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The Madness of Grief
July 1969. While men are walking on the moon, life in London for sixteen-year-old Jane takes unexpected turns. On the point of falling in love with her best friend Karl, she discovers that there's more to her father's spectacular girlfriend than at first meets the eye. In the sweltering heat of a fast-moving evening, other revelations quickly follow, reconciling Jane with her father but also reopening wounds from the past, laying bare raw emotions kept suppressed for too long. And as the evening draws to a close, the night's drama has only just begun, unfolding in a sequence of violent events that threaten to have lasting repercussions for Jane and the people she loves...
Lightened by a gentle touch of humor, with magic tricks, sexuality and family secrets all playing a prominent part, The Madness of Grief is a mystery and a thriller contained in a coming-of-age tale of friendship, betrayal and loss.
Lightened by a gentle touch of humor, with magic tricks, sexuality and family secrets all playing a prominent part, The Madness of Grief is a mystery and a thriller contained in a coming-of-age tale of friendship, betrayal and loss.
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First published January 1, 2018
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About the author
Panayotis Cacoyannis
10 books131 followersPanayotis had a magical childhood growing up in a small seaside town in Cyprus. After two years as an army conscript (at a time when the island suffered first a military coup and then an invasion), he travelled to Britain where he studied law at Oxford and qualified to practise at the Bar. Having then decided (very wisely) that he didn't want to be a lawyer, he also graduated art school, and for many happy years he worked as a painter and sculptor, until a spell of artist's block led to a very short course in creative writing...
For the moment at least, Panayotis has no plans (not to mention the energy or any trace of talent) to embark on a fourth career. His time now exclusively devoted to writing, he lives in London but travels to Cyprus often, to visit friends and family and be near the sea. Aside from reading, writing and playing with his cat, his favorite pastime is going to the movies, and ever since his friend/therapist/barber recommended The Sopranos, he has also discovered good TV.
If anyone would like to get in touch with him, or get regular updates, including news about discounts and giveaways, a newsletter subscription form and a contact email address can be found on his website, where you can also see examples of his artwork.
For the moment at least, Panayotis has no plans (not to mention the energy or any trace of talent) to embark on a fourth career. His time now exclusively devoted to writing, he lives in London but travels to Cyprus often, to visit friends and family and be near the sea. Aside from reading, writing and playing with his cat, his favorite pastime is going to the movies, and ever since his friend/therapist/barber recommended The Sopranos, he has also discovered good TV.
If anyone would like to get in touch with him, or get regular updates, including news about discounts and giveaways, a newsletter subscription form and a contact email address can be found on his website, where you can also see examples of his artwork.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 117 reviews
April 4, 2018
All the disparate strands of this startlingly moving (and fast-moving) novel are poetically woven together to produce a “cubist” story that’s almost fallen out of Bowl of Fruit (1907). An elusive connection that goes beyond their common/overlapping themes (hypocrisy, sensationalism, “otherness”, difficult relationships, loss) runs through all of Cacoyannis’ novels, and is the quality that makes him such an interesting author. His humour is only one part of it. Another is his unpredictability, as is his concern with the fluidity of human identity. The book begins, and most of it takes place, in 1969, which was another surprise. But we still live a world that in its vast majority refuses to accept “that there’s more than one way to be normal. That this is normal, and that my way is the only way, at least for me.” What I read in another review made me think of the contrast between Jane’s coming-of-age and a world that in many ways has changed very little.
March 18, 2020
This is the fourth book I have read by Panayotis Cacoyannis, and probably my favorite. It is not an easy decision to proclaim any one book by this author a favorite, because they are all so head-and-shoulders above much of today's fiction. His prose is always so easily read, but never simple or mundane. His stories are character driven, and in The Madness of Grief I found one of my favorite characters in Jack. I hope this author keeps writing for a very long time, because I don't want to run out of wonderful things to read by him.
April 18, 2018
An easy, elegant read with a neat and satisfying denouement.
April 6, 2018
To say that Panayotis Cacoyannis’ characters, in whichever of his books one is reading, are not whom they first appear to be, is as much of an understatement as saying that Donald Trump sometimes stretches the truth. This is no less true of the characters in his latest novel, The Madness of Grief. The story is a coming-of-age tale told by the protagonist, 16 year old Jane Hareman. It is a recollection, with the immediacy of a current account, perhaps triggered by the taste of a Black Forest Gateau, reminding us of Proust’s Madeline Cake-inspired return to the past.
The plot is simple, if circuitous. At the moment of a young girl’s tentative sexual awakening, a series of events reveals truths about her father, his lover, her aunt and the boy with whom she is enamored. The deceptions that have hidden many of these truths are mostly a reaction to the death of her mother, ten years earlier. But, as each façade is removed, the underlying reality becomes less certain and more mysterious, culminating in answers only in an epilogue-like chapter occurring fifteen years later.
The events cover a mere several days, but their impact is Titanic on the lives of those in Jane’s immediate circle. Jane seems to be the only one who is sure about who she is, yet it is her life and the changes in her perception of those who surround her, that are the focus of the book.
The characters are complex and entertaining. There is Jane’s father, George—Mister Magikoo—a retired magician who, after accidentally electrocuting his wife during one of his performances, runs a magic shop. George hides his grief behind a gruff and manly exterior, which also shields, among other things, his tender and loving feelings toward Jane. Aunt Ada, George’s sister, has taken Jane under her wing, but is hiding her own secret behind her anger at her brother for killing Jane’s mother. Mia-Mia, the live-in brainless girlfriend of Jane’s father, turns out to be Jack, the educated and sensitive live-in boyfriend, and Karl, the musical prodigy who Jane feels is her closest friend and confidante, betrays Jane in her most vulnerable moment.
None of the above descriptions adequately captures the complexity portrayed in the nuanced interactions of any of these personalities. Beneath their deceit, which we see is based upon the grief that each of them feels and is trying to deny, is a humanness that Jane’s innocent and trusting perceptiveness is able to reveal. The events of the few days in which the novel takes place tumble from one revelation to another, and for both Jane and the reader, the truth that was hidden behind the magician’s curtain is shocking, while at the same time it initiates the next step in her appreciation of a reality that is far less simplistic than she had thought. As each layer of each character is pulled away, the reader finds himself more deeply engrossed in the people about whom he is learning. Jane’s acceptance of the necessity of these illusions for the survival of those she loves (and her stark awareness of the tragedy that results from stripping them away), provides a blueprint for the reader’s suspension of his own judgment in the service of understanding other people’s foibles as essential aspects of their selves. Along with Jane, the reader is able to grow and accept what might have seemed odd or even grotesque if he weren’t able, through Jane’s eyes, to see it as an expression of human nature—and human love— with its myriad complications. In this sense, The Madness of Grief represents a coming of age in which the reader finds himself taking an active part—no mean feat for a short novel such as this.
As in all Cacoyannis novels, the language in which the people and events are described is impeccably precise and evocative. Throughout the novel, there is a balance between the humor implicit in the recurring revelation that people can also be their own opposites and the underlying tragedy of the difficulty of coping with this all too human predicament. The story moves rapidly, contains a genuine mystery, and is thoroughly entertaining. I found it to be a story that left me with a deep sense of satisfaction about the potential within my fellow human beings.
The plot is simple, if circuitous. At the moment of a young girl’s tentative sexual awakening, a series of events reveals truths about her father, his lover, her aunt and the boy with whom she is enamored. The deceptions that have hidden many of these truths are mostly a reaction to the death of her mother, ten years earlier. But, as each façade is removed, the underlying reality becomes less certain and more mysterious, culminating in answers only in an epilogue-like chapter occurring fifteen years later.
The events cover a mere several days, but their impact is Titanic on the lives of those in Jane’s immediate circle. Jane seems to be the only one who is sure about who she is, yet it is her life and the changes in her perception of those who surround her, that are the focus of the book.
The characters are complex and entertaining. There is Jane’s father, George—Mister Magikoo—a retired magician who, after accidentally electrocuting his wife during one of his performances, runs a magic shop. George hides his grief behind a gruff and manly exterior, which also shields, among other things, his tender and loving feelings toward Jane. Aunt Ada, George’s sister, has taken Jane under her wing, but is hiding her own secret behind her anger at her brother for killing Jane’s mother. Mia-Mia, the live-in brainless girlfriend of Jane’s father, turns out to be Jack, the educated and sensitive live-in boyfriend, and Karl, the musical prodigy who Jane feels is her closest friend and confidante, betrays Jane in her most vulnerable moment.
None of the above descriptions adequately captures the complexity portrayed in the nuanced interactions of any of these personalities. Beneath their deceit, which we see is based upon the grief that each of them feels and is trying to deny, is a humanness that Jane’s innocent and trusting perceptiveness is able to reveal. The events of the few days in which the novel takes place tumble from one revelation to another, and for both Jane and the reader, the truth that was hidden behind the magician’s curtain is shocking, while at the same time it initiates the next step in her appreciation of a reality that is far less simplistic than she had thought. As each layer of each character is pulled away, the reader finds himself more deeply engrossed in the people about whom he is learning. Jane’s acceptance of the necessity of these illusions for the survival of those she loves (and her stark awareness of the tragedy that results from stripping them away), provides a blueprint for the reader’s suspension of his own judgment in the service of understanding other people’s foibles as essential aspects of their selves. Along with Jane, the reader is able to grow and accept what might have seemed odd or even grotesque if he weren’t able, through Jane’s eyes, to see it as an expression of human nature—and human love— with its myriad complications. In this sense, The Madness of Grief represents a coming of age in which the reader finds himself taking an active part—no mean feat for a short novel such as this.
As in all Cacoyannis novels, the language in which the people and events are described is impeccably precise and evocative. Throughout the novel, there is a balance between the humor implicit in the recurring revelation that people can also be their own opposites and the underlying tragedy of the difficulty of coping with this all too human predicament. The story moves rapidly, contains a genuine mystery, and is thoroughly entertaining. I found it to be a story that left me with a deep sense of satisfaction about the potential within my fellow human beings.
July 9, 2018
Excellent novel!
Spellbinding, page turning novel about a young girl coming of age during the 1960s. That poignantly tells the story of first love and the messiness of the transition from girl to young woman. Jane tells her tale of losing her mother as a young child and finds the hidden truths of her parents past when the light is shown on the years of lies that she endured. In the first half of the novel it seems like an innocent story of a broken family and then takes a much darker turn with the death of her father and the investigations that followed. Shocking truths and the loss of both parents propel Jane into adulthood and require her to find herself in a world that is rapidly changing.
Jane learns to find her truth within her family’s history of lies and deception and the breakup of her first love. After reading the first chapters I was rooting for Jane and certainly proud of her for the woman she becomes despite the traumas and heartbreaking obstacles she had to endure.
Brilliant read, I throughly enjoyed it!
Spellbinding, page turning novel about a young girl coming of age during the 1960s. That poignantly tells the story of first love and the messiness of the transition from girl to young woman. Jane tells her tale of losing her mother as a young child and finds the hidden truths of her parents past when the light is shown on the years of lies that she endured. In the first half of the novel it seems like an innocent story of a broken family and then takes a much darker turn with the death of her father and the investigations that followed. Shocking truths and the loss of both parents propel Jane into adulthood and require her to find herself in a world that is rapidly changing.
Jane learns to find her truth within her family’s history of lies and deception and the breakup of her first love. After reading the first chapters I was rooting for Jane and certainly proud of her for the woman she becomes despite the traumas and heartbreaking obstacles she had to endure.
Brilliant read, I throughly enjoyed it!
April 16, 2018
Five stars for "pulling a rabbit out of two different hats" (both literally and metaphorically), and also for being stubbornly and refreshingly unconventional. A grieving celebration!
April 8, 2018
Jane likes Kafka. A lot. She even dreams variations of his stories. I like Kafka too. A lot. And I thought the device in Jane's dream - a bed under the bed where it's dangerous to hide for too long - was something Kafka himself might have come up with. But I loved this book for many more reasons than Kafka.
May 15, 2018
This novel certainly deserves a round of applause. If you’ve never read a novel by Cacoyannis then this is a great place to start. If you have read his previous work, then you’re certain not to be disappointed with this well-crafted story. The author has a knack for creating simplistic stories that quickly veer off the easy country road and speed away into metropolitan freeways that twist and turn. It’s brilliant. I always love his characters. They are like real people in the sense that they always seem to have a front that is eventually chipped away at until you end up seeing the full person right before you. Of course, the person isn’t always very pretty. As far as the plot of this story goes, it’s a great coming of age tale that I would rank up with some of the top contenders. Best of all, the main character is female, which is a bit of rarity in this genre, especially from a male author. I am thoroughly impressed and can’t wait to see what this author has in store next.
February 19, 2022
Set in 1969, sixteen year old Jane is our central character. Her story - the loss of her mum at a young age, finding out more than she should about her fathers ‘unusual’ girlfriend and her own feelings for her friend Karl.
Not just a simple coming of age story but an unusual look at life, a touch of unreality and some great characters including Jack and Aunt Ada.
A larger than life read.
Not just a simple coming of age story but an unusual look at life, a touch of unreality and some great characters including Jack and Aunt Ada.
A larger than life read.
September 27, 2018
Wow, I loved this book. Like really, really loved it. It was complex and entertaining and had a depth and human compassion to it that I haven't discovered in a novel in a long time. I fell in love with Jane and her journey and I found so many scenes relatable and realistic. The story was so beautiful woven and the flow was impeccable. I can not wait to read more from Cacoyannis!
October 9, 2018
.
These characters are fully realized people you will remember for a long time. This is a lovely and engaging story from a skillful writer who knows well the comic and tragic threads that run through all our lives, and who realizes in his work the tender and intimate secrets of the human heart. Sincerely recommended!
These characters are fully realized people you will remember for a long time. This is a lovely and engaging story from a skillful writer who knows well the comic and tragic threads that run through all our lives, and who realizes in his work the tender and intimate secrets of the human heart. Sincerely recommended!
August 10, 2020
Magnificent!
One of my favorite new books! Read best with no expectations. Very genuine while surprisingly unexpected! Just love, love, love this book! You won't be disappointed.
One of my favorite new books! Read best with no expectations. Very genuine while surprisingly unexpected! Just love, love, love this book! You won't be disappointed.
July 30, 2018
Third time reading the author, you’d think I was a huge fan, but actually this is more about reliability. (Also Cacoyannis’ books often come up as kindle freebies and their quality is considerably higher than the average one of those).I’ve come to expect a certain level of quality and the authors hits that target every time, but, alas, never surpasses it for reasons that are so vague and nebulous, it’s difficult to put into words. I’ll try though, I love words and putting things into them. First off it’s worth mentioning that the author’s novels in general and this one in particular are always literary. Cacoyannis’ is a very competent, occasionally talented writer and a gifted observer/conveyer of emotionally charged situations. But then…there’s that something, a certain lack of excitement in the narrative, a particular muted quality or alternatively it gets too melodramatic, with almost nothing in between. Almost, because there’s some in between and it’s very good. But here the melodrama just took over and it had a sort of…soap operaish quality almost, but a classier version thereof, like a BBC tv drama maybe. So this is a coming of age story of a 16 year old girl during a particular challenging, difficult and educational year of 1969. Jane lives with her semi retired prestidigitator father who owns a magic shop (and yes, this was a huge selling factor for me, all things to do with magic) and his much younger and hipper girlfriend. There’s also the father’s older spinster sister. And then there’s a giant shadow cast by the untimely tragic death of Jane’s mother during a magic performance gone wrong. Which explains the title. Despite all these fraught emotions, Jane is a perfectly nice young girl about to acquire her first boyfriend, when suddenly a revelation about her father’s girlfriend sends the entire family careening off the tracks. Possibly because it is a story of a young person (although not YA, whew) there’s a certain simplicity to the resolutions and much in the way of excessive explanations. It reminded me of the cheesy tv drama technique of slowing down the pace while camera pans to each person for their reaction. But all that aside, it was a perfectly nice read, enjoyable even, and historical setting recent as it is was an added bonus as was its Britishness. Went by quickly too, a one sitting read.
April 28, 2018
If the devil's in the detail, then this is a devilish book. And I mean that as an accolade.
August 9, 2020
The Madness of Grief .
This story has everything I enjoy in a novel; it’s intelligent, thoughtful and beautifully written. It is about Jack, a somewhat fey young man who, to quote the 1960s advertisements for The Guardian Newspaper, is an island of sanity in a sea of hysteria—the madness of the grief felt by ex magician George’s withdrawal from active life due to grief over his wife’s death. This impacts on Jane, his teenage daughter, who cannot forgive him for her mothers death, having been told lies by George’s sister, another tragic figure grieving over lost chances and her own mistakes. Jane’s first romance with a young pianist is beautifully drawn, but it is the achingly sensitive portrayal of Jack, who holds the menage together in this quasi-magical tale of hope, loss, confusion and lies, that makes the story memorable for me.
This story has everything I enjoy in a novel; it’s intelligent, thoughtful and beautifully written. It is about Jack, a somewhat fey young man who, to quote the 1960s advertisements for The Guardian Newspaper, is an island of sanity in a sea of hysteria—the madness of the grief felt by ex magician George’s withdrawal from active life due to grief over his wife’s death. This impacts on Jane, his teenage daughter, who cannot forgive him for her mothers death, having been told lies by George’s sister, another tragic figure grieving over lost chances and her own mistakes. Jane’s first romance with a young pianist is beautifully drawn, but it is the achingly sensitive portrayal of Jack, who holds the menage together in this quasi-magical tale of hope, loss, confusion and lies, that makes the story memorable for me.
April 30, 2018
I really enjoyed this book. I wasn't sure if I was going to or not because a. many men writers can't always write well-developed women characters, b. it goes into some really big stuff (sexuality is all I can say before spoiler alert, loss, and betrayal - as the summary says), and c. writing this so well in under a 300 page novel. Cacoyannis has, instead, written a beautiful novel. It is hard to accomplish writing characters dealing with the above. It's heavy stuff.
Jane, the main character, has grown and developed so much throughout that it was amazing. I was rooting for her, screaming with her, upset with her, and happy with and for her.
It is most certainly a turn-pager here. I couldn't put it down once I had the time to sit down and read it (school gets in the way sometimes!). This is my second writing that I've read of Cacoyannis, and this story is hands down my favorite of the two. The ending was amazing! I wanted more after the last scene, but it ended perfectly as it should for Jane. Can't wait to read more of Cacoyannis in the future!!
Jane, the main character, has grown and developed so much throughout that it was amazing. I was rooting for her, screaming with her, upset with her, and happy with and for her.
It is most certainly a turn-pager here. I couldn't put it down once I had the time to sit down and read it (school gets in the way sometimes!). This is my second writing that I've read of Cacoyannis, and this story is hands down my favorite of the two. The ending was amazing! I wanted more after the last scene, but it ended perfectly as it should for Jane. Can't wait to read more of Cacoyannis in the future!!
February 16, 2023
"...no amount of barricading could have kept the night outside, that it had followed and would stay with us, its implacable burden made heavier by the effort of pretending... "This is the second book I've read by Cacoyannis. Like its predecessor, I was completely immersed in the character portrayal of The Madness of Grief. Cacoyannis is one of those authors that I relate to so well. I just GET the depth of his stories. His writing is original and entertaining. Dark ingredients are peppered with a wonderful sense of humor. It's like laughing in the face of fear. Cacoyannis creates characters that have many layers. No one is ever one dimensional. There's much surprise in what appears, at first, to be an ordinary story. The raconteur in Cacoyannis is engaging, skillful, and fresh. He is remarkable at detailing emotional elements. I always feel incredibly present and connected to the storyline. Cacoyannis captures the madness of grief, sadness, and love, wrapping things up in a sizeable tale. Sincerely good stuff!
April 17, 2018
This is the second book I read of Panayotis Cacoyannis and I must declare myself her fan. In the first instance, I really like the imperfect construction of its characters that reveal a deep humanity in each of them. In this case, the protagonist, despite being a girl of sixteen, reveals an impressive maturity that feels very true and that makes us witnesses of her passage to the sexual maturity as she tells us the life and the personalities that conform her immediate social circle and how the death of her mother, an event of the past, influences them.
This is a novel to be submerged in, since the language and pace used by Panayotis Cacoyannis is extremely precise in relation to the story that relates and I particularly recommend it as a book that is truly profound and unforgettable.
This is a novel to be submerged in, since the language and pace used by Panayotis Cacoyannis is extremely precise in relation to the story that relates and I particularly recommend it as a book that is truly profound and unforgettable.
April 15, 2018
The Madness of Grief written by Panayotis Cacoyannis is a wonderful book that I highly recommend. This tale takes the reader on a journey based in London in 1969 with the lead Jane who is sixteen years old. There’s love, family dynamics, and a lot to take in as a reader. I loved the author’s use of vocabulary to describe characters and their thoughts. Jane is a clever young girl who reads books beyond her years and who is experiencing her first love. Her love interest, Karl, is a classical pianist who is described from Jane’s point of view as very good looking. He is Jane’s confidant and they both confide in each other. Jane and Karl are your typical developing love story between best friends, but the author uses this in an amazing way to compliment Jane’s journey. My only complaint is the first chapter Jane’s point of view is she is sensually attracted to Karl but doesn’t think he could see anything in her along those lines, but when Jane’s father is introduced Jane explains to the reader that she was basically dating Karl, which identifies the love interest so it is understandable, but a little confusing. This is a wonderful story and a very entertaining and unique read. I look forward to reading more of Panayotis Cacoyannis’ work.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 12, 2018
I loved the novel's strangeness, and only very rarely have I identified so closely with a novel's protagonist. A memorable, sympathetic character, 16 year old Jane remains strong against all the odds, helped along her difficult journey by her 'gift of finding people's goodness'.
Once again, the author's obvious fondness for Kafka is incorporated into the story in an effective and innovative way.
Once again, the author's obvious fondness for Kafka is incorporated into the story in an effective and innovative way.
August 8, 2018
This was my second book by Cacoyannis, and the book I've most recently finished.
Jane, Jack, the authenticity of every one of the characters, the riddle of the Giacometti sculpture, life, love, loss, served with just the right amount of dark humour, have come together in these few hundred pages to make this a work of exceptional beauty: a mystery, a thriller, a story like no other about friendship and love, and above all an ode to The Madness of Grief.
It made me cry.
Jane, Jack, the authenticity of every one of the characters, the riddle of the Giacometti sculpture, life, love, loss, served with just the right amount of dark humour, have come together in these few hundred pages to make this a work of exceptional beauty: a mystery, a thriller, a story like no other about friendship and love, and above all an ode to The Madness of Grief.
It made me cry.
May 18, 2018
Intense and impossible to put down
Brilliantly written and thoroughly engaging this kept me glued to the book the entire way through.
I’m a man and seeing so deeply into the experiences that a girl goes through growing up was eye opening. Seeing life from that perspective, the other side, was incredibly interesting and showed me how really we all want the same.
Whack that into a WW2 environment and it couldn’t have been more engaging.
A perfect mix of intenseness and humour the writer is a truly funny women. Writing about what is often quite a dark subject the humour too is often dark or taboo but it is written so cleverly and with such finesse that I couldn’t help but be put into fits of laughter multiple times.
I don’t want to put in any spoilers as it’s really worth just giving it a read and letting yourself be absorbed into Janes experiences of growing up into a fully fledged adult. However, the themes that this book covers and the experiences she has are incredibly intense and some rather horrific.
Be prepared for intrigue, laughs and horror all mixed into one. I’d highly recommend this book to anyone who likes watching characters grow, I felt really close to Jane and now the books over I do feel like I miss her, however ridiculous that is!
Brilliantly written and thoroughly engaging this kept me glued to the book the entire way through.
I’m a man and seeing so deeply into the experiences that a girl goes through growing up was eye opening. Seeing life from that perspective, the other side, was incredibly interesting and showed me how really we all want the same.
Whack that into a WW2 environment and it couldn’t have been more engaging.
A perfect mix of intenseness and humour the writer is a truly funny women. Writing about what is often quite a dark subject the humour too is often dark or taboo but it is written so cleverly and with such finesse that I couldn’t help but be put into fits of laughter multiple times.
I don’t want to put in any spoilers as it’s really worth just giving it a read and letting yourself be absorbed into Janes experiences of growing up into a fully fledged adult. However, the themes that this book covers and the experiences she has are incredibly intense and some rather horrific.
Be prepared for intrigue, laughs and horror all mixed into one. I’d highly recommend this book to anyone who likes watching characters grow, I felt really close to Jane and now the books over I do feel like I miss her, however ridiculous that is!
April 20, 2018
When 16-year-old Jane loses faith in “the truth”, “the truth” of feelings proves just as elusive.
As in magic, so in life all is not what is seems...
A great book of characters, a great BOOK OF JANE.
As in magic, so in life all is not what is seems...
A great book of characters, a great BOOK OF JANE.
August 15, 2020
Again, I feel spoiled, having read such a wonderful piece of art. As I read the book, the words seemed to melt into my mind and put me in the place as Jane. The author somehow can put himself in the place of Jane, as well... even as a 16 year old girl. He can, seemingly magically, grasp the most inward feelings of all the characters and lead you through a maze of grief, surprise, unrest, fright, and happiness.
I want to thank the author for making something beautiful and sharing it with me and others who will hopefully find this book. I was in a dark place when I began the story, but I find myself in a totally different state of mind after finishing this story.
Mr. Cacoyannis has become one of my favorite authors. I highly recommend this book to everyone who is reading this review and contemplating on choosing it as your next read! You will not be able to put it down.
I want to thank the author for making something beautiful and sharing it with me and others who will hopefully find this book. I was in a dark place when I began the story, but I find myself in a totally different state of mind after finishing this story.
Mr. Cacoyannis has become one of my favorite authors. I highly recommend this book to everyone who is reading this review and contemplating on choosing it as your next read! You will not be able to put it down.
January 21, 2019
One of my favourite authors
Writing that sweeps you up, along and immerses you within the story among the characters 'til with regret the inevitable ending.
Writing that sweeps you up, along and immerses you within the story among the characters 'til with regret the inevitable ending.
August 12, 2023
Read Around the World: Cyprus
April 5, 2018
Cacoyannis' trademark quirky style is evident once again as it dances around a poignant tale about secrets and an eccentric family. Teenage Jane's father is a magician. Mr. Magikoo. He is beloved by his fans, and spends a good deal of time touring the country with his wife and daughter. Well, hey, it's 1967, and in 1967 we all still thought the world was a lovely place, we were just coming out of that era of naiveté that spawned Milton Berle, Jackie Gleason, Benny Hill, Jimmy Durante, Sid Caesar, and the like, so Mr. Magikoo's popularity is not such a stretch.
Well, the touring goes just fine until Mr. Magikoo kills his wife. OK, OK, it was an accident, having to do with electricity and lightning, but still. So he continues touring with his young daughter right up until the time he wanted her to walk between some swinging knives mechanism they dubbed the Sweeney Todd, until his sister, Jane's Aunty Ada, put a stop to THAT, you better believe it!
Dad eventually takes up with a classy lady, Mia-Mia, who moves in, mostly, cleans and cooks and takes care of the two of them in their tiny house next to the magic shop, displacing Aunty Ada, who had been doing that for them, and whose nose was now a bit out of joint about it.
Jane has a bff, a young man, Karl, a classical pianist, who has a German mother who is a Reichian therapist, and a father who left them long ago for another woman.
"Frau Angela had married a philandering Smith, and then, when it dawned on her what he was up to, divorced him and proudly reverted to Schmidt. Frau Angela (who was now Dr. Schmidt) had then insisted on a hyphenated surname for their son, and Karl duly became a Schmidt-Smith."
If you have read enough Cacoyannis, you will already suspect that all is not as it seems, and that there are secrets that have other secrets, and that the book is actually an onion. You know, layers, and layers, and every time you peel off a layer, your eyes tear up.
I am not going to tell you any of the secrets, because that would spoil the whole thing for you. But remember that it is a book about secrets and identity, and realness and fantasy, grief and recovery, and what masquerades as fantasy often is a disguise for despair.
I admit to a smidge of disappointment with the ending. I felt it was cliché and trite. In fact, it could have done just splendidly without the final section altogether. But what do I know? I'm just a simple illiterate peasant who likes to read and muse on the human condition. Those who can, do. Those who can't, criticize. Guess which one I do.
I have to give Mr. Cacoyannis some serious praise for his seemingly innate ability to write a female character. Not only a female character, but a teenage female character. Everything about Jane struck just the right note, and I should know, having once myself been a teenage female, about a century ago or so.
So, funny, quirky, sad, surprising, clever and witty. And the title?
"That for everything else I forgave him, because the things that happened after we lost mum didn't count, they were all part of a madness that couldn't be helped. That madness of grief...."
Well, the touring goes just fine until Mr. Magikoo kills his wife. OK, OK, it was an accident, having to do with electricity and lightning, but still. So he continues touring with his young daughter right up until the time he wanted her to walk between some swinging knives mechanism they dubbed the Sweeney Todd, until his sister, Jane's Aunty Ada, put a stop to THAT, you better believe it!
Dad eventually takes up with a classy lady, Mia-Mia, who moves in, mostly, cleans and cooks and takes care of the two of them in their tiny house next to the magic shop, displacing Aunty Ada, who had been doing that for them, and whose nose was now a bit out of joint about it.
Jane has a bff, a young man, Karl, a classical pianist, who has a German mother who is a Reichian therapist, and a father who left them long ago for another woman.
"Frau Angela had married a philandering Smith, and then, when it dawned on her what he was up to, divorced him and proudly reverted to Schmidt. Frau Angela (who was now Dr. Schmidt) had then insisted on a hyphenated surname for their son, and Karl duly became a Schmidt-Smith."
If you have read enough Cacoyannis, you will already suspect that all is not as it seems, and that there are secrets that have other secrets, and that the book is actually an onion. You know, layers, and layers, and every time you peel off a layer, your eyes tear up.
I am not going to tell you any of the secrets, because that would spoil the whole thing for you. But remember that it is a book about secrets and identity, and realness and fantasy, grief and recovery, and what masquerades as fantasy often is a disguise for despair.
I admit to a smidge of disappointment with the ending. I felt it was cliché and trite. In fact, it could have done just splendidly without the final section altogether. But what do I know? I'm just a simple illiterate peasant who likes to read and muse on the human condition. Those who can, do. Those who can't, criticize. Guess which one I do.
I have to give Mr. Cacoyannis some serious praise for his seemingly innate ability to write a female character. Not only a female character, but a teenage female character. Everything about Jane struck just the right note, and I should know, having once myself been a teenage female, about a century ago or so.
So, funny, quirky, sad, surprising, clever and witty. And the title?
"That for everything else I forgave him, because the things that happened after we lost mum didn't count, they were all part of a madness that couldn't be helped. That madness of grief...."
April 5, 2018
It's always exciting to read a novel by Panayotis Cacoyannis, the author of The Madness of Grief. Taking place in July of 1969, the author sets the stage well, revealing each of his quirky characters a little at a time,but most notably Jane, who is the main focus in this rough around the edges coming of age story. Jane is 16, lives in London, and may be in love for the first time. Except it's with her best friend and confidante. This is not a typical coming of age story however, wild family revelations come into play, violence permeates some of the tale, and reconciliation happens. The author's use of language is at once cutting and sharp, yet eloquent, creating a kind of subplot all it's own. He sets the pace well, almost frenetically at times, pulling you in and through the story. You will know the characters deeply, and as the story moves along you will relate to their heartache and human fallibility. Another interesting read from the author, and one you will not regret or forget.
April 13, 2018
This is not my first Panayotis Cacoyannis novel, but anyone can quickly realize why he has such a cult following. His ability to create characters that are neither all good nor all bad, excites me. He has master the art of giving you real life situations and explaining the challenges (or griefs) in life that forces us to come to terms with loving the people closest to us, despite their flaws.
The story follows a 16-year-old girl named Jane, through her life in London. At first you may find this a coming of age romance tale when she falls in love with her best friend, but the story quickly shifts your focus to her home and family life. Which is often too real for 16-year-old girls. We are in love with a boy, but life at home just keeps grabbing at our attention. The authors writing is clever and believable. Making you feel like you are one of Jane’s other best friends exploring this journey with her.
The story follows a 16-year-old girl named Jane, through her life in London. At first you may find this a coming of age romance tale when she falls in love with her best friend, but the story quickly shifts your focus to her home and family life. Which is often too real for 16-year-old girls. We are in love with a boy, but life at home just keeps grabbing at our attention. The authors writing is clever and believable. Making you feel like you are one of Jane’s other best friends exploring this journey with her.
October 15, 2018
I loved this book.
Simply put, it's great story telling.
The characters in this book are so well written. I like each one of them for different reasons.
These people find themselves repeatedly faced with some life-changing and traumatic events, and the reader can't help but be pulled right into the tangled web of the narrative. (There are so many secrets!)
However, what really kept me reading was the way that the characters responded to everything that life threw at them. I was drawn in by their humanness. Their rawness.
And I absolutely adored Jane.
This was a spectacular read.
Simply put, it's great story telling.
The characters in this book are so well written. I like each one of them for different reasons.
These people find themselves repeatedly faced with some life-changing and traumatic events, and the reader can't help but be pulled right into the tangled web of the narrative. (There are so many secrets!)
However, what really kept me reading was the way that the characters responded to everything that life threw at them. I was drawn in by their humanness. Their rawness.
And I absolutely adored Jane.
This was a spectacular read.
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