Book beginning:
Cassette 1, Side 1
Now let me see. How do I turn this thing on? Oh. Maybe it is on. There's a red light anyway, a little fiery eye in this dark kitchen. I guess I speak into this bit - hello, hello in there. One-two-three-four. I'm just going to rewind and play that back to make sure I'm doing it right, seeing as how all machines are out to humiliate me. Technology means putting a cassette into a recorder, and that's it for me, no comments, please. Okay, everything's okay, though I would never guess that's how I must sound to others, old and croaky, like a geriatric frog.
The speaker, an old woman now, is a former lamenter who is recording her personal history, the old tradition of lamenting, and her memories of WWII in Greece.
Page 56:
...My throat constricted as she said I'd become a little headstrong lately and she'd been meaning to speak to me about that and about my spending so much time with Stelios.
Book description: "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. It's written in the first person, and highlights the Greek folk art of lamenting, its history, and the people who served as "lamenters" and is a `eulogy to a way of life.'"
Memes: The Friday 56. Grab a book, turn to page 56 or 56% of your eReader. Find any sentence that grabs you. Post it, and add your URL post in Linky at Freda's Voice. Also visit Book Beginning at Rose City Reader.
