I'm no longer interested in reading this novel at this time. Thank you for the opportunity!

My Last Lament by James William Brown is a unique novel set in WWII and post WWII Greece. The novel is told in flashback through the narration of an old woman Aliki. Aliki lives in a small village in northeastern Greece and practices the dying art of lamentation. When someone dies, she literally steps into their shoes and mourns their passing through dirge like poems. An American researcher has left a tape recorder and some cassette tapes with Aliki to record her lamentations on. Aliki records the story of her life on the tapes, speaking of the Nazi occupation of her village when she was a girl, the death of her father, her subsequent adoption by a village woman and her eccentric son, Takis, and being orphaned again at the end of the war. Aliki, Takis, and Stelios, an orphaned Jewish boy hidden and taken in by Aliki's adoptive mother set out on a quest to survive in post WWII Greece. Their journey is hard, but compelling to read about. It explored a facet of World War II that I never knew much about, and the ending of the novel caught me by surprise. It was a powerful and heartbreaking read.

This was an intriguing portrayal of WWII – there are certainly not many books sent in Greece during this time period, so the second I read the blurb I knew that I wanted to read The Last Lament. I was hoping for something along the lines of Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See – a book set in WWII that isn’t about the holocaust so much as the lives of people in occupied countries and their day to day trials. Don’t get me wrong – books on the holocaust are so important, but it’s intriguing to get to read about the rest of the war, and the far-reaching effects it had all across Europe. The horrors of the holocaust often occupy the majority of our headspace (and our historical fiction), so it’s rare that an amazing book comes along that looks at other parts of this global conflict and shines a light where before there was only darkness.

And in many ways, The Last Lament lived up to my expectations. It’s beautifully written, though a bit slow at times, and the perspective is certainly unique. It was very interesting to learn more about Lamenters, and I enjoyed the almost magical-realism vibe that Aliki created when speaking about the dead and how she laments for them. The dead were so hyper-present here that I really did feel like the story had otherworldly ties, which sets it apart from other historical fiction. Despite that, it is still very much grounded in reality, and never feels far-fetched.

There are some very painful moments in this book, and even though the prose does feel a bit slow at times I loved how the tension is consistent. You can feel the stress between Aliki, Takis, and Stelios underneath everything all the time, and it kept me intrigued from start to finish. That, coupled with a few secrets that are slowly revealed in the present day, made this book a true mystery (and one that I was eager to solve).

I’d recommend this to anyone looking for a fresh perspective on WWII.

A huge thanks to Berkley Books for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 4/5 stars

This is really a sad story and is just sad that things like this probably did happen to people in Greece after WWII. I'm always fascinated by things involving WWII and this is another angle I had no idea existed. Very interesting and I would like to learn more about Greece after the war.

This book tells a first-person account of what happened to a teenage girl during World War II. Aliki tells her story to a battery operated tape recorder for a student who wants to know what Aliki says during a "lament", a chant for the dead that only she can perform.
Aliki experiences many terrible things, she sees her father shot by a Nazi, she eats bulbs and snails for food, and she sees her friend who is like a mother to her, killed by a Nazi looking for Jews.
She and her friend, Taki, (a strange young boy who talks to his feet and wanders away without knowing how he got somewhere.) befriend Stelios, a young Jewish refugee and his mother who live in the cellar of their house. Stelios teaches Aliki and Taki how to do puppet shows with a famous Grecian puppet " Karagiozis, who was a poor Greek who lived under Turkish rule, she explained, during the time of the Ottoman empire, which occupied Greece for four hundred years before the revolution that drove them out. A wily underdog, Karagiozis played the fool in order to outwit the rulers."
Stelio's puts on a lot of plays with the little family, which helps them forget what they are going through.
You will have to read for yourself what happens to Aliki, Taki and Stelios, how they have to go from Northern Greece to Athens, and how their knowledge of puppetry sustains them.

Aliki's life in Greece has been a hard one, from seeing her father killed in WWII, and then through the Greek civil war. Hardship follows hardship, and much is lost. I will say that I did expect a little more Greek history in this book, but it is a little light on this. I would have given it a higher rating except the writing style was slow and not at all engaging. Only my opinion.

This was such a heart wrenching story. I LOVE LOVE LOVE historical fiction, which all my blog followers probably know by now. This was by far the most emotionally draining piece I've read lately.

As a young girl, Aliki, witnesses her father's murder during WWII. From there she tells her story about the struggles of war. Death, poverty, hunger, and time of pure fear gripped me with every page I turned.

The author does an amazing job at making it feel like the story is being told directly to the reader. This story is told via "cassette tapes" which gave it a real feel of being captured for historical purposes. Very descriptive writing. I had no problem imagining every little detail of the story. I liked the little bits of dark humor added throughout the storytelling.

The characters are very unique and quite interesting, though appealing is not a word I would use to describe most. You definitely will not forget them. This is a book to be read slowly so that you can take in every little word. It is a view of WWII from Greece, a point of view not often seen in historical fiction writing, which I enjoyed.

My Last Lament is available now. It is not for light reading. Be ready to be overwhelmed with emotions. A 4 star read for me!

Thanks to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing Group for allowing me to read and give my honest review.

Happy Reading!

Will post a spotlight on April 28th at the Dew. http://dewonthekudzu.com

An interesting new perspective on the aftermath of WWII in Greece, I found the story captivating, but the narrator somewhat irritating. I think plenty of readers will enjoy this, it just wasn't quite right for me.

I received this book for free from Netgalley. This did not influence my review.

I’ve been looking forward to reading My Last Lament by James William Brown. I know pretty much nothing about modern Greek history, and the blurb for the novel intrigued me.

Aliki is an elderly woman recording her “memoir” for an ethnographer who we never meet, who is studying the ancient folk custom of “lamenting” the dead. Visiting Aliki’s isolated village, the student was unable to witness Aliki in action, so she left behind a cassette player and some blank tapes. The result is this novel.

A lamenter is not exactly a paid mourner and not exactly a eulogizer, but something in between. Upon the death of a loved one, a lamenter is brought in to encapsulate the life of the deceased with a poetic remembrance. Aliki’s gift for lamenting came upon her all at once and she performs the task in a semi-trance, not really knowing where the words come from. This recollection of her own life, this encapsulation, is, in a way, her own lament.

Aliki was about 14 years old when the Germans took over her village. Early on, they executed her father for hoarding food, and she was taken in by a neighbor, Chrysoula, who had a young son, Takis. They grew up together and so shared a lifelong bond.

Chrysoula was a woman of action. In addition to Aliki, she also took in a Jewish refugee family from the city, a mother and son, Stelios. Stelios is a bit older. Aliki and Stelios fall in love.

Things are not going to work out well. Though the Germans are eventually defeated, they cause enough havoc in the town that the family is disrupted. Many of the villagers are killed. Then, unfortunately, Aliki, Takis, and Stelios find that post-war Greece is as savage and dangerous as occupied Greece.

Stelios is a skilled shadow puppeteer, and the three set off trying to earn their living by putting on performances, first in the city and then around the countryside. Aside from the dangers of the ongoing civil war, the cohesion of their little group is threatened by the animosity between Takis and Stelios. Takis is mentally ill and hounded by confusion and guilt over what happened back in the village. He’s also fiercely jealous of the relationship between Stelios and Aliki.

The novel serves as a tour of post-war Greece and an introduction to the political divisions that have brought Greece to the position it’s in today. The characters are sympathetic and the action is well paced. Readers may guess the secrets that drive the plot before the big reveal at the end, but that doesn’t detract from the story.

A heartbreaking and sad story but one that I will always cherish. Aliki is one of these characters I will never forget. The period of time the story is set is one I'm always fond to read because there is always a chance to come across a book like My Last Lament. Beautifully written, believable characters, and a story once you start it is really hard to put it down.

Aliki’s tragic life seems appropriate for a professional lamenter. We learn about her life as she records her story on tapes that were left for her by an American ethnographer—who really only wanted Aliki’s laments and talk about Greek “funerary customs”—in My Last Lament, by James William Brown. The novel jumps back and forth as Aliki tells us about her left in the present and between 1943 and 1948, when Greece was occupied and then tried to get back on its feet after World War II.

The book opens with Aliki in the present, as an ethnographer explains what she wants in baffling (and hilarious) academese. Aliki lives alone in her home village and is occasionally called out to compose spontaneous laments for the oldest members of the community. Aliki is willing to humor the American, but she takes the opportunity to tell her own story in between recalled laments and village goings-on. She takes us back to 1943. Her village in mainland Greece has been occupied by German forces and everyone is hungry. We meet young Aliki just as her father has been executed for running a secret squash garden.

After Aliki’s father is killed, a neighbor takes her in. Unbeknownst to Aliki and Takis, the neighbor’s son, Chrysoula is also hiding a Jewish mother and son in her basement. When disaster strikes just as the Germans are about to leave the village, Aliki flees with Takis and the Jewish son, Stelios. The trio have their own odyssey across mainland Greece, Crete, and a remote Greek island over the next few years. Bad luck and bad decisions hound them along the way (though there are no sirens or cyclops). Aliki and Stelios are such strivers that, after a few chapters, I just wished that they could find a bit of peace and happiness.

My Last Lament offers a look into a theater of the war I didn’t know much about. I knew even less about post-war Greece, which seems even more dangerous than the Germans because there are so many armed factions fighting for control of the liberated country. I wish there had been a bit more about Aliki’s mystical laments, but this book is laced with Greece puppet theater and customs that I very much enjoyed. (There are descriptions of food that will probably send readers to the nearest Greek restaurant.) Brown also pulls off the trick of making both the past and present sections of the book equally interesting. If you have a taste for the tragic, My Last Lament is a terrific read.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley for review consideration.

This novel was well-written and had an interesting premise. However, it wasn't the story I was expecting. Reading the premise, I thought that the focus would be more on how Aliki became a lamenter and what it all means culturally, as lamenting is a process I am not familiar with and would love to read more about. Instead, this novel focused on how Greece was affected by the invasion of Nazi soldiers. Yes, this is a perspective I have not read about as of yet. But there was really nothing to make this novel stand out in my mind in comparison to every other novel on the same topic. The switch from the present time to the recounting of past memories was not always very clear; at times, I found it to be jarring when the switch happened and had to read the page over again to be clear. This wasn't a terrible book by any means, but it wasn't what I was expecting, and so it left me a bit disappointed. I would recommend this book for anyone wanting to read about the Nazi occupation of Germany. Because that is the main focus of the book. Not lamenting.

It's hard to characterize this well written historical novel. It's certainly not a particularly easy read but it's worthy especially because you'll learn something about Greece in WWII and beyond through the eyes of a woman who lived through a lot of upheaval and pain. This was not a good time for Aliki, who tells her story in a measured way despite all the bad things. Brown has used an interesting technique- the cassette tape idea. THanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Try this one if you are interested in the era and want something different, noting that the title is relevant.

There is a trend in novels lately with many books chronicling the struggles of ordinary people during WWII and its aftermath. The Nightingale, by Kristen Hannah, and All The Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr, both deal with civilians in France and Germany. My Last Lament, by James William Brown, focuses on the impact the war had on Greece.

I'm embarrassed to say that I know very little of 20th century Greek history, but I now feel I have an inkling of some of their challenges by reading this book. Beyond the historical aspects, this is also a book exploring why people become evil. Is a person inherently bad, or are they bad because of the way they are treated? I found this book to be absorbing and haunting in its storytelling.

What I Liked:

Setting:

Books that feature small town life are some of my favorites. I love seeing all the various characters who seem to enter and exit in the background, but who later become significant parts of the story. This kept me on my toes!

Everyone has secrets, but in a small village, most of these emerge over time.

The times are full of the bitter struggles of survival during the Nazi occupation. Everyone is hungry and some are even spying on their neighbors.

The book shifts over time from a small village in Greece, to the capitol city of Athens, and then on to several other islands. The author's descriptions made each place come alive to me as a reader, and makes me want to visit this country.

Characters:

Aliki is the main character, and her story is told when she is an old woman, in a series of flashbacks to the time of WWII and its aftermath. She has a gift to lament when a person dies. This means that she goes into a trance and gives voice to the dead.

Orphaned at the beginning of the story, Aliki is taken in by a neighbor, Chrysoula and her young son, Takis. She goes through many trials but is a survivor, always trying to see the good in everyone.

Takis is the younger boy who becomes obsessed with Aliki. Over the years, he is accused of several terrible acts. People treat him with suspicion and later seems to become what people think of him. It's hard to say whether or not he deserves the ridicule he receives. He does do some of the evil things in the book. But did the village essentially create a monster?

There are also several women who befriend Aliki over the course of the book. I love strong friendships in books and this showcases how women can bond together in difficult circumstances (men can too, BTW).

Overall, this is a book that will widen your understanding of Greece (perhaps even of the economic problems the country is experiencing right now). There are wonderfully strong female characters and friendships, and excellent historical details. This is a satisfying book.

A poignant and evocative novel of one Greek woman's story of her own and her nation's epic struggle in the aftermath of World War II.

Aliki is one of the last of her kind, a lamenter who mourns and celebrates the passing of life. She is part of an evolving Greece, one moving steadily away from its rural traditions. To capture the fading folk art of lamenting, an American researcher asks Aliki to record her laments, but in response, Aliki sings her own story...

It begins in a village in northeast Greece, where Aliki witnesses the occupying Nazi soldiers execute her father for stealing squash. Taken in by her friend Takis's mother, Aliki is joined by a Jewish refugee and her son, Stelios. When the village is torched and its people massacred, Aliki, Takis and Stelios are able to escape just as the war is ending.

Fleeing across the chaotic landscape of a post-war Greece, the three become a makeshift family. They are bound by friendship and grief, but torn apart by betrayal, madness and heartbreak.

Through Aliki's powerful voice, an unforgettable one that blends light and dark with wry humor, My Last Lament delivers a fitting eulogy to a way of life and provides a vivid portrait of a timeless Greek woman, whose story of love and loss is an eternal one. (via Goodreads)
I received an eARC of The Last Lament, courtesy of the publisher, Berkley Publishing Group, and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I wasn't sure what to expect from The Last Lament. I had never read anything about World War II in Greece, and I knew nothing at all about Greek laments, so I didn't know if I'd have the knowledge necessary to make this work, but the unique storytelling method absolutely blew me out of the water.

This is told in chapters based on the side of a cassette, so it's almost stream-of-consciousness for narrator and main character Aliki. Usually, I don't enjoy this kind of storytelling, but this time it kept me entirely captivated. The only reason I didn't read this in one sitting was because I had to go to bed.
I don't want to say much about the plot, because there's a lot that won't sucker punch you the way it should if you're spoiled, but this was an amazing story.
My heart broke for Takis in this story. I desperately just wanted him to get some help for the "bomb" he said was inside of him. I almost wish he'd gone with the Red Cross, because then maybe he'd get some help. There was just so much going on that he didn't understand, that even Aliki didn;t

One thing really bothered me about this book, and it was kind of the way the author made it relevant - the ethnographer. She shows up with a camera that completely doesn't work in their environment for whatever reason, she clearly hasn't done her research on Aliki, and then only leaves two cassettes without actually asking Aliki any questions. Like, that's a shit interview and your research is gonna be shit.

Overall, though, this was a four star read for me. It's a captivating read with a more distinct voice than I think I've ever read.

four stars and one empty one meant to signify a four star review

I would highly recommend this on audio for the true effect I think the author intended, but I recommend it in any form, really. You can pick up a copy on Amazon, Indiebound, or your favorite bookseller!

I would like to devour every single WWII historical fiction book ever written. Why? I don’t know. I have some unhealthy fascination with WWII that was birthed in my one of my high school creative writing courses. As the years have gone on, I’ve relished reading novels that reveal new stories and histories not taught in the classroom. This is why I requested The Last Lament from Netgalley.

Covering Greece’s Nazi occupation and the years after the war, The Last Lament tells the story of one woman’s journey as records her story for a researcher relieving some of the most heartbreaking moments in her life. I was hoping to discover a new perspective, learn a bit more about World War II while connecting with a new culture that was affected by the war that I know little about.

The Last Lament attempts to cover too much ground in its 350 or so pages. It hits every World War II trope possible while doing little to explain the Greek Culture, the Nazi Occupation of Greece and the volatile years of changing political powers in the months and years the followed. As a result, this story could have been set in just about any country the Axis powers occupied during this timeframe in history.

What kept me reading? Something happened one night that tore a small Greek village apart. I needed to know what happened and who was responsible. Brown teases the mystery throughout, unfortunately, because of all breadth of the story and the lack of threading one character’s story through out the narrative; the reveal is lackluster, leaving me disappointed.

Unfortunately, for me, The Last Lament was a plodding read. Aliki’s story was not unique and the failure to connect all the characters sufficiently left me feeling a lack of connection to the story and time period.

(review will be live on 04/05/2017 at SecondRunReviews.com)

This book was a true joy to read. It was beautifully written, with interesting characters and some little known Greek history. Being Jewish I have heard about the decimation of the Jews in Thessalonica and Rhodes. While the main character Aliki is not Jewish, another major character Stelios is. The book address what happened to the Jews and life on the islands after the Nazis were defeated. Alik, is the last professional lamenter – one who expresses grief – in her village. Lamenters were like mediums through whom the deceased’s life is expressed at wakes. Aliki was also frequently visited by the dead.

The story – of her own life - is told by Aliki via cassette tapes she is recording for a Greek-American scholar who is doing research on lament practices. Aliki tells of life in her little village under German occupation. When young Aliki is left orphaned she is taken in by Chrysoula, her friend Takis’s mother. Chrysoula also provided shelter for a Jewish woman named Sophie and her son Stelios.

Aliki, 17 years old, is caught in a love triangle involving her friend Takis (10 years old) and Stelios (nearer Aliki’s age). While young they all had to mature quickly, witnessing the execution of family members and other villagers. Like many countries in Europe, when WWII was over the survivors then had to deal with civil wars.

A form of entertainment at the time was the shadow theatre. I knew shadow puppetry was an ancient form of storytelling and entertainment in China, but I was not aware that it was used in Europe. A bit of the history of this art is given early on in the book. Stelios is quite proficient in it.

Aliki laments on the tragedies they lived through, the “what-if’s” that could have resulted in a totally different outcome, the ironies that of life, and the tarnishing of her home country.

The book is slow reading but well worth it. I loved the characters and had an emotional investment in them. There was so much heartbreak, so many regrets, yet much courage.

I'm not sure if I disliked this one due to the writing or due to this reading funk I'm in.

I went in expecting a sweeping historical fiction account of Greece during WWII (my kryptonite), I was also super excited to read about Grecian history and the idea of a lamentor- a poet stepping into the shoes of the departed and reciting poetry about that person's history. The premise was there, the story started out interesting, and then quickly fell into the boring category for me.

Much too wordy and long in parts reciting moment by moment the journey Aliki goes on during the war and up to present day. She's recording her story on cassette tapes for a young journalist who's researching Aliki and the history of the laments. I didn't connect with any of these characters and found myself un-interested in the few shreds of a plot that came at the end, that I was just concerned about finishing it more than the journey getting there. Ultimately, this one was not for me.

Beautiful and thought-provoking historical fiction with characters you won’t ever forget. I really loved this book.
My Last Lament by James William Brown takes us back to World War Two and the years following, and Greece. I hadn’t ever read anything about Greece during WWII, and the subject matter here was the main reason I requested this book on NetGalley (not to mention that cover has a haunting quality to it). I wanted to learn more about Greece and WWII, and wow this book did not disappoint. I learned so much about Greece’s history, and what happened during the war and afterwards.
My Last Lament is told from the point of view of Aliki, an old woman who has the gift of lamentation. The book is told in the format of Aliki speaking into a tape recorder, so the book feels like a conversation, as we read Aliki’s memories of the past. I was instantly drawn to Aliki and her voice. She speaks in simple words, and there is no flowery prose here. Sometimes historical fiction, or literary fiction, can feel so wordy and pompous, but there is none of that here. I loved Aliki’s voice and character, and was interested in her story and her life. Hers is a voice I will not forget, as her story is heartbreaking and beautiful, and I felt an immediate connection to her.
Aliki’s father is killed by Nazi’s early on, and she goes to live with a woman, Chrysoula, and her son, Takis. Chrysoula soon takes in Jewish refugees, Sophia, and her son, Stelios, and has to hide them from the Nazi’s who have overtaken the village. I really liked the character of Chrysoula. She was strong and unflinching, and I enjoyed reading her character. Besides Chrysoula, Aliki’s other mother figure in the book comes in the form of Yannoula, who has been taking care of Stelios’ home in Athens. Yannoula was also a favorite of mine.
After the war ends, Takis, Aliki, and Stelios end up in Athens and try to start a life there. The three begin putting on shadow-puppet plays that star Karagiozis, and the real-life history of the shadow-puppet theatre was interesting. I had no idea about all this, and the shadow-puppets brought a haunting quality to the book, and also speak to the point about how important art is, even in times of war.
From Athens, the trio then goes to Crete, and they try to find a way of life there as well. I found the sections on Crete to be interesting, but also bogged the plot down a bit, and perhaps those parts could’ve used a bit of editing. It was interesting historical detail and setting, but it kind of stopped the flow of the story for a bit.
There is a bit of a love triangle of sorts here, and usually I can’t stand love triangles, but I didn’t have an issue with it here, as Aliki’s choice is apparent from the beginning. The characters of Aliki, Stelios, and Takis are all well drawn and compelling. Each has their own voice and their unique personality, and they each interested me. I went back and forth with Takis, from being irritated by him to anger, to sadness, and then back again, and I just felt he was a well-written character, and perhaps the most interesting of the characters. The official synopsis mentions madness, and there is indeed madness in the book, and there are scenes that are very difficult to read. Not because they are too graphic, but because the subject matter is intense.
The book The Iliad is referenced here quite a bit, and as I just read that last year, it was interesting to see quotes from that book woven throughout and to be able to understand the references. You do not need to have read The Iliad however. Another book brought up a few times was The Count of Monte Cristo, and now I want to read that one more than ever!
I will not soon forget My Last Lament as the characters are so well done here, that their stories will stay with me. This book really surprised me and brought tears to my eyes, along with educating me about Greece’s history.
I think that this book would make for an excellent book club selection, as there is so much to discuss here (characters, history, plot, etc). I highly recommend this book for anyone who loves historical fiction or well-written characters.

Bottom Line: Beautiful and haunting, with unforgettable characters.