In the Great Fire of Smyrna (1922), Kivelli lost everything: her family, her friends, her social position, and her future. Stranded in the Greek city of Piraeus, populated by gangsters, prostitutes, fortune-tellers and other refugees, she finds herself living in the broom closet of a brothel. Luckily, the sound of her singing voice captures the attention of a local taverna owner, who suggests she come with him and perform for his customers. Kivelli's time at the bar is short-lived, but gives way to a recording career and her slow climb up the economic and social ladder of this foreign city. Although life is certainly better for her no longer the object of an auction at a brothel, no longer a singer in a disreputable taverna Kivelli misses the magical world of her youth in the great port city of Smyrna.
The Goodtime Girl
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About the Author
Tess Fragoulis is the author of two works of fiction, including the short story collection Stories to Hide from Your Mother, which was a finalist for the Quebec Writers Federation First Book Prize in 1998. Born in Crete, she has also lived in Holland and Toronto. She now lives in Montreal, where she teaches part-time at Concordia University.
Tess Fragoulis is the author of two works of fiction, including the short story collection Stories to Hide from Your Mother, which was a finalist for the Quebec Writers Federation First Book Prize in 1998. Born in Crete, she has also lived in Holland and Toronto. She now lives in Montreal, where she teaches part-time at Concordia University.
Tess Fragoulis is the author of two works of fiction, including the short story collection Stories to Hide from Your Mother, which was a finalist for the Quebec Writers Federation First Book Prize in 1998. Born in Crete, she has also lived in Holland and Toronto. She now lives in Montreal, where she teaches part-time at Concordia University.
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Ivan
Format:Paperback
The rich descriptive language is one of The Goodtime Girl's best features and the writing is best when it conjures unexpected and original images, e.g. Kivelli the protagonist wanting to toss her memories in the street like butchered meat. Structurally it's accomplished too, the way it sticks largely to Piraeus but takes us back to Smyrna at key moments. There's an effective sense of mounting dread as I was awaiting her eyewitness account of the Catastrophe, and when it comes, it's vivid and textured. It took me a while to like Kivelli, but when out of the blue she commits an act of wanton recklessness, I was hooked, because she surprised me, and so became a real and complex person. All this to say the book certainly comes off as a labour of love, the labour and love shining through.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By ToLenio
Format:Paperback
Wonderful read bringing to life the rough streets of Pireaus in the 1920's. Fragoulis' imagery sweeps you away, leads you through a mezmerizing long lost world and deposits you at the end of the book somewhat lost as to how to fill your days again.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By mouthnoise
Format:Paperback
The language, the tone, and the beguiling imagery will hook you from the first pages, sweeping you away to a sensual otherworld of steamy, hashish-scented clubs and brothels where music is the outlet for traumatic loss and thwarted love. Its a place you won't want to leave.
Most recent customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating historical novel re: Fall of Smyrna, Rembetiko music, Love...
This novel fulfills every requirement for a good read: literate, literary (in how she uses language to evoke time, place and mood), descriptive through poignant and concise analogy... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Niki
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Goodtime Girl Offers a Goodtime....and More
A marvelous read,an interesting exploration of what it's like to be refugees, and an astounding story about women who must write.
Published 9 months ago by Mary Soderstrom
4.0 out of 5 stars
Important new novel by a significant Montreal writer honours the...
To my shame, I started reading Tess Fragoulis's new book, The Goodtime Girl, utterly ignorant of what Wikipedia calls 'The Great Fire of Smyrna or the Catastrophe of Smyrna,' an... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Beverly Akerman
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