Eleni

Rating:
Summary: A Powerful Biography
Review: Eleni is a gripping story of man's inhumanity to humans; in this case the Greek Communist's inhumane treatment of its own men, women and children during the Greek Civil War in the late 1940s. Although this book is a biography, Nicholas Gage's narrative prose reads like a powerful novel. Every aspect of the hard-working villagers' life is depicted, right down to the peasants' ignorance, their superstitions, and their cunning and cruel treatment to each other for survival in the hands of the communists. Above all, this story is about Gage's mother Eleni who sacrificed herself to save her children. If you can read beyond the killings, the cruelty, the starvation and torture, you will find it difficult to put down this 470 page masterpiece. For the weak-hearted, simply skip those parts, it's worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: A Mother's Love Lives On!
Review: Eleni is a very powerful book and it struck close to home to for me because my great-grandfather was on the Fascist side during the Greek Civil War, although he was an Bulgarian naval captain during World War II. His housekeeper named Elizabeth was the person I remembered, when I began to read Eleni although she didn't suffer the same hardships or even death as Eleni. I firmly admire Mr. Gage's writing style and I believe this book to be one of the most interesting and riveting books on Greece that I have ever read. This is a story at that still goes straight from the page to my heart and I couldn't sympathise more with Mr. Gage in his search for revenge.I would like to thank him for all the good he has done by writing out such a superb and heart-warming book. I Love Eleni!

Rating:
Summary: A must-read for all Greek Americans!
Review: Eleni is an incredible story, one that should be required reading for each generation of Greek Americans. Gage describes in wonderful detail the Greek village traditions that have all but died out. The story of a mother's love and sacrifices for her children is something most of us can never comprehend because we were never forced to go to the lengths Eleni did under the same types of circumstances. One of the most moving books I have ever read, and one that I will never forget. Make sure to read A Place for Us, the follow up to Eleni. Anyone who can appreciate the struggles that Greek immigrants endured will enjoy this story as well.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent depiction of the perills of Communism
Review: Eleni is an ode not only to the author's mother, but also to the thousands of martyrs of communist atrocities in Greece after WWII. It is a very accurate depiction of the situation and a precise historical account of what happened in Greece (Hellas) during that time. It is a very sad story, but unfortunately history and facts cannot be revised to please those uncomfortable with this accurate account. An eye opener and a shocking reality to sheltered Americans might be the mention in this book of the forceful stealing of young children from their parents and forwarding them to Eastern European countries to be raised as young communists, never seeing their parents again.

Rating:
Summary: one of the all time greats
Review: Emotional in every sense of the word, from anger to sorrow you get the whole range. You dont have to be Greek to love this book. An all time great

Rating:
Summary: Overwhelming
Review: Human diminishment is the theme of this masterwork, which shows how people can sacrifice their rational powers and nobler instincts on the altar of a reductionist ideology, then descend into the (home) economics of envy and the politics of resentment, and end up killing off even the mildest opposition. Concretely, it is about how Communist guerrillas in Epirus took over the village of Lia, reduced the once sturdy villagers to treacherous, starving, vermin-infested semi-savages, used them for slave labor, and finally murdered many of them. The story centers on Eleni Gatzoyiannis, who attempts to escape with her children, more for their sakes than her own. The Communists manage to get other villagers to snitch on her and they end up torturing and murdering her in a ravine along with a few other villagers. Nicholas Gage reports here on what he found out about exactly what happened in that doomed village and what happened to Eleni. Gage is, in fact, Eleni's only son and he managed to escape to America just before the Greek national armies managed to rid the northern mountains of the Communists. A successful journalist in the US, he has written a marvelous account of some unsettling and depressing events. Toward the end of the book he has the chance to take revenge on the person most responsible for his mother's fate, but decides it would be a more fitting tribute to her if he did without his revenge. Some parts of the narrative are (necessarily) reconstructed, but in general the work is faithful to the facts of history. Extremely powerful, it will stay with the reader long after the reading is finished.

Rating:
Summary: An incredibly moving chronicle of injustice and suffering.
Review: I cannot remember reading a story with greater emotional impact. The actions of the guerillas and reactions of the people of Lia - given my age and upbringing here in Canada - are not something I am easily able to comprehend. Nicholas Gage must have to deal with feelings of rage which at times must seem overwhelming. I recommend this book highly. As is always the case, it is much better than the movie, although, Kate Nelligan did a good job.

Rating:
Summary: A heart-breaking and enthralling read
Review: I could not put this book down nor get the incredible true story of Eleni out of my mind. This book stands as a memorial to the strength and courage of a mother's love for her children. It also stands as a perfect illustration of the unspeakable injustice and horrors that men inflict on innocents in the name of a cause. Through her son's painstaking and painful research, Eleni will live in the reader's hearts forever. A brilliant and enlightening book. I cannot recommend it highly enough

Rating:
Summary: Gripping.. You will never forget this book...
Review: I had heard of the movie... it sounded interesting but I didn't see it. I didn't realize there was a book until the Wall Street Journal recently wrote about a sequel by this author's daughter (also Eleni).

The book is incredibly gripping and powerful. I am pretty middle-of-the-road politically, and used to be somewhat left-leaning in college. However, I found myself feeling that communism is the ultimate evil - I actually had to remind myself how evil totalitarianism on the right can be as well. ANY political system where people can't emigrate freely is EVIL!

The stories of family love, village life, and self-sacrifice are stirring to read. I was quite affected by this book.

I was, howeer, terribly disappointed by the author's decision regarding the main antagonist (whom he locates years later).


Rating:
Summary: A Child Raised in War
Review: I had this book for over a year before I read it. I was put off by its length. How could a man write such a long book about the death of his mother? It turns out this autobiography is about a lot more than just one woman dying; it's about the civil war in Greece, between the Nationalists and the Communists. Unfortunately, the author's small village was solely in the hands of the Communists, who, typically, tortured, abused and murdered the villagers. Gage, a natural writer, pretty much relates these atrocities dispassionately. Rarely do I run across a book that absorbs me from beginning to end. This is one that did.