Customer Reviews

Farewell Alexandria

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

 

 

Farewell Alexandria, by Derek Flower, is a treat in more ways than one. Steeped in the juices of international history, flavored with the unadulterated ambition of its main characters, it is brought to a rolling boil as it chronicles the story of three generations of one family.

Whisking the reader on a worldwide tour from Egypt to Ethiopia, from London and Paris to New York City the multiple plots in this narrative are filled with everything from boardroom treachery to the innocence of first love to downright torrid sex. (Visualize the Onassis family joined through marriage with the J.R. Ewing clan and you'll get the picture).

The one minor complaint I have is that there are so many characters (both primary and secondary) that the author could have made his readers life a bit easier by selecting more diverse names for his players. (Why with all the names in the world call one character Julius and another Julian?). Perhaps it was the author's way of assuring that the reader is paying attention.

Overall I must say that once I got 40 pages into this book, Derek Flowers had me literally hooked and I couldn't wait to turn each page to discover what cruel twists of fate destiny had in store for each of his characters. This is a book crying out for Hollywood to bring it to the silver screen, but while you wait for the film version, give yourself a treat and buy the book.

After reading Farewell Alexandria, by Derek Flower, I am exceedingly impressed. Derek Flower has lived in Egypt, France, and Italy. He has an Honors Degree in Modern Languages and speaks English, Italian, and French. He has three fiction and three non-fiction titles to his name. Currently he resides just outside of Rome with his wife.

Although a work of fiction, many of the background accounts in the story are factual, accounting international history. A family saga, of sorts, this memoir follows a family through three generations over a span of eighty years- beginning with the birth of Antor Caspardian, to his son, George, his daughter, MaryAnn, and grandchildren, Nelson, Jemima, and A.J. It relates the elation of love, the devastation of loss, and the rise from poverty to the power wealth can bring; all amidst the economical and political history he lays out.

The book had a few editing issues such as: misplaced and/or needed commas, and misspellings. Overall, there were few, and was not a distraction while reading. Following all of the secondary characters could be, at times, a bit difficult to keep straight. In my opinion, the book should have been published in hard cover.

In saying that, I cannot possibly conjure enough positive adjectives to describe this book. It was so eloquently written that I found myself completely immersed in the story-line from page one. The characters were not only believable and relatable, but you felt as if you've known them your entire life. The pure ambition of the characters, along with the adventure and intrigue written, were a true testament to the human spirit and the force that drives us all. Beginning and ending the book in the same place, with the same character, only added leverage. It was extremely difficult to put down. I, at no time, lost interest, nor did I find any dead spots. It was not predictable in any form. The mixture of emotions that floods your system, from rage, fury, and wrath, to delight, amusement, and euphoria, engage you in this assault from the first chapter. Readers can take with them a history and cultural lesson they will not soon forget. This was a heartbreaking, bittersweet, and poignant tale; one that will stay with me for a long time. I need not say that I hope to find more titles from him in the future, as I know there will be.

Kelly Moran,
Author and Reviewer

I would have given the book 5 stars but for the bold print used. This is not good for long reading sessions and hard on the eyes. But the story is grand. It's an epic. Like most epics, it's a saga of a grand family that takes us from it's beginning to a nice ending.

It's full of adventure and intrigue. You'll read lots of ambitious tales, which such a saga would be incomplete without.

I found it a great novel and well worth the read.

Highly recommended.

-Susanna K. Hutcheson

Farewell Alexandria is a novel spanning multiple generations, set in Egypt, London, Paris, and New York, among other global locations. Following Julius Caspar, a billionaire oil tycoon from his work as a bank clerk in the Mediterranean to his attempts to win love at a young age to amassment of wealth and power, Farewell Alexandria is a tale of destiny, as well as reflection when old age and the shadow of death come to claim their due. An enthralling modern saga, highly recommended.

Antor Caspardian is a famous man, a self-made businessman who has rubbed elbows with world leaders. He is someone whose advice is sought by heads of countries where political conflicts and wars have arisen. He lived a full and complicated life and in this book "Farewell Alexandria" we learn the details of his multifaceted personality and the many events which culminated in his status as a world businessman, a man who stepped upon the world stage and became a major player. Yet, hidden within his life are secrets which only he and those very close to him know. On a personal level, perhaps all the fame and fortune he acquired can not cover up the pain and losses he experienced to achieve success. He never married the one true love of his life ... yet he had two children, a son and daughter by two different women one of whom he loved on a very deep and personal level. He learns he has children, when they are nearly adults. This is the one major source of his personal pain, he can not reveal he is their father due to their social situation and his own status. Later, they *do* learn who their real father is ... which has consequences in their lives that no one can anticipate.

The seeds for his major successes in life and his personal pain were sown and grew in Alexandria, Egypt where he lived prior to World War I. He is the son of immigrant parents, who came from Turkey to achieve economic freedom. His father began as a carpenter and became a furniture artisan, famous for the high quality of his creations. He built up a thriving business. They are Catholic and Antor was sent to a private Catholic school where he was a very gifted student. Rather than pursue his studies in Italy on a scholarship, Antor became apprenticed to an accountant. Antor realized money and social status were related to power. Those who gained wealth became powerful and were politically connected, respected. They led very different lives than the majority of Alexandria's citizens. He wanted this for himself. The drive to achieve success in business and gain respect and power were his major ambitions in life. With his accounting background, he examined which banks were well connected to the business families of Alexandria, that is where he applied for a job and was hired. Antor became accepted by the Wirsa family who did high level business with his bank. He met their daughter, Marguerite, and fell head over heels in love with her. Antor sensed she felt the same. Her parents tolerated his social visits but they had higher social and business related ambitions for her marriage. He pursued his interest in her but fate turned against him. Marguerite was taken to Europe by her parents and quickly married to the man her parents favored. Unknown to Antor, she carried his child, unknown to her husband, the child was fathered by someone else ... The timing was so close, it was easy to deceive them all.

Antor's business connections and relationships prospered within Alexandria. He put aside his personal pain and applied his energies to his work. He learned money is what counted and if you had enough, the world can be yours. He met a woman who taught him about social relations and how to cultivate the rich and famous. He learned even more about the art of seduction and what women wanted from a man. As time passed, some of his businesses failed, he turned to new avenues of making money. His connections to the Italians and the Jewish merchants vanished due to events which would erupt into World War II. Even his associatons with the British Army took a turn for the worse. Yet, he managed to maintain relations with the King of Egypt and his business relations began to prosper again. He dealt in Egyptian cotton and later scrap metal. He diverted funds to Swiss acounts. In the mid-1950s he got in early on a deal with a pharmaceutical company which went world wide. One of his rivals in this arena was a young entrepeneur named George Cristofides, a banker and up and coming world-wide businessman. The reader will appreciate the unexpected twists and turns in this story about the business and personal relations which arise due to this association.

The story and plot are epic in scope and contain deep caverns that are examined and in which unexpected events take on new meaning as the author so cleverly ties together the personal love life of Antor Caspardian with the world business events that seem to rule his life. One day, he realizes that blood is thicker than water. He comes to appreciate the family and children that he never knew existed after they enter his life. This is a complicated book which includes a vast amount of recent history as its backdrop and which reveals a twisted tale of success on a world scale with lessons that reveal the high price paid for acheiving power and political success. This is a most engaging novel with excellent plots and twists which will keep the reader fully engaged from start to finish. Erika Borsos [pepper flower]