The next review "Still Life in Crete" by Anthony Cox is available on paper or as a E-book PDF download direct from the internet.  Whilst PDF books are not everyone's fancy they are easy to download, exceptionally easy to navigate and the contents can be enlarged at will - a boon for people with sight difficulties.
Title: Still Life In Crete: Author: Anthony Cox.
Publisher: Universal Publishers.  ISBN 1-58112-691-3
Published 2001.  PDF Price $5 (About 3.50GB Pounds).
Paperback Version $12.95 (About 9.95GB Pounds).
Source. inkmonitor.com & uPUBLISH.com 
First 25 pages Free Net Download.    



Still Life In Crete: The Review.

This is a story about an early retirement to Crete - this time to upper half of the village of Afrata in North Western Crete, now becoming one of the most written about mountain villages on the island, whose residents could well become more famous than the stars of Emmerdale Farm!  The story of how Anthony Cox and his partner Susan Forbes and their two pug dogs arrived here in the late 1990's and spent much of the year 2000 supervising the building a new home for themselves is an interesting read.  Probably a 'must' for anyone contemplating a similar move from an England no longer living up to personal expectations and in search of a new garden of Eden, or perhaps Utopia, while not really knowing where that is. 

In his book Tony Cox graphically describes the difficulties involved in finding that address.

His experience of buying a house in Kennington, South London, a small, 'virtually' detached ex-grace and favour detached house in an area where the 'streets around were noisy, dirty and violent;' where Lambeth was the 'notorious' local council; where the house was burgled; his new car 'destroyed by passing incendiarists;' and where he and his partner were 'abusively' threatened by a woman they found urinating on their front door step!!  Their decision to leave led them to Essex an ancient thatched cottage in six acres whose initial irresistibility 'not least because there were no other houses nearby' became too cramped, with insufficient space for books and pictures; surrounded by flat farmland full of brassicas; which cramped their lifestyle and where the absence of neighbours - 'appealing at first' - emphasized a sense of isolation.  Added to that Tony Cox describes the surrounding villages as full of 'retired bungalow dwelling townies' with few locals; inadequate public transport; and where the locals had never heard of Gypsy Court or the previous owner, whose family had apparently lived for for more than 50 years and from whose garden the former owner had 'watched the battle of Britain.'  At which point the knowledge that the move to Gypsy Court 'had been a mistake' apparently clarified.

Who wouldn't want to move?  Especially to the sunlit Mediterranean....

Still life goes on to describe their first arrival on Crete on holiday seeking a new home; almost despairing finding their place in the sun; almost deciding after finding it that maybe they were wrong; to their move to Afrata; the real exploration of their new localities; new insights - not always pleasing; to the building of their new home on the edge of and above the village.

Some of the descriptions of bumping into a rogue travel agent; their brief stay in Chania; and village life, particularly of the filoxenia experienced, being made welcome; invited to meals; gifts of food; swept into the wine-treading of the Platsakis family in Afrata make good reading.  Other parts of my reading of the book I found somewhat less endearing.

Still Life describes some of the surrounding towns and villages in terms which detract from the better parts of the book. Kastelli is described in one part as 'Drab' in another as '..an untidy, flyblown place shabby here, smarter there, but mostly tired looking and dirty.'  and 'If this was a resort, then so was Gravesend!' although a few sentences later justifies this by saying that perhaps the point had been missed at first and that its charm 'it's only charm' was that it had managed to remain ordinary.  Kolimbari - the nearest village eastwards of Afrata is 'a nondescript place initially notable only for it's perilous crossroads.'  Even Afrata does not escape with it's 'scruffy central square' although that may be better than the treatment of the next village southwards above Afrata, Astratigos.  Astratigos, Still Life says, means 'A place without a general' adding 'the place seemed to be without nearly everything else as well.'  Comments which drew me to wondering about the two previous English homes described by the author - and why on earth he had chosen to settle in the area.

Likewise, a noticeable theme is that of not wanting to be close  to 'foreign' neighbours, whether originating from 'Essen or Essex'.  An odd remark for an Englishman in Greece!!  The apparently setting himself apart from 'foreigners' to me seemed to read 'those who are not Greek.'  A rejection of anyone not Greek who lives here. Though I may be mistaken.  This somewhat inconsistent overt dislike of living near 'foreigners' whilst at the same time attributing to them a rejection of tourists, which he and his partner apparently did not share, (What if the tourist buys the house next door?) is consistently inconsistent!  It detracts from the book.  

As a reader what I wanted to read about (and certainly did in the better parts) was an Englishman and his partner conquering a new land.  A hero I could identify with.  What this part of the book gave me was a feeling that only the author had the right to conquer, and any thoughts that another Englishman (French, German, Italian or whatever)  might entertain would not gain this particular authors approval.  He didn't seem to know about those 'foreigners' already present.

When he eventually asks a taverna-owner 'Are there any foreigners in the village'?  He learns of an arriving German who has a Swiss daughter; Americans; French; Bulgarians(10) ; a kurd; an Englishman; two English holiday homers!  And in other parts of the book names two Englishmen - one with a wife - in Astratigos and English people in another nearby village one of whom 'said that she had lectured at the London college from which I had retired.'

Distracting too is the name dropping and information about what could have been.  For me it seems quite irrelevant to the book that the author could once have had the desk at 'The Times' that Ian Fleming (of 007 fame) had once held.  The mention of Sir Roger de Grey and his onetime comment about Tony Cox's work 'being nearly very good' I think must have been related to art and seemed a bit self-congratulatory; the suggestion by Robert Fulgrum - the American writer we may not have all heard of - that Tony Cox write a book (presumably this one) likewise distracted me from better parts of the book itself. 

Certainly I think that it detracted from the bit about 'Other passers by...' in the same part - especially 'Jesper a Danish Sexologist' whose professional 'interest seemed fraught with the potential for fatal misunderstanding'.  This sounded much more interesting and humorous......... maybe even dangerously adventurous!  Tell me more........!!

I found one or two of the anecdotes a bit worn and sometimes similar to those by other authors writing about Crete, which creates the occasional impression of 'nothing new' and flatulent dogs are only funny, I think, if the flatulence is not inflated!  Mind you, sharing a cabin with such whilst sailing down the Adriatic probably demands a very good sense of humour!

There is some good stuff in this book, some nice writing.  Some first-hand personal experiences with Cretan people; the oil smeared Citroen 2CV trip from Dover to Kastelli; ensnared by the taverna tout in Chania; looking for property in the village of Drapanias; Kyriacos Platsakis of Afrata collecting his money in cash at the bank; the filoxenia experienced from people they met; the discovery that not all Cretans are nice all of the time; the building of a new house..... 

Experiences shared with the rest of us rather than kept for private consumption.

I am aware that it may be easier to offer opinion rather than create a book in the first place.  But this book I found difficult.  So much so that I obtained brief opinion from several other readers.  Two rejected the book within the first 25 pages.  Two would say only that they had read it!  Two didn't like it.  One has failed to return it.  Maybe the latter is the one that matters.  There may well be a considerable number who have read the book and like it very much.  I read the book half a dozen times and each time I felt differently about it, from a first time "Misunderstood" to the last, to steal Tony Cox's quoted saying by sir Roger de Grey for my own use - I think that the book "is nearly very good!"  The PDF version is a very good price at $5.

Perhaps not all of this book suited me all of the time!  Some parts I liked a lot; some parts I didn't.  Get the first 25pages free and make your own mind up.  It's a good offer.

Note: Tony Cox and his partner Susan sold their house in Afrata a few months after it's completion.  I believe that they now live in Athens, but can of course still be contacted via the publishers.

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