νιώθεις ότι πρέπει να σταματήσεις, να διαβάσεις κάτι άλλο, να κοιτάξεις από το παράθυρο για λίγο για να βγεις από τον πνιγηρό, γεμάτο απόγνωση, κόσμο τους. Γραμμένα λίγο πριν η ελληνική κοινωνία βρεθεί μέχρι το λαιμό μέσα σε αυτό το παρατεταμένο διάστημα «κρίσης» που κοντεύει πια μια δεκαετία, με ήρωες και ηρωίδες που (ψευτο)ζουν σε φτωχογειτονιές του Πειραιά, στα όρια της τρέλας ή και πέρα από αυτά, θυμίζουν ότι ούτε «όλοι μαζί τα φάγαμε» ούτε όλη η χώρα ζούσε «πάνω από τις δυνατότητές της».

Ο ρεαλισμός των διηγημάτων -ιστορίες της διπλανής πόρτας σαν κι αυτές που όλοι έχουμε ακούσει- είναι πραγματικά γροθιά στο στομάχι. Ο αναγνώστης δεν μπορεί παρά να θαυμάσει την ικανότητα του συγγραφέα να δίνει μια απόλυτα πιστευτή φωνή σε ανθρώπους που σπάνια έχουν αυτή την ευκαιρία, ανθρώπους που δεν τους συμβαίνει κάτι το εξαιρετικό, κάτι το αξιοσημείωτο, κάτι το συνταρακτικό, πέρα από τη ζωή, τη φτώχεια και τη μοναξιά.

Ταυτόχρονα, την γραφή του Οικονόμου μόνο γυμνή δεν μπορείς να την πεις· ακόμη και στα πιο πεζά θέματα, ακόμη και στις πιο κυνικές στιγμές των ιστοριών του, ένας απρόσμενος, αλλά καθόλου άστοχος, λυρισμός κάνει την εμφάνισή του, κι έτσι οι περιπτώσεις των ανθρώπινων ναυαγίων που γεμίζουν τις σελίδες τους παύουν να είναι πια μόνο αυτό, δηλαδή περιπτώσεις, αριθμοί, στατιστικές, και γίνονται άνθρωποι, με τον δικό τους εσωτερικό κόσμο, τις ευαισθησίες και τα όνειρά τους.

Αν υπάρχει κάτι που ίσως με ξένισε σε αυτή τη σπουδαία δουλειά είναι ότι τα περισσότερα διηγήματα της συλλογής διαψεύδουν πανηγυρικά τον τίτλο της· τελικά τίποτα δεν γίνεται ή τουλάχιστον τίποτα που να επαληθεύει τη φαινομενική αισιοδοξία της φράσης του τίτλου. Κανονικά, αυτό θα με ενοχλούσε πολύ περισσότερο, εδώ όμως αυτό το βάλτωμα, αυτή η ακινησία, είναι ουσιαστικό στοιχείο του κλίματος όλων των διηγημάτων, και ο Οικονόμου πετυχαίνει να το αποδώσει σε κάθε επίπεδο.

[Elena Sala · Rating 5 out of 5]

SOMETHING WILL HAPPEN, YOU'LL SEE (2010, translated 2016) is a remarkable collection of short stories about how the economic crisis in Greece affected individuals, families, and communities in the grip of depression and austerity triggered by the financial collapse in 2010. These unrelentingly bleak stories render the plight of young, old, unemployed, working-class men and women, who are crushed by worries over bills, over losing jobs, finding jobs, and keeping their homes. There is a feeling of helplessness in the characters, of a doomed reliance on an incompetent, crisis-ridden state that pushes people over the edge. All the charactercs feel forsaken by their country’s rapidly crumbling institutions.

You will not find the Greece that tourists seek in this book. Ikonomou forces you to look where you would rather not: at the desperate, the poor, the old, the mentally unstable, the lonely and the forgotten. But you will not be able to look away nor forget these resilient characters, isolated and disillusioned, who cling desperately to a last glimmer of hope before being betrayed yet once again.

Another powerful Archipelago book, a publisher I can't recommend enough.

[Helia · Rating 3 out of 5]

اولین کتابی که از مجموعه برج بابل نشر چشمه خوندم.
داستان خیلی کوتاه بود و توی حدود نیم ساعت تموم شد.
برای همین هم خیلی منطقی نیست که همین یک داستان بشه یه کتاب. میتونست توی یک مجموعه داستان کوتاه قرار بگیره.
برای همین به این کتاب کم امتیاز دادم.
در مورد خود داستان:
داستان دارک و غمگینی بود. یک شب تاریک بارونی سرد و با صدای باد و شرشر آب و یک کافه با چندتا آدم افسرده الکلی که صحبتاشونو توی داستان میخونیم.
پایه اصلی داستان با دیالوگ هایی که بین چندتا شخصیت رو و بدل میشه و فضای دردناک و عذاب آور زندگیشون رو نشون میده پیش میره و ما از بین صحبتاشون میتونیم اون سیاهی زندگیشون رو حس کنیم. با این حال کاش اینقدر کوتاه نبود داستان.

[Younes Fahimi · Rating 3 out of 5]

روایت متفاوتی بود از یک فرم داستان‌نویسی هرچند، خالی از ایراد نبود؛ یعنی چه؟ یعنی اینکه کارکتر اصلی داستان مائو در متن بصورت یک سایه حضور داره اما محوریت حول کارهای اون میچرخه و کارکتر‌های دیگر داستان او را از نگاه خودشون قضاوت و توصیف می‌کنن. اینکه ما نمیتونیم با این داستان‌ها ارتباط بگیریم به دلیل عدم شناخت ما از سبک‌های داستان نویسی‌ست و یا غرق شدن در عیش تدریجی یک رمان.
ترجمه به زبان محاوره داستان متعهد بود اما اشکالاتی داشت.

[Niyousha · Rating 2 out of 5]

خیلی نفهمیدم پوینت این داستان چی بود!

[Adam McPhee · Rating 3 out of 5]

The cloud is so big now that we can’t see the sea at all.
A fake fir tree gets blown off a balcony across the street and falls into the emptiness below, silently spinning. It’s the most frightening thing I’ve ever seen in my life.
Actually, no, I say. The most frightening thing is work. Waiting to get paid on every fifteenth and thirtieth day of the month. Measuring your life in fifteen-day chunks. Knowing that if your bosses don’t feel like paying you once or twice or ten times in a row, ten fifteen-day chunks, there’s not a damn thing you can do about it. Your whole life is in their hands. And there you are counting your life out in fifteens. That’s the most frightening thing.
I’m going inside, Lena says. I hate it when you talk like that. I don’t want to watch anymore. Let’s go inside.
But we don’t go anywhere. We stand there holding our drinks and silently watching the rain coming in from the west. We watch as that black curtain of rain slowly and silently closes in slowly and silently swallows up the shapes and colors and noises of the sunset to the west.

Title is kind of a misnomer, nothing happens, but that's what makes the book good. Stories of the most most precarious under Greek austerity. People staring down their own economic ruin, which is very relatable, although it must be said the Greeks had it far worse. Ironically reminded me a lot of the German writer Hans Fallada, although this feels a little bit more dire if only because Fallada had the Germanic capability of taking pleasure in drafting a budget, even if the numbers add up to something grim. Loved how the translator strategically omitted commas, I guess following the Greek, lent an urgency to the lists. There's a nice fairy tale formula to these stories that I really began to enjoy once I caught on: bad things happen and then right before the end we get his with a few heightened sentences, a little bit more stylish. I keep thinking of those bits as morals, but there's no lesson, just sort of sums up the vibe. Will definitely be checking out the author's other book.


I pour out another tsipouro and then open the box, take out a tack and put it in my mouth. It tastes bitter.
It’s December and there’s a full moon and a clear sky full of stars. I remember Petros telling me once that somewhere way back when, in Peru or maybe Mexico, people believed that humans were born from stars. Rich people had descended from a golden star and poor people from a bronze one. That’s why they can’t ever be equal. Because they were born into different worlds.
It really is strange, to be poor.
The wind is still whistling through the cracks. I look at the stars which from here all look the same – exactly the same, not gold and not bronze either. The tack feels cold in my mouth.
It must be cold where Petros is tonight.

[Fo · Rating 2 out of 5]

کتاب از مجموعه برج بابل نشر چشمه است، پس، اثری از جاستیفای متن نیست، تصویر جلد به شدت جذاب است و کتاب کوتاهی است که می‌شود در یک جلسه نیم‌ساعته آن را تمام کرد. ولی برعکس مابقی مجموعه بابل (آن چیزهایی که من خوانده‌ام) گیرایی زیادی نداشت و نقطه دید داستان یا به عبارتی راوی داستان مکرر جابجا می‌شد و در نتیجه خیلی واضح داستان پیش نمی‌رفت
کلیت داستان، یک روایت از احساس امنیت و عدم امنیت ناشی از وضعیت اقتصادی و تبعات این مشکلات است. اگر قصه فقط روی مائو تمرکز داشت خیلی جذابیت بیشتری داشت

[Lorilin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good Lord, this is one depressing book. Page after page, story after story of the most awful things people have to bear. It is dark and heavy, with most characters living lives that are hopeless, chaotic, and unstable.

I echo the other reviewers who have praised author Ikonomou for so powerfully capturing the poverty, despair, and destitution people are experiencing in Greece's garbage economy. But what struck me most about this book is how negatively women are portrayed--always helpless, sad, borderline crazy. They are abandoned and oblivious and, even though they are the ones keeping their families together, they still somehow come off as weak. They are raped and whored out A LOT. Even in the stories where they are the main (and sometimes the only) characters, they always play second fiddle to the men. Is this a cultural thing? Is this simply an accurate portrayal of how women are treated in Greece? And is Ikonomou okay with it? Or is he trying to make a point against it? I'm not sure. But, yikes, it's bleak.

Reading this book was depressing and eye-opening. If you read all the stories in one sitting, like I did, prepare to be overwhelmed with the sadness of it all. I wish I had chosen to digest them bit by bit. Instead, I zipped through it...and then had to have a good cry afterward. The book is powerful, but, wow, it's a lot to absorb.

See more of my reviews at www.BugBugBooks.com.

[Leonidas Moumouris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Έζησα λόγω δουλειάς, 11 χρόνια στη Δραπετσώνα. Μου είπε ένας φίλος, διάβασε το αυτό το βιβλίο, γράφει για μας, για τους ανθρώπους που συναντάμε καθημερινά. Για τους ανθρώπους. Για τη φτώχεια της γειτονιάς μας.
Και το διάβασα. Και τώρα θέλω να γνωρίσω αυτόν τον Οικονόμου. Γιατί είναι ένας από μας. Και ο τρόπος που κοιτάζει, οι εικόνες που φτιάχνει οσο σκληρές κι αν είναι, είναι η αλήθεια αυτών των γειτονιών της Αθήνας.

[Crazytourists_books · Rating 3 out of 5]

Μια εξαιρετική συλλογή διηγημάτων, που αγγίζουν κατευθείαν την καρδιά.

[Damiana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vi è mai capitato di innamorarvi di un libro solo guardando la sua copertina? A me non era mai successo: non sono una di quelle che compra libri solo in base alla bellezza della copertina, prima mi leggo la sinossi e, se possibile, pure qualche recensione. Fin quando, spulciando la pagina facebook dell'Ambasciata di Grecia a Roma, ho visto la copertina della nuova edizione di questo libro (già pubblicato nel 2011 con una copertina diversa)... E' stato amore a prima vista! *.*
Vabbè, torniamo seri e passiamo alla recensione vera e propria, va...

Qualcosa capiterà, vedrai è una raccolta di storie ambientate nel Pireo, zona di Atene famosa per il suo porto, dove i protagonisti, appartenenti alla classe media e operaia della Grecia, vivono l'inferno della crisi economica. Ikonomou ci racconta le loro storie partendo dal basso, senza soffermarsi sulle cause economiche che hanno scatenato la crisi, ma piuttosto analizzando le difficoltà che questi anni hanno portato e gli eventi che segnano in modo indelebile il destino dei protagonisti. L'autore dipinge bene quest'atmosfera, creando un racconto a tratti spigoloso, inquieto e di grande intensità emotiva.

[SStefano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sedici storie che hanno come location non la Grecia turistica e brulicante che tutti conosciamo, bensì la spianata di Atene,in particolare i quartieri depressi intorno al porto del Pireo. Ikonomou, con una prosa asciutta e dolorosa alla McCarthy , ci presenta i suoi personaggi : uomini e donne senza fortuna, disoccupati, abusati dal potere politico, derubati, affamati......defraudati dalla grave crisi economica che in Grecia ha colpito individui, famiglie e comunità. Individui ordinari che procedono nel piccolo universo della vita senza progredire. Senza scopo, senza speranza, senza dio, senza regole.
E poi succede qualcosa che agita quelle acque putride e stagnanti........qualcosa che dà significato a caos, un filo segreto a cui aggrapparsi e che lega inesorabilmente la nostra vita a quella degli altri.

[Gerasimos Evangelatos]

Μόλις τελείωσα τη συλλογή διηγημάτων "Κάτι θα γίνει, θα δεις" του Χρήστου Οικονόμου (Εκδόσεις "Πόλις"). Μια σειρά απο ψιθυριστές ιστορίες απόγνωσης που εκτυλίσσονται στη Νικαια, στον Κορυδαλλό, τον Πειραιά, τη Σαλαμίνα - περιοχές που γεννήθηκα και μεγάλωσα. Με βασάνισε πολυ η ανάγνωση. Κι έπρεπε να την ολοκληρώσω για να καταλάβω το γιατι: οι ήρωες του Οικονόμου, άνθρωποι που προσπερνάμε καθημερινά στο δρόμο, υπομένουν χωρίς να αντιδρούν. Μουδιαζουν, πενθούν, νοσταλγούν και τελικά υποτάσσονται. Χωρίς δραματικές εξάρσεις, ή φιλοδοξίες λογοτεχνικής ηρωοποίησης. Φοβάμαι οτι κάπως ετσι ειναι η εποχή μας. Κι αυτό ειναι το νέο κοινωνικο διήγημα, που της αντιστοιχεί· ακριβής (κι ακριβός) καθρέφτης της.

[Panos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Θεωρώ πολύ αξιόλογη αυτή τη συλλογή, ωστόσο έχοντας ήδη διαβάσει την επόμενή του, βρήκα κάπως κουραστική τη θεματολογία, η οποία επικεντρώνεται στην οικονομική κρίση και τα παρεπόμενα αυτής. Δεν μου άφησε την αίσθηση αισιοδοξίας που υποσχόταν το οπισθόφυλλο, αυτό το "κάτι θα γίνει όμως, θα δεις" που λέμε πολύ συχνά μεταξύ μας, που λένε και οι χαρακτήρες των διηγημάτων του Οικονόμου. Αντιθέτως, μου μαύρισε την ψυχή· και δεν είμαι της άποψης ότι η λογοτεχνία πρέπει να είναι ανάλαφρη και να μας κάνει να ξεχνιόμαστε από τα προβλήματα και τις δυσκολίες που αντιμετωπίζουμε.
Δεν μπορώ βέβαια παρά να παραδεχτώ ότι πρόκειται για πολύ καλογραμμένα διηγήματα.

[Vassiliki Dass · Rating 5 out of 5]

Υποκλίνομαι στον συγγραφέα! Γιατί δεν είναι που περιέγραψε με ακρίβεια το τι μας περίμενε με την κρίση, δεδομένου ότι το βιβλίο γράφτηκε λίγο πριν από την εκδήλωση της, είναι που έχει μια ματιά πάνω στην φρίκη τόσο ποιητική, τόσο αποσπασματική κι όμως ολοκληρωτική, είναι που με λίγες λέξεις ή εικόνες ζωγραφίζει την εικόνα σε όλο της το μεγαλείο της ανθρώπινης αξιοπρέπειας, του πόνου, της απελπισίας, της στωικότητας, της προσπάθειας επιβίωσης όταν εξωτερικές και πολύ ισχυρές δυνάμεις επιδρούν πάνω στα πεπρωμένα. Υποκλίνομαι!

[Maria Beltrami · Rating 4 out of 5]

The protagonists of these stories are living the hell. A hell of misunderstanding and extreme poverty. Not a ray of light illuminating their lives, not the smallest hope. These stories seem to be set in ancient times, when fate was a fearsome and powerful god, and instead are set in today Greece, the one of the times of the crisis.
The only drawback: there are many, too many. At one point the reader gives a crash under such despair.

[Roxani]

Poignant profile of Greece in crisis, told through a series of short stories that leave your heart clenched. I read this in English after my favorite local bookstore featured a series of books in translation and can't help but notice the disorientation of reading a work in your mother tongue displaced into the language you now use most.

[B.P. Gregory · Rating 5 out of 5]

A devastating must-read. It won't make you a happier person, but it will make you a better one.

[Koosha Goodarzi · Rating 1 out of 5]

اون یدونه ستاره هم برای طرح روی جلده 😁

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully translated by Karen Emmerich, Something Will Happen, You’ll See is a modern Greek tragedy. Telling the stories of ordinary people whose lives have been destroyed by Greece’s economic crisis, it echoes the classical tragedies in form, while using completely modern language that captures a moment of utter sorrow, betrayal and hopelessness.

The smell of halva spreads through the house and for a moment disguises the smell of Friday and the smell of loneliness and the smell of the malicious poverty that is slowly and silently and confidently gnawing at Ellie’s dreams and strength and life – and those of anyone who lives to work, who is born and lives and dies for work. For a handful of bills.

The stories stand on their own, but read in their entirety they give a nuanced sense of the despair that invades the hearts and minds of the characters. As they lose their jobs, their homes, their loved ones, or as they huddle together around a fire for warmth and companionship, or as they cling to each other in fear of the night and the coming storm of bankruptcy, the stories look inward, at their selfishness, and their helplessness. A woman climbs into bed with a man-shaped halva, eating him as revenge. Five men tell stories around a fire as they try to escape the cold night and the fear that comes with it. A man collects his father from jail. A couple tells fairytales as their neighbors remove the walls of their home, stone by stone. A young man stands watch over the neighborhood, guarding his mother and sister from threats of rape and murder. As the desperation of poverty chips away at their humanity, the people cling to a sense of control over their own fate. Meanwhile, a storm is coming; the wind picks up, it starts to rain, and a Christmas tree is swept off a balcony.

He’s drenched, dripping all over as if every pore in his skin is an eye and every eye is crying. It’s raining harder. Raining with hatred, like a punishment. Lightning keeps flashing across the sky. It’s like there’s a war on up there – light warring with darkness. A war. Light battling to enter the world and someone battling to shut it out, to seal up all the cracks, to sink the world in darkness.

The writing hooked me from the first page; it is lyrical, poetic, and emotionally devastating. Reminiscent of the greek chorus, motifs, phrases, and entire passages are echoed and repeated; each time with new meaning and overwhelming effect. The brewing storm, the repeated motif of fear of the night – these images become charged with emotional symbolism that captures a moment of pain in a nation’s psyche.

And parents will tell their children stories about strange people who once lived and died for a handful of cash and the children will listen with their mouths hanging open and all these things will seem magical and unreal.

The characters are easy to empathise with, although they are, for the most part, utterly unlikable. Perhaps I didn’t like them because they were too human, too flawed, too real. This book felt unforgivingly honest. As they feel betrayed by those who are supposed to protect them – the officials who place useless recycling bins on the streets rather than working to solve the problems they face; looking busy but failing to do anything real – the characters resent those who are able to succeed, and claw at each other for scraps. A stream of consciousness style makes the voices blend together into a single song of poverty. The improvised nature of this makes it all the more convincing; it echoes the hysteria that is slowly brewing. But there is also a thread of faith, of solidarity despite the fear. So often, the voices change from “I” to “We”, from “me” to “us”, and the sense of community gives a semblance of hope.

We talk and talk and the more we talk the better I understand that what binds us together are the things we’re afraid of and the things we hate. How did we end up like this? Where did all the hatred and fear come from, can you tell me? And the more time passes the worse things get. Some days I see things that make me want to kill someone. My lord. I went through hell on the ships all those years but I never felt a thing like that. Never. But now it’s too much. I’m drowning, you know? Drowning.

This is such a powerful, devastating little book. I couldn’t put it down; it is an accident from which I could not tear myself away. As the storm slowly blows in; as the sun sets and the darkness creeps over the islands; as the people stifle their sorrows in alcohol and cigarettes, or cling to each other out of fear; as the world is destroyed, piece by piece, until nothing remains, the voices in this book cry to be heard. It is definitely worth reading.

***
Read more of my reviews at Literogo.com
I received this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Schahin · Rating 2 out of 5]

_گفتند چون چشمش تنگ بوده و پدرش کمونیست اسمش‌رو گذاشتن مائو._
بیشتر داستان به پرگویی و چرخش هایی گذشت که گیج کننده و گنگ بود. خبری از کاراکتر مائو نبود. بیشتر از زبان دیگران ازش شنیدیم. در حقیقت مائو کاراکتری بود برای شناخت مردمش و محله ش.
۳چهارم داستان گذشت و داستان گیج و گیج تر شد تا اینکه در پایان تونست داستان رو خوب جمع بکنه.

همه مردم خوشحال بودن که مائو شب ها بیرونه و داره ازشون مراقبت میکنن. هروقت هم اراذل محلی حمله میکردت و اذیت و تعرضی میکردن مردم‌ جو گیر میشدن که باید میریختیم وسط و این حرفا... مائو در فکره انتقامه از کسی که به خواهرش تعرض‌ کرده. وقتی در انتهای کتاب مائو رو میدزدن و خبری ازش نمیشه، نویسنده ما رو می‌بره به یک کافه که توش مشروب میخورن و دنده کباب. هیچ کس در مورد مائو حرف نمیزنه.
انگار تهش میخواد بگه این حرف مردم همینن که هستن. همینن که میبینی. مائو براشون نشین دم در.

[Kasa Cotugno · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a real haul, and not because it was bad. What is presented in these stories of unrelenting grimness is a realistic portrayal of life for the average person living in Greece and how ordinary lives are impacted by that country's financial collapse. Visitors remember Greece as being sun drenched, steeped in history, cheerful. For her citizens, however, it's as bad or worse than anything we are familiar with in our own country. Plus, in all these stories, it seems to be raining already or about to. One character remarks that even the rails on her balcony are weeping. A real eye opener.

[Kowsar Bagheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

برام جالب و عجیبه که انقد ریت‌های کمی گرفته تو گودریدز ولی من واقعاً دوستش داشتم. قصد ندارم که از خود داستان بگم، فقط می‌خوام احساسم رو درباره‌ش بیان کنم. از اول تا آخر، حس‌وحال‌ شب‌های دریا رو داشتم، وقتی که یه اندوه عمیق بی‌صدا و آرام ته‌نشین شده و در پس اون هیچ امیدی نیست. یک سیاهی مدام ملایم که احاطه کرده همه‌چیز رو و تو انگار پذیرفتی‌ش.
از ترجمه واقعاً لذت بردم. از این نویسنده و از این مترجم چیزهای بیشتری خواهم خوند. و به‌طور کلی از فرم رمانک خیلی خوشم می‌آد.

[Tom Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m going to Greece this May, and this is my third book on my self-guided crash course using modern Greek literature to understand modern Greece and the Greeks. Translated in English, of course. I’m a dilettante, not a scholar…

What I learned from these short stories is Greece isn’t all Acropolis and azure. It’s also poverty and tsipouro, despair and dismay, timid fear, and a bit of blind hope. Working-class retirees, out-of-work youth, and the recently laid off are stunned, unbelieving, and faltering as the country's economy free-falls during the “The Crisis” of circa 2008.

The title is brilliant—it's either an offer of optimism or an ominous threat. And the storytelling was tight and confident—it felt a bit like Raymond Carver (the early stuff, not the super minimalist stuff). I strongly suspect that the book’s weakness—its sometimes clunky language—is absent from the original Greek version. It wasn’t a fatal flaw but it did trip me up. Another big issue is I’m an American. That is, I'm an outsider not immersed in the culture. I have no idea what living in Piraeus signifies, for instance. Change Piraeus to Pittsburgh and I can start to conceptualize things better. But tough luck to me—this is Greece's story.

Next up, The Daughter by Pavlos Matesis

[Natania · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Really liked," of course, isn't quite right. The book is heartrending; what saves it from merely depressing the reader is the author's empathy with the down-and-out people he depicts. He shows their despair but also their capacity to take in beauty and feel wonder in the worst of moments. This capacity doesn't exactly save them from poverty and hunger, but it saves them from the impulse toward suicide (mostly). I feel I now know a lot more about Greece and its crisis, its financial inequities, and the feelings of people at the bottom of the heap. The style is Faulknerian--sometimes annoyingly so--lyrical and full of marvelous metaphors. Above all, full of humanity. Not knowing Greek, I can't judge this carefully, but Emmerich's translation seems excellent.

[Katie Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is not a pick me up and may not be the light beach read you're looking for.

Why you should still read it:
-Iknomou has an amazing lyrical quality to his work. Through this series of short stories, you can connect deeply with the characters, who are life like, warts and all.

-This series gives faces, albeit fictional ones, to the economic crisis in Greece. Ikonomou shows the power of fiction to share truths that no newspaper article has conveyed yet about the ongoing crisis there.

Must read.

[Mahi · Rating 2 out of 5]

فقط به خاطر اسمش و ارتباطم با اسم مائو خریدمش. قبل از خوندنشم به خودم گفتم: ببین این کتاب خوبی نیستا. از قیافه‌ش معلومه. حالا می‌خوای بخونی بخون. ولی توقعی ازش نداشته باش.
آخرم همین شد. نه خوشم اومد ازش، نه به‌نظرم کتاب خوبی بود.
چیز خاصی نداشت. اصلا گنگ بود‌. هم به خاطر اسم‌ها و فضاهای ناآشناش و هم به‌خاطر سبک نگارشش.
فقط ده صفحه اول به دلم نشست، اونم به خاطر این‌که فکر کرده بودم شاید پرداخت خوبی داشته باشه و حداقل یه کتاب شسته‌رفته باشه. ولی خب، نشد.
عجیب بود‌. عجیب بود‌. همین.