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Summary: A thought-provoking meditation on modern Greek life
Review: Poet and essayist Patricia Storace's meditations on a year spent living and traveling in Greece is simply fascinating. Dinner with Persephone can almost be read as a series of sketches of contemporary Greek life--a form that suits her instincts as a poet well.Other reviewers have referred to her as cynical; as a Greek-American woman, I think that she has, in many ways, captured some of the contradictions of the modern Greek "character," and our continuing struggles to define ourselves to our satisfaction. Also to her great credit, Storace explores the Byzantine heritage of Greece. (How many writers have ignored Orthodoxy and the Byzantine legacy in favor of its classical history?) A must-read.
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Summary: A twelve course meal
Review: Storace writes achingly gorgeous and evocative prose. She has captured the nature and essence of Greece and its people. She examines nuances many travelers might overlook or have no idea of how to interpret. With an investigative journalistic approach and a style of poetic clarity, she cuts right down to the quick. This is not a breezy chatty reflection on Greece, but an in-depth and analytical look at the good, the bad, and the shades in between. Storace never condescends and writes from a perspective that reveals respect and great knowledge of her topics. Her understanding of Greek culture and religion is thoughtful and well delineated. She has put good use of keen observation skills and great writing in this book--certainly not the run-of-the-mill collection of travel writing. This is literature
Rating: 
Summary: JUST OKAY
Review: The prose is lovely. Ms. Storace is a published poet and this shines through in her prose. I think, however, that this is not a positive portrait of Greece and its people. Many Greeks offered their generous hospitality to the author and I don't think it is proper to repay them by trashing their beliefs and ways.
Rating:
Summary: JUST OKAY
Review: The prose is lovely. Ms. Storace is a published poet and this shines through in her prose. I think, however, that this is not a positive portrait of Greece and its people. Many Greeks offered their generous hospitality to the author and I don't think it is proper to repay them by trashing their beliefs and ways.
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Summary: Cultural Tapestry
Review: This book was my travelling companion during a recent visit to the Greek Islands. The beauty of this book is it's resemblance to a medieval tapestry, some parts we recognise and we can try to interpret what it shows, some parts are unravelled and we can only guess at what is missing. Storace has shown us what she can see of the culteral tapestry that is Greece and tries to fill in the stitches that are no longer there for the benefit of us who too strive to understand. My overiding feeling at the end of the book is that the culteral divide between Storace and the people she lived with during her year long stay remained as wide as it was at the start, despite her yearning to be part of it and to understand it. However, this never disguises an obvious love for the country and it's people and her sadness at it's continuing conflicts. It is a beautifully written book and an excellent travelling companion. "Yia sta kheria sas" health to your gift, may your talent flourish.
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Summary: A must-read for anyone of Greek descent.
Review: This is a beautifully written book. Ms. Storace's perceptions are right on target, sometimes hitting a little too close to home for those with ties to Greece.
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Summary: Poetic? Hardly. Judgmental and shrill.
Review: This is a tedious, pretentious book. It purports to describe a year in Greece (really, a year? it seems like ten) but succeeds only in revealing the shortcomings -literary and otherwise- of its protagonist. It fails as a narrative (too disjointed, too self-absorbed), and this despite a few good turns of phrase and a handful of intriguing insights. The main culprit is Ms. Storace's grating personality, which leaves the reader uninvolved in her exploits- this is one of the coldest, most cynical travel books I have ever read. Greece deserves better.
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Summary: She Knows Just Enough To Be Dangerous...
Review: This is an incredibly provocative book, and even more so if the reader is of Greek descent or has spent considerable time in Greece. It is a valuable "must read", as it does a superb job in showing the quintessential slices of Greek life, the complexity of Greek history and identity, and the pathos and chronic idealization by the Greeks of their state, their land, their religion, their history, and themselves. Finally, her treatment of the psychology of the development of the individual within the larger family system and of relations within that system is brilliant. My disappointments with this book are two. First, as another reviewer put it so well, "Unfortunately, she condescends towards the Greeks, and sees them as dysfunctional -- largely because they aren't American." It seems to me to be the first rule of travel writing, for an author, to get as involved in the people as one can; we always get a sense with this author, however, that she is a sort of pedagogue, or Anglophile foreign correspondent, who transmits "facts" in such a way that she is completely ignorant (or not) of their highly judgmental quality (something akin to the impression left by the phrase, "those charming peasants..."). Second, her writing style is prepossessing, overly involved, and filled with so many clauses yearning to be lines of poetry that the reader can get the sense that she is just trying to show off. I often found myself just wishing she'd say something simply, or without her tedious and endless analogies and metaphors. In closing, there are some --if not racist -- then very distasteful references to Greeks en mass, something akin to "they all look alike". How ignorant and disappointing. Still, a thoroughly enjoyable, valuable, and provocative book, and one worth reading.
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Summary: Bird's Milk
Review: This rich account is for the dedicated enthusiast who wants to know as much about Greece as possible. Though sometimes repetitive, Storace's journey through the country is informative and educational: in my umpteen trips to Athens' "The Old Man of Morea Taverna," only now do I know that the reference is to a famous general. She points out ironies of Greek life such as the way the country embraces yet rejects the rest of Europe ("Greece is neither western nor eastern Europe, but oriental Europe, where Europe and the Middle East live together, although they may pretend they have never met") and the fact that love and violence are an integral part of daily life. Storace explains idiomatic terms such as "fthonos," "poisonous omnipresent jealousy" and "We even have bird's milk," a phrase used by grocers to hint that they have absolutely everything. Actually, I'm the one who's jealous. During my own year in Greece, I wasn't invited to half as many interesting parties and events. Storace's sense of humor puts things in perspective: "Although there are certain kinds of men I find irresistible, my temptations don't include married Greek dry cleaners." I had only minor disagreements: I've never found the Ionian Sea warmer than the Aegean, I like Corfu's Achilleion, and I'm not convinced all literary tragedies have happy endings. Her writing is often poetic and lyrical. For example, she describes the "sexual, tender, exalted, and tragic moment as candle touches candle, brief life kindling brief life, again and again, like the moment of conception." I can certainly sympathize with her feelings about leaving Greece: "Tonight I am saying goodbye the way Athenians do, that is, by staying up all night and trying to stop time." The working title of my own novel was "Going and Going to Greece." The country is magical--Storace's book helps us understand some reasons why.
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Summary: Absolute a MUST READ for ALL Greek Americans
Review: This was an amazing account of one's experiences in Greece. Anyone who has spent time there could completely relate...this is a MUST READ.
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