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Title details for Let Me Explain You by Annie Liontas - Available

Let Me Explain You

by Annie Liontas
Robertson Dean
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
A "big rollicking, tender novel with a truly original comic voice at its center" (George Saunders), Let Me Explain You is about a Greek American family and its patriarch - - part Zorba, part King Lear- - and announces the arrival of a significant new voice in contemporary literature. Let Me Explain You begins with a letter: Stavros Stavros Mavrakis, Greek immigrant and proud owner of the Gala Diner in New Jersey, believes he has just ten days left to live. He sends a scathing email to the estranged ex-wife and three grown daughters, outlining his wishes for how they each might better their lives. He then prepares for his final hours and wonders why he is alone. With varying degrees of laughter and scorn, his family and friends have dismissed his behavior as nothing more than a predictable plea for attention, but when Stavros really does disappear, those closest to him are forced to confront the possibility of his death and the realities of their loss. A vibrant tour de force told from multiple perspectives and driving to a surprising conclusion, Let Me Explain You eulogizes Stavros Stavros, turning in part of his realization that "a man spends his whole life trying to say it better," while giving necessary voice to the women in his life. This multigenerational novel explores our origins and family myths, reinvention and forgiveness, hunger and what feeds us. Let Me Explain You is a beautifully told, heartfelt story, and its meditations on the communal power of story telling and family— most notably the relationship between fathers and daughters, but also the complex bond of sisterhood – are at turns and deeply moving.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    July 14, 2015

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781622317646
      • File size: 311410 KB
      • Duration: 10:48:46

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Stavros Mavrakis has a nightmare about a goat. The next day a goat appears in his New Jersey diner. Stavros is convinced it's an omen and that he's going to die in 10 days. Narrator Robertson Dean makes the growling, coarse, often crude Stavros as appealing as possible. Dean faithfully delivers Stavros's infuriating behaviors, patriarchal tyranny, and biting comments and shines when expressing Stavros's wry outsider's observations. He deftly creates Stavros's second-generation Greek-American daughters, late wife, and black mistress with the slightest shifts in voice and attitude. The story is engaging with its inevitable immigrant-curmudgeon/next-gen conflict and thoughtful reflections about ethnicity and family. But it's Dean's sensitive performance that keeps the novel from slipping into caricature. S.J.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      June 22, 2015
      Liontas's often raucous debut about a dysfunctional Greek-American family opens with Stavros Stavros Mavrakis's email to his three daughters and second ex-wife. After the Goat of Death appears to him, he believes he has 10 days to live. The proud, successful Stavros seethes with anger, and in broken English gives edicts to his family and insults them, shifting any blame away from himself, thereby assuring that his email is received in the worst possible way. Backstory about his early life on Crete and his first years in America with his first wife pinpoints the origin of his rage and the troubles he visits upon his two eldest daughters. Lacking parental support, Stavroula becomes a successful chef, but in her private life an unfed need leaves her hungry. Litza, the middle daughter, unwittingly offered herself as a pawn in her parents' disastrous divorce, and became a hot, angry mess. The youngest daughter, Ruby, from Stavros's second marriage, is the golden child. Liontas adds tremendously to the novel's ambiance through Stavros's idiomatic language, expertly reveals the layers of her characters' lives, and perfectly captures their emotional temperatures in an unputdownable read. Agent: David McCormick, McCormick and Williams.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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