Review: Life Can Be Bittersweet When Not Viewed Realistically
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 29, 2012
This story is written in first person through Angela, a psychic counselor and teacher, moonlighting in a metaphysical store.  Throughout the story, she refers to the metaphysical knowledge she has.  From high school on, she had been seeking her "Adonis" and although she had several slight crushes,  nothing ever worked out.  Then she met this beautiful, young Greek man, Stavros, who had immigrated here from Greece. They met at Barnes and Noble where they both worked while she was studying for her Masters.  Angela and Stavros were two extremely immature young people and for four years they adored each other, living as a couple.  Whatever Angela wanted him to be, he was or became.  They developed cute little customs of notes or letters declaring their love.  Both of them loved to read and Angela managed to find second hand furniture and made them comfortable living quarters.  She hated teaching and as the story proceeded, any time Angela was faced with a situation which she disliked, she cried buckets of tears or she turned to some metaphysical practice, which allowed her to escape from reality, not realizing these practices were to help her manage her reality.Stavros had a good background.  His mother, Sophia, had died eleven months before and he had been extremely close to her.  His father, Georgius, was a gynecologist in Greece and so long as Stavros resided in Greece, his father supported him.  Consequently, money meant nothing to him and Angela took care of the finances and sometime it frustrated her when Stavros wanted to spend more money than was available.  But she always gave in, afraid that she would lose him. Even though they lived together prior to marriage, Angela was sure they would defy statistics and be together forever.  Stavros had a natural ability to write poetry, but no actual vocation.  Finally Stavros gave Angela an engagement ring and she felt her future was so bright.  Suddenly the reader is told that her wedding is to be in Greece and only a few of Angela's relatives are able to attend there.  But most of Stavros family will be there and his father had already started inviting people.Angela and her girlfriend Liana had traveled to Greece when in their twenties and Angela felt she was a Greek at heart.  Stavros family had a house on Crete.  Angela had visions of how she wanted her wedding to be, but couldn't find out how Greek weddings were except for what she could find out on the internet.  The story does not say that she made any great effort to find out directly from Stavros family or asked Stavros to find out.  But Stavros does tell her that it is a Greek tradition to complete a year of mourning without any celebration.  At the time when they had picked the date, Sophia was still alive and Angela felt they couldn't change it because her folks wouldn't be able to attend.  When she and Stavros flew to Greece, she met Stavros' family for the first time, including Georgius with his steeped traditions.  Apparently when Angela and Liana had visited Greece before, they didn't realize the totally dominant nature of Greek men when they are head of the house and Georgius is distant and hostile to Angela and her family.  Since Angela has never had to deal with a different culture, she is forever upset because Georgius is in charge of the wedding arrangements, he is paying for it and he does it his way, and it does appear that there is malicious intent behind many of his actions.  But none of his children, including Stavros attempt to change his plans or complain in any manner.  From then on through the balance of the story, even though it passes the point where Georgius has any control of their lives, Angela lets him mentally and emotionally haunt her.This novel is well written and is an indepth study of Angela and Stavros and what Angela assumes Georgius' intentions are in ruining her life.  Because of the candidness in revealing Angela's thoughts and actions, the story can be a little disconcerting and depressing.  And yet, as a reviewer, I commend the author on her forthrightness of such revelations because they couldn't have been easy.  This romance is different than the stereotype romance one usually finds and I do recommend this novel.