Customer Reviews

The Last Day of Paradise

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Kiki Deni's book is a solid literary work for scholars of the Mediterranean pride-, honor-, shame-, blood-, kinship-, and gender- notions. It locates the "unbearable lightness of being" in soft touches and promises; heavy consciences and losses. The writer's Edenic wanderings are diachronic: it is only at the end we realize that the last day is, indeed, the first day of paradise.

Great parallel plots. A very refreshing, original book about relationships given in a humorous way; highly recommend it. Very theatrical, felt I was watching the 'My Fat Greek wedding' all over
again.

This is a wonderfully polyphonic , flawlessly crafted novel. Robustly written , marvelosly Greek ( with death of innocence as a backdrop ).
For me , personally , if after I finished to read a book , I want to read it again - than it's a great one , it is a Literature . It was like this with Markes's "A hundred years of solitude" and 'Love in the time of cholera". It's was like this with Kundera's "Immortality". It is the case with "Last day of Paradise". I like this book , I just can't help it.

ruslan khais

I absolutely enjoyed reading this book! Once I had started, I couldn't put it down. I loved the humorous, witty and sometimes sarcastic language which Kiki Denis uses to portray the lives of an older generation of Greeks. I often found myself laughing aloud at the hillarious descriptions of certain characters' daily routines ( see Mr Calliga's scatological experience). I believe Kiki Denis is a very talented writer and I highly recommend her book.

A captivating book that celebrates life with all its joy and conflicts written with sharp, honest humor that has no mercy for petty behavior and social conventions. It will make you laugh all the way, touch your heart when you least expect it and keep you turning the pages looking for more!

The language is over-simplified
and repetitive. No sophisticated and/or between-line images.
It gave me a general disappointment about current generation's interests and world outlook. Not bad for the first book though...

Apart from the rough language and the funny situations dispersed
in the plot that make the book an easy and entertaining read,
the philosophy and the writer's thoughts are underlined making it also a great literature.

KiKi Denis has the talent to deliver thoughts and ideas in an entertaining way.
The book is philosophical, humorous, and - at times - warm, without being heavy or sentimental.
Sunday's voice is fresh, cool, non-pretentious, full of wit. A very graphical book I couldn't put down.

Strongly hilarious and witty. I had great anecdotal empathy for Kiriaki, since I come from a similarly dysfuctional Greek background. Yet, Greek or not, one can relate to this book. An excellent read.

The Last Day of Paradise is a captivating novel by Kiki Denis about a Greek teenage girl from Northern Greece who discovers that her biological father is not the one that raised her and is confronted with the complex implications that affect her life as a result of such revelation. The social, cultural and psychological dynamics of a small community Greek family are the backdrop for a story charged with passion, sex, hypocricy and betrayal. It is bitter-sweet, funny and tragic at the same time using a rough language that sets the mood right from the start. Fast-moving references between present and past are delicately crafted. Overall witty, refreshing and provocative.