Customer Reviews

Carved in Stone : The Greek Heritage

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

You'd have to be carved out of stone not to be touched by Basil Douros's heartfelt story of his family's migration from Greece to America almost a century ago. The Odyssey of the Douropoulos family comprises passion, drama, bloodshed, high sea adventures, courage, endurance and humour in equal measures. Douros writes vividly of the tumultuous transition from the old world to the new, of how despite the economic advantages of America, his relatives still longed in their hearts to smell the wild herbs crushed beneath their footsteps as they climbed the stony mountains of their war-ravaged birthplace. Migrants built America and they built Australia too. The Douros story is universal. I've been a migrant twice in my life and I just loved this book.

While Douros's fine effort will have special meaning for members of the Greek Diaspora and their offspring in the U.S., this story of his family's history, emigration and assimilation will resonate with anyone whose family members came to the U.S. to seek their fortune and to breath free. While my family went through this process coming from Asia Minor under somewhat different circumstances than Douros's family, and wound up in New York City rather than in Douros's Boston, all of the characters and situations have a very familiar ring as the Greek culture and religion barely miss a beat crossing the Atlantic and landing in America, where the village ways reluctantly begin to loosen their grip, at first to the bolder members of the clan and then, over time, to the others. The book is richly written and an easy, fast read. Really very well done. Bravo!

Carved in Stone holds deep significance as a story of ideas. The ideas were different in those days. They were thrust on each generation by the one before. Simple prejudices and tastes could almost not be helped. This book's voice rings in our ears in a way to give us insight into the world of decades past. It is a mystery that we have survived at all without knowing our stories, yet many people today have done so. Carved in Stone gives us the opportunity to live vicariously through it's characters to long to know our own ancestors.

Very lively, interesting and heart-touching story. Couldn't help but have my respect and admiration for my ancestors brought to new heights of awareness and appreciation. Very skillfully told account of a part of life that deserves to be remembered.

This is a well-written story of one man's Greek heritage and the struggles and heartaches of emigrating to the U.S. This was obviously a labor of love and respect, and the characters are skillfully brought to life. I had a hard time putting it down and would recommend it highly.

This book looks back into the Greek ancestry of the author and brings us up to the time of Greek family immigration into the United States. The experiences of the author are vivid memories which many readers will relate to. It is easy reading.

I purchased this book to gain insight into the experience of Greek immigrants as research for a project of my own. While it provided the information I was looking for, it was difficult to get through. I have less problem with Douros' skills as a writer as I do with the job of his editor and publisher. They could have done a better job of bringing this book up to snuff.