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KoulaAuthor: Menis Koumandareas Translator: Kay Cicellis Greek Literature Series December 2005 88 pages, 5 x 7 Dimensions: Paperback, 1-56478-406-1 Retail Paperback Price: Our Paperback Price: $9.56—20% OFF! 
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Book Description
At its heart, Koula is the story of an improbable love affair. It is the story of Koula, a middle-aged married woman who falls in love with a young man that she meets routinely on the subway ride home to her husband and kids. Attracted to older women (in fact, he occasionally accepts money to sleep with them), the young man in question introduces Koula to a different life than she's used to, a life filled with cigarettes, seedy bars, and illicit meetings in a rundown apartment.
Filmed for Greek television, Koula is a stylistically bold book that ranges in tone as it charts the emotional fluctuations of these two characters, fully capturing their interior lives, from the anticipation surrounding their meeting to the dissolution of their affair.
About the Author
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Menis Koumandareas was born in Athens, Greece in 1931. Though he began writing early, he spent many years earning a living by working for insurance and shipping companies. His first book, Pinball Machines was published in 1962. Three-time winner of the Greek National Book Award, Koumandareas is considered one of the leading writers in contemporary Greece. He has translated works by Poe, Melville, Faulkner, and Fitzgerald, among others, into his native language; his own works have been translated into six languages. Koula is his first book available in the United States. |
About the Translator
| Kay Cicellis (1926-2001) was a novelist, short-story writer, and translator. Born to Greek parents in Marseilles in 1926, she traveled extensively throughout her life and spent many years abroad. Author of the novels No Name in the Street and Ten Seconds from Now, she also wrote feature programs for the BCC and Greek Radio. Her work has been translated into German, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Greek. |
Praise
"Even the most demanding reader of the book will find and enjoy therein the various and valuable threads that artfully, with remarkable economy are woven around and within the brief encounter of the two ill-matched lovers."—Alexis Ziras, Journal ANTI"Thousands of love stories are published every year, but Koula is much more than a simple love story. It's a book about remarkable characters written by an author who's absolutely sure of his abilities, his style. This novel is unforgettable, touching, and gripping as the melancholic end draws near."—Adonis Papadopoulos, author of Swimming Toward Atlantis