Mother Land

by Dmetri Kakmi

A minutely remembered description of a childhood on an Aegean island, marked by the furious opposition of hostile yet neighboring cultures. It is an account of how a Greek boy born on a Turkish island tries to make sense of the escalating tension between Greek and Turk, Muslim and Christian, mother and father. It shows with chilling clarity how violence begets violence, in even the most unexpected of people. It is also about the pains of exile and the discovery of long buried secrets that have inflamed the passionate hatred that exists between the two communities.

Genres: Greece, Nonfiction

278 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible writing, I kept forgetting this was non-fiction as you can't help but get caught up in the story, I had goosebumps on my arms for the last 15 pages. It's not often you get a plot twist like that in an autobiography.

The book covers a few years of Dmetri's life as a kid, living on an Aegean island, he is growing up in a time where there is great strife between Greeks and Turks. He sees a lot of violence, kids fighting kids, a father who is abusive to the mother and Turkish teachers who don't think twice about hitting a Greek child. As a nine year old he doesn't really understand why there is so much hatred and anger around him and he gives an honest account about how he handles this pressure, some of the scenes must have been so hard to write. Eventually the family has to leave the island as things are no longer safe for them, Dmetri's last memories of the island are haunting.

The second part of the book is current day, Dmetri is middle aged and is returning to the island for the first time to try and find some answers for a number of questions he has about his childhood and he gets them in the most unexpected place.

This is such an under-read book, the writing is so good that it easily transports you to the island and that happens within a few pages and in such a way you don't realise it has happened until you are there. Possibly the best non-fiction book I've read this year. Another fine book from Eland Publishing.

Blog review is here> https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2018...

[Simon Hollway · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of those rare five star reads that, but for the sake of excising a few clunky paragraphs which bookend the novel, should be a modern classic. The narrator grinds through a series of cliches during the first few pages but rapidly gets into gear and the book speeds by.

The author describes his childhood so vividly that, when he returns at the end as an adult, he almost appears as an interloper. Yet what a disciplined narrative he has crafted and, rather than dwell upon his personal bereavement for 'a lost world that had never really existed', he finally recuses himself and pays tribute to a tragic casualty of circumstance and missed opportunity.

I now fully appreciate the cliche 'my heart was in my mouth' because there is no better way to describe the aching impact that turns the final few pages into a harrowing echo chamber.

It's unbearably sad that such a monumental and touching piece of work currently has so few ratings and reviews.

[Zorro · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book. A beautifully written memoir of a childhood growing up on the Turkish island of Bozcaada, which used to be the Greek island of Tenedos. The author and his family are Greeks who, by 1970, found themselves increasingly unwelcome as the Turkish nationalists sought to dominate the non-Turkish muslim minorities in Turkey. Kakmi is a beautiful, poetic writer. His vivid depictions of life in that time, place and community brought them to life for me. It reminds me of the project of Nobel prize winning author, Isaac Bashevis Singer, in documenting the now all but disappeared community and way of life of Polish Jews before the holocaust.
I found Kakmi's storytelling gripping, and his book hard to put down. His reconstruction of the experiences of being a ten year old boy, and the customs and rituals of his community, are interspersed with a gripping account of the increasingly hostile environment for Greeks on the island. The story has an undertone of tragedy as events make it increasingly hard to live a flourishing life for the Greeks on the island, despite them having been there for millenia, dating back to Alexander The Great's conquest of Asia Minor.
Kakmi's story is an example of that awful, tragic phenomenon that has occurred in so many parts of the world of a polyglot culture turning into a monoculture through the rise of a dominating and victimising nationalism. Kakmi captures the complexity of this phenomenon in a sophisticated and sensitive way. His parents fight, both because they don't get on well, but also because, in one example, his mum has taken on a Turkish policeman whose son through a stone-laden snowball at her son, thereby inviting retribution on the family from the policeman and the Turks in general. A Turkish woman from the mainland goes off at a cafe, shouting and remonstrating with the Turks listening to "flithy" Greek music, after her experience of having her family burnt alive elsewhere in Turkey by a rioting Greek mob. Each offensive episode brings widening collateral damage, making it harder and harder for the Greeks and the Turks to find peaceful co-existence.
I loved this book, and am keen to read others by this author.

[Lakmus]

DNF circa page 100 + skimmed the end

I understand it's a memoir-kind-of writing, and seems like the author mostly wrote it for his own auto-therapy, so I get that. But as literature, I do not vibe with it. It was interesting to learn about Tenedos and the Greeks and Turks who lived there at the time - I randomly opened the Iliad while reading this, and lo and behold - there was Tenedos mentioned on like, page 2, which seems amazing to me.

But there is something about a trip down memory lane of this particular person that is just very meh to me. He was quite an asshole kid, growing up in shitty circumstances, but the way it's all put together pulls on not a single string of my (admittedly scant) soul. I thought this might be a childhood thing, but in the last part where he visits the island and meets his childhood crush, he's also a complete dick to her (how could she, converting to Islam and wearing a hijab, after falling in love and marrying a Turkish guy and being completely rejected by all of her Greek family, tsk tsk such oppression).

It reminded me of Ulitskaya's "Girls" - and it seemed like it should have been a good book - but again, no. Maybe if I was Greek or Turkish, I'd care. Maybe "Girls" would be uninteresting if I was Greek or Turkish.

[scarlettraces]

Vivid (and for me, an interesting light shone on a time and place I know nothing about).

[ReadingupwiththeRajs]

Did not finish

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

so good.

[Jenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A memoir about the Rum (Asia Minor Greek) author’s childhood on the Aegean island of Tenedos (now Bozcaada) in the 1960s and 70s, before a later wave of political tension and persecution of Turkey’s ethnic minorities drove his family’s immigration to Australia. The account of Kakmi’s childhood is bookended by his brief return visit to the island as an adult seeking to reconnect with his heritage.

I read Mother Land immediately after finishing Turkish Cypriot poet Taner Baybars’s memoir of his childhood on Cyprus, and while Cyprus and Tenedos are certainly distinct from one another, there were obviously a lot of parallels between the two boys’ experiences.

The writing is very strong, and feels like a novel (in fact, according to Kakmi, there was some debate about whether the book should be marketed as novel or memoir, given the inclusion of a fictional scene). Good for anyone with a particular interest in the region, or in immigrant experience - just a solid memoir in its own right.

[Ζαfira Zamfotis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mother Land is not just a memoir, but a tour de force in the form of a modern myth. Following the ancient motif of a man in search of his identity, the young narrator of this story must overcome considerable odds and travel far and wide before circling back to the island of his birth, his motherland. Ancient riddles await modern day solutions in this desolate corner of the Northern Agean, a place that both time and history seem to have forgotten. Will the weary wayfarer be received with open arms, or will he find that you can't go home again? Come along then on the ferry as it crosses the ancient Dardanelles. The waters are well travelled, the winds are fair, the story as captivating as those written by the blind man from nearby Chios.

[Olympia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this memoir poignant and beautifully written. At the centre is an innocent child that has love for family, country and the friends he holds dear. The vivid horrors he is immersed into are unfathomable, traumatic and quite unsettling. Our young boy, internalises an immense load of injustice, hatred and the worst facets of humanity yet somehow he survives. His road is not an easy one and he must find his unique way to excise his demons, fighting and using violence to push out the pain. Circumstances create a brave boy with a humble, quiet courage and a fierce strong voice. Despite the tragedy falling around him, DK has shared the young boys world with a poetic almost romantic undertone.

[Hariklia Heristanidis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book started off slowly for me, but by the second half I was completely immersed in the life of little Dimitro and his family. I was shattered when they left their island home for Australia and I couldn't read fast enough when he returned to discover some shocking secrets, thirty years later.
It is beautifully written and touches on themes that are achingly relevant in our globalised world: homeland, identity, and national and religious tension. But it is anything but an academic or journalistic account - rather, the book is deeply personal. The author brings alive his rural childhood with loving detail.
I found Mother Land deeply moving and was struck by the complexity of the "characters", particularly the narrator's relationship with his troubled mother.
Highly recommended!

[Susan Rego · Rating 2 out of 5]

My husband's family was from the same tiny island as the author, which we had visited for the first time just 4 years ago. They, too, were displaced (but much earlier, in the 1930's) due to takeover by the Turks. However, I found the author's style difficult to follow and it really didn't captivate me despite my interest in the subject matter. The last chapter, when Dimitri returns as an adult, was, surprisingly, the best part of the book. Just didn't connect.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book.

[Ann Scriven]

Cannot wait to read this book! However, I have a few more to read first from my mate Tiff & one more from my mate Susan! Yay Tiff & her Awesome books!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Gamze · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting biography, some moments that really stood out, although sometimes outdated or too simplified.

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly discusses belonging

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

An outstanding read. Literature at its best.