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A review by madfoot
Let Me Explain You by Annie Liontas
4.0
I'm turning this book over and over in my mind. Looking at the cover and the author, I was like "I will love every page of this book," and indeed, the entire first chapter had me shaking my head and chuckling because this guy was so familiar. Frustrating! Narcissistic! Ugh! But funny!
The story unfolds from there and I got a little lost. Everyone's story was interesting, but I had trouble keeping it all together. Ah, you know what the book is like? It's like fillo dough, it's layers and layers with soft butter making it stick together here, flaking apart there. The timeline swooped back and forth between the present day and the past, America and Greece, this character's POV and that, so that you started to put together what made them all so goddamn crazy. But to be honest, I never really broke through to the version of Stavros that the author wanted me to arrive at. I still think he's an asshole.
But Stavrula, man, she is the heart of the book. There's a scene where her friend reaches over and rubs the little shaved parts of her hair affectionately, and when I saw the author's photo, there they were (I have them too) and I had the urge to run my finger over them as the character did. Of all the daughters and wives she was the most vivid and welcoming. Everyone else did something offputting, which I guess was the point. Stavrula was offputting too -- jeez, rein it in, sister! -- but you know, Greeks! Armenians! Jews! All cut from very similar cloth, says the Armenian Jew who should have "offputting" as her middle name.
I've also been on a Greek-food kick since reading this, predictably, so be forewarned: salty cheesy goodness is in your future.
All in all, it's a very worthy read.
The story unfolds from there and I got a little lost. Everyone's story was interesting, but I had trouble keeping it all together. Ah, you know what the book is like? It's like fillo dough, it's layers and layers with soft butter making it stick together here, flaking apart there. The timeline swooped back and forth between the present day and the past, America and Greece, this character's POV and that, so that you started to put together what made them all so goddamn crazy. But to be honest, I never really broke through to the version of Stavros that the author wanted me to arrive at. I still think he's an asshole.
But Stavrula, man, she is the heart of the book. There's a scene where her friend reaches over and rubs the little shaved parts of her hair affectionately, and when I saw the author's photo, there they were (I have them too) and I had the urge to run my finger over them as the character did. Of all the daughters and wives she was the most vivid and welcoming. Everyone else did something offputting, which I guess was the point. Stavrula was offputting too -- jeez, rein it in, sister! -- but you know, Greeks! Armenians! Jews! All cut from very similar cloth, says the Armenian Jew who should have "offputting" as her middle name.
I've also been on a Greek-food kick since reading this, predictably, so be forewarned: salty cheesy goodness is in your future.
All in all, it's a very worthy read.