Little Infamies: Stories

Rating:
Summary: Hard Life
Review: No slacker, Karnezeis packs 19 stories into this small, 281-page book. The stories are set in a Greek village in the 1950's. Although it contains less than 40 houses, and thus is about to be deprived of official existence, it contains an amazing assortment of personalities, from spinster to prostitute, from priest to thief to pimp. Each has his own hopes and fears. All must cope with an earthquake, a drought and the obliteration of the village by a new dam and reservoir. As many authors, Karnezeis has trouble with endings, sometimes leaving the reader to guess at them and sometimes lacking credibility. Not a native speaker of English, the author muffs a few idioms, as when a character stands on her heels to reach an object overhead. Nevertheless, the work is fascinating and absorbing.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful short stories
Review: These strikingly original short stories are set in a small village in Greece, "so poor it doesn't have a name". They are extraordinary: shocking, colourful, amusing, resonant and sometimes tragic. Although Panos Karnezis writes in his second language, his style is fresh and lyrical and he has enriched and subverted English making it into a delight to read. He has created unforgettable characters and has cast a sharp eye on contemporary Greece. He is a master of the genre, like James Joyce, Raymond Carver or Guy de Maupassant.