Patty from Petroula
Short Stories | Kastaniotis Publications | 1996
Patty the widow, the mistress of a married man, Takis, the greatest Casanova of the town; the worldly nun Evgenia, whom no nunnery accepted; the confession of the wife-killer Kitsos; a Saturday visit to a strip club in Vardari; an incident in the life of Tolis Kazantzis; Crazy Yannos, who is a voyeur and gropes young girls; Maria, who has been preparing herself for her husband’s funeral for the past ten years…
Seventeen simple stories written between 1989 and 1994 in Thessaloniki.
Short-listed for the Prize of the Emerging Writer of Diavazo magazine
This book is available in Hebrew translation too.
Critical Reviews
“The book is full of pithy descriptions and written in an intensely humorous tone. The author has paid considerable attention to representing the idiomatic expressions and manner of speaking of his characters, elements that present a novel approach to observing and capturing the morals and manners of life in the city.”
Alexis Ziras, Dictionary of Modern Greek Literature, Patakis Publications, 2007
“We are talking about a series of brief and light short stories that make one laugh out loud even when they deal with topics that are disagreeable […] It is a wonderful book!”
Be You magazine, October 1997
“The anthropological framework of Tsitas’s stories is defined by the petit-bourgeois neighborhoods of Thessaloniki or by their nearby rural towns, while the heroines and heroes he crafts are ordinary and familiar. Tsitas seems to possess a rather attentive pair of ears. Because he assimilates into his narration several idiolects: folk and youth slang, as well as trade-union expressions.”
Michelle Fais, Eleftheros Typos newspaper, 28/09/97
“…these are seventeen stories that are as lively as they are simple.”
Tilekontrol magazine, 13/09/97
“This is an uninhibited narration that becomes, at several points, catalytic. This kind of narration perfectly fits the lively figures and moments that parade through this book.”
Vangelis Athanasopoulos, Diavazo magazine, June 1997
“This is a well-written book. What the author wants to say, he says brilliantly. He essentially wants to describe life through humor and he manages to do so. And really, nothing more is needed: the greatest art is to know how to say a lot yet say only little, while the greatest narrative technique is to say just a few things and never omit the ones that are most important.”
Dinos Christianopoulos, Adesmeftos Typos newspaper, 18/12/96
“Makis Tsitas’s asset is solid prose […] In their ignorance, Tsitas’s protagonists remain entirely responsible for their deeds. This is a tremendous prize for the reader in a century of sleepwalking and flight.”
Giannis Plachouris, O Logos newspaper, 17/11/96
“In a rather singular way, the author manages to offer through his characters a graphic representation of contemporary Greek society.”
The Student Newspaper, November 1996
“Makis Tsitas clearly has all the perequisites needed by a literary talent”
Manos Kontoleon, Avgi tis Kyriakis newspaper, 25/08/96
“These seventeen shorts stories by the emerging author emanate humor and simplicity, and they establish an emotional bond between the reader and the heroes of the book. The characters, all of whom are graphically represented, become unexpectedly familiar and self-revealing.”
Danny Pierrou, Einai magazine, 06/08/96
“These seventeen shorts stories by the emerging author emanate humor and simplicity, and they establish an emotional bond between the reader and the heroes of the book. The characters, all of whom are graphically represented, become unexpectedly familiar and self-revealing.”
Politika Themata magazine, 26/07/96
“With this book Makis Tsitas lays an important foundation for the future.”
Filippos Filippou, Anti magazine, 05/07/96
“This is the first book of an author who was born only in 1971, and the bet seems to have been won.”
Nikos Bakounakis, Men magazine, June 1996
“A young, talented writer presents his first book.”
Perseas Athineos, Eleftheri Ora newspaper, 16/05/96
“The characters are powerful, real, and they captivate the reader, making you think that they are familiar to you […] Makis Tsitas (born in 1971) wrote these stories between 1989 and 1994. With this initial sample of writing, he declares the birth of an author.”
Titina Danelli, Rizospastis newspaper, 16/05/96
“Makis Tsitas’s seventeen short stories produce two emotions that every written story aspires to offer: entertainment and impatience for the next page as one keeps reading.”
Kostas Neofotistos, Politika Themata, 10/05/06
“The seventeen short stories of Makis Tsitas’s collection are equipped with an expressive straightforwardness, and very often they represent the linguistic code of today’s youth […] You get the impression that all Tsitas is narrating couldn’t have happened unless in these very neighborhoods, populated by these very people.”
Dimitris Daskalopoulos, Ta Nea newspaper, 07/05/96
“This is a book that is alive, a book that contains humor and smooth, comfortable language, which the younger generations in particular, as well as ages more advanced in terms of expression and thought, will like equally.”
Michalis Panas, To onoma newspaper, 27/04/96
“Makis Tsitas’s short stories are delightful and original […] the heroines and heroes of this book are absolutely ordinary and, at the same time, absolutely extraordinary people. This is precisely what makes them charming; the fact that they manage to combine the self-evident with the irrational, the acceptable with the unacceptable, logic with madness… And because the author has found the key that unlocks their hearts, but also because he has a good command of the way in which to pleasantly convey their thoughts, words, and deeds on paper.”
Kosmas Vidos, Slides magazine, Summer 1996