A review by komposxoini
Ελένη ή ο Κανένας by Ρέα Γαλανάκη, Rhea Galanaki

emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

For as much as I love cross-dressing and gender-fluidity in novels, our protagonist was wallowing in self-pity most of the time she conteplated her gender, which made the novel really hard to read and tempted me to add it to my DNFs. Even though the narrator's irony becomes apparent many times throughout, and a point is made about male influence over a woman's legacy, a lot of focus is given to the male relatives of Eleni and what they think about her and how they "redeem" her as a sinful woman through their actions, which I was not at all interested in.
A VERY frustrating book to get through, though, I guess that is also part of the point Rhea Ghalanaki was trying to make.
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