Evening Would Find Me

Rating:
Summary: Sophisticated Sizzler
Review: Evening Would Find Me--one hot kiss of a tale by Katie Estill--makes a perfect holiday stocking stuffer, or Valentine's Day gift. Estill's first novel brilliantly portrays a young American who settles in Greece, determined to make her own way. Sylvia Harris, a college grad, still has much to sort out from her Ohio childhood--memories of her mother's alcoholism, her parents' divorce, her mother's death from cancer. Bright, passionate, she stumbles into a love triangle with a Greek artist and his lovely, deranged wife. The sensuous tussle, gorgeously orchestrated by Estill, climaxes in a whirlwind of sex, death, guilt, and redemption. The story takes only a few hours to read, but casts a fine, luscious mood that, for me, lingered for weeks.

Rating:
Summary: Intelligent, Adventurous, and True Love in Greece Today.
Review: Greece as it is and as it was is rendered here in an almost ancient Greek dramatic form by Estill. It will make no difference to the reader that there are subtle and ancient structures supporting the adventure, and giving dignity to the human challenges of the three main characters. There is so much to admire in the writing, in the observations of what visitors find in Greece, and fling aside: vacation over. This story goes deeper than anything I've read, because the fine intelligence of the author, her almost hyper-vigilence and great courage to tell it like it is. Estill does a fine job in making the English reader feel the power of the Greek language on their outlook. Romantic, intelligent and adventurous, most of all excellently written, Evening Will Find Me takes you there, Greek and all.

Rating:
Summary: A modern Greek tragedy
Review: I loved this book, maybe because it caused such an ache. A beautifully written, poetic jewel that uncovers so many of the pains that come with an ill-fated love.

Rating:
Summary: EVENING WOULD FIND ME was delicious...
Review: I savor good writing and EVENING WOULD FIND ME was delicious. It was spare, terse writing at it's best. I enjoyed the book on many levels.

The delineation of Athens, the resorts, and campsites put me there. I haven't been to Greece but have been to Turkey and picked up the feel of the Mediterranean sun, sea and pace. In EVENING I could sense the air, warmth, reflections, smells and sounds.

I have volunteered for many years at a residence for 6 men with chronic mental illness, both schizophrenia and bi-polar. Althea was portrayed accurately with the beauty and the horror of such a personality for herself and those who love and care for her. Schizophrenia usually shows up in the late teens. It was clear that Althea, as a child, was spoiled by her wealthy father and learned early how to manipulate people.

Cultural differences between Greeks and Americans were always present: the slower pace of life, time to smell the flowers, patience with things for which we Americans have no patience. I also picked up the thread that Greeks consider themselves descended from the Gods on Olympus. I found that too in CORELLI'S MANDOLIN ( a gorgeous book by Louis de Bernieres).

The eroticism, Ari's creativity when he's not care-taking, the tension and devotion when he is, Sylvia's inner struggle with morals about devotion, loyalty, and monogamy in a totally new situation and environment are all beautifully portrayed. The way Sylvia's thoughts about her family and early life weave through her mind while living a completely different life in Greece is so real.... so MRS. DALLOWAY.

Rating:
Summary: A modern Greek tragedy
Review: In Evening Would Find Me, Sylvia is a young American who flees to Greece to begin a new life after the heartfelt death of her mother. In Athens she meets a the painter Ari, and his beautiful, schizophrenic young wife Althea. Sylvia and Ari become lovers, and for Sylvia the affair engenders one revelation after another as she is drawn into a relationship with her lover's wife, whom she alternatively resents, loves, and attempts to protect. The three of them become irrevocably bound together in death and in life. Evening Would Find Me is a very capably written, totally engaging, debut title that fully documents Katie Estill as a major literary talent, and leaves her readers looking eagerly forward to her next novel!

Rating:
Summary: Very capably written, total engaging debut novel.
Review: In Evening Would Find Me, Sylvia is a young American who flees to Greece to begin a new life after the heartfelt death of her mother. In Athens she meets a the painter Ari, and his beautiful, schizophrenic young wife Althea. Sylvia and Ari become lovers, and for Sylvia the affair engenders one revelation after another as she is drawn into a relationship with her lover's wife, whom she alternatively resents, loves, and attempts to protect. The three of them become irrevocably bound together in death and in life. Evening Would Find Me is a very capably written, totally engaging, debut title that fully documents Katie Estill as a major literary talent, and leaves her readers looking eagerly forward to her next novel!

Rating:
Summary: Interesting plot, but had a few too many shortcomings
Review: One might think that a love triangle between a young American woman, a Grecian painter, and his gorgeous wife would make too common a theme for a romance novel. Well, it does. Love triangles have been around since early writing, and are with us to this day all over television. Even so, author Katie Estill makes a decent attempt at producing an interesting story in her first novel, "Evening Would Find Me." Unfortunately, too many faults keep me from raving about this book. [Sorry to break the string of stellar reviews]

By telling the story in the first person, I can't help but think that the author has thrown herself into the character of Sylvia, a woman who flees to Greece after her mother dies. By page 16, she's falling in love with Ari, a painter who happens to be married to a goddess-like (of course), but schizophrenic woman, Althea. I won't go into details, but lots of juicy, emotional events follow, some with tragic consequences. Overall, it's an okay story that held my interest, but didn't move me very much in the end.

That Ms. Estill is enamored of Greece is obvious. Aside from having lived and traveled there for five years, she over-seasons her novel with as many Greek phrases, names of places, and food items as will fit in a little book. That may sound picky, but I would have prefered instead that the space be used for describing the Greek culture and/or developing characters. ESPECIALLY developing characters. In my opinion, the author shrouded the principal figures (and even the country) in so much mystery and enchantment that it was hard for me to know them. What about Ari's sister-in-law, Elena? She had an absolutely intriguing demeanor and could have been a fascinating force in this plot, but alas, there was more to be said about the quirky way Greeks like their coffee than about this interesting woman. Same for Sylvia's elderly neighbor, Mr. Lapidus.

It may sound odd, but I would have been happier with this story if it were longer (i.e., a more involved plot and deeper characters) and had flowed better between images and time frames. For fans of romance novels with lots of emotion and interpersonal conflict, this book will probably be to your liking. Better yet, it might actually provide a good basis for a screenplay. As for me, I felt like I was looking at a nice tapestry with too many worn-out spots.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting plot, but had a few too many shortcomings
Review: One might think that a love triangle between a young American woman, a Grecian painter, and his gorgeous wife would make too common a theme for a romance novel. Well, it does. Love triangles have been around since early writing, and are with us to this day all over television. Even so, author Katie Estill makes a decent attempt at producing an interesting story in her first novel, "Evening Would Find Me." Unfortunately, too many faults keep me from raving about this book. [Sorry to break the string of stellar reviews]

By telling the story in the first person, I can't help but think that the author has thrown herself into the character of Sylvia, a woman who flees to Greece after her mother dies. By page 16, she's falling in love with Ari, a painter who happens to be married to a goddess-like (of course), but schizophrenic woman, Althea. I won't go into details, but lots of juicy, emotional events follow, some with tragic consequences. Overall, it's an okay story that held my interest, but didn't move me very much in the end.

That Ms. Estill is enamored of Greece is obvious. Aside from having lived and traveled there for five years, she over-seasons her novel with as many Greek phrases, names of places, and food items as will fit in a little book. That may sound picky, but I would have prefered instead that the space be used for describing the Greek culture and/or developing characters. ESPECIALLY developing characters. In my opinion, the author shrouded the principal figures (and even the country) in so much mystery and enchantment that it was hard for me to know them. What about Ari's sister-in-law, Elena? She had an absolutely intriguing demeanor and could have been a fascinating force in this plot, but alas, there was more to be said about the quirky way Greeks like their coffee than about this interesting woman. Same for Sylvia's elderly neighbor, Mr. Lapidus.

It may sound odd, but I would have been happier with this story if it were longer (i.e., a more involved plot and deeper characters) and had flowed better between images and time frames. For fans of romance novels with lots of emotion and interpersonal conflict, this book will probably be to your liking. Better yet, it might actually provide a good basis for a screenplay. As for me, I felt like I was looking at a nice tapestry with too many worn-out spots.

Rating:
Summary: Sophisticated Sizzler
Review: The scenes and images in this novel are so vivid that they have stayed in my mind months after reading it-- pictures of a park in Athens, apartments, houses, cafes, the ocean. The story is of an ordinary life slipping almost unnoticed into extraordinary circumstances. There's an unobtrusive poetry in the writing and a keen sense of people as they are-- good and bad mixed together so that the same character is both admirable and wrong-headed at the same time.

Rating:
Summary: Great Images
Review: The scenes and images in this novel are so vivid that they have stayed in my mind months after reading it-- pictures of a park in Athens, apartments, houses, cafes, the ocean. The story is of an ordinary life slipping almost unnoticed into extraordinary circumstances. There's an unobtrusive poetry in the writing and a keen sense of people as they are-- good and bad mixed together so that the same character is both admirable and wrong-headed at the same time.