Greek / Greece
Tē nychta pu esbēsan t‘ asteria
(The night when the stars went out)
Papatheodōru, Basilēs
(Papatheodorou, Vasilis)
(text)
Athēna: Kastaniōtēs, 2018. – 232 p.. – 232 p.
ISBN 978-960-03-6464-4
Rape | Murder | Prejudice | Ostracising | Guilt | Dishonesty
Reading age: 14+
White Ravens issue: 2019
On a cold Friday in January, Lena, a 12th grader, was raped and murdered. Apart from a few people who are deeply shocked, most of her family and friends, as well as several other people, indulge in mutual recriminations, struggle with feelings of guilt, cover up or expose poisoned family relationships, bitch about Lena’s attractiveness, openly suspect foreigners, or hypocritically expatiate the case on social media platforms. The plot unfolds through nine characters’ monologues, in which it becomes apparent that this is not just about physical violence. In an unvarnished and powerful language, the skilful narrative mirrors the moral instability and socio-political deficits of the petit bourgeois atmosphere in a Greek metropolis. Vassilis Papatheodorou is one of Greece’s most renowned authors of children’s and youth literature. His novel was awarded the 2019 teenage book prize by the magazine “o anagnostis”.