Sorry, Wrong Country

THIS WAS GREAT!! So raw, so raucous, so damn witty. Hilarious and thought provoking. Over 200 pages, almost 40 piercing little look-see tales from the strange and somber side of Greece. The waywards, the nutters, the naysayers, the downtroddens, the optimists, the pessimists, the losts and never foundsComplied over a period of 8 years, Konstantine observed and documented the strange all around him. Then hand picked a few dozen blossoms, assorted a colorful arrangement, and delivered this most bo [...]

Short stories about the weirdos, the petty-criminals, the desperate. It's amazing how many lives has Konstantine met and kept next to his heart. Apart from exposing Greece's dark alleys to people that may never set foot to, he introduces his personal nature to us. He is not strictly a fictional author, he is a biographer. He has written in ink the lives of people that would never be thought as that important. He has accepted them as what they are and has made them immortal. We can feel actually [...]

If I am honest, I only bought this book because my sister told me I should try reading an actual book. I went through most of the stories while I was dragging myself through the daily commute and they helped pass the time. It didn't bore me and I made it me laugh and I read it all the way through, so that's always a good think in my book.

If I could describe the stories within this book I'd call them "too true". These are the things you'd eventually end up gossiping about, over a cup of coffee, with a friend. You'd laugh, you'd shake your head and deep down inside you'd hope you wont end up in one of them in the future. Sorry, Wrong Country is equal parts funny, touching and (at times) hitting too close to home. This book is, to me, a look back into the bad old days of the early greek crisis. In a way, it reminded me why I couldn [...]

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.This book seems to be very well loved on , so I'm afraid I'm going to have the unpopular opinion this time. While I thought the book was perfectly acceptable, I didn't find myself loving it like other readers.This collection of short stories follows various acquaintances and people the author met while working in Greece during the financial crisis, most stories taking on a light-hearted, humorous feel to them. I thin [...]

In this book Konstantine gives us a bleak picture of Greece during the recession, centered around quirky, unique characters and their stories.Acting as a chronicler of these cream of the crop individuals, he collects their problems, desires, fears, moments of despair and hope and blends them in a mish-mash of fast-paced, gritty short stories that fall into place like puzzle pieces, creating the grater picture.The end result is that the world he builds is larger than the sum of its parts, creates [...]

Full ReviewSorry, Wrong Country is a hilarious and entertaining collection of stories about Greece's misfits. Its insights into the odd characters Konstantine Paradias has met shows an underclass that can't tell that Greece is sinking into destitution, because they're down there already themselves. Highly recommended

I never thought I could enjoy a book placing its characters and describing situations that are so close to current events. Konstantine however manages to add humor and wit to anything he chooses to, making the reader enjoy any story. I found myself smiling and even nodding in agreement at no one, like some sad, crazy old man, talking to the television's panelists.Kostas writes about the mid-crisis daily life in Greece in a way that I believe can make anyone relate to what this country's people a [...]

This book is a raw trip into the gloomy side of the Greek Crisis. Bittersweet,raw and harsh , yet flowing and vivid, it outlines the image of greek antiheroes with all their desires and weaknesses. I loved it!

An entertaining and captivating collection from an accomplsihed storyteller. Wonderful characters and brilliant prose.This is my first experience with Paradias's work and I'm very much impressed. Made up of thirty-nine short stories and one poem, it's a journey through the streets of Greece, a country that, in the author's own words, is "owly but surely slipping off the edge of the First World". This demise is used as the backdrop as the stories are all told from the author's point of view, rela [...]

I received this book from a friend of a friend just to pass the time during guard duty. Read through most of it after midnight so I can't vouch for every story, but I read through the entire thing in a few sittings. Thoroughly recommended.

We spend so much time reading and writing fiction perpetuating the same clichés about life, the universe and everything, that sometimes we forget how truly unbelievably funny and unimitably weird non-fiction stories can be. Well, this story collection with its adorable weirdos is a proper kick in fiction’s crotch. Konstantinos’s style may have been shaped from fiction, and I’m pretty sure (or in a few cases, I just hope) that the lines between memory and imagination in this book were quit [...]

What's the opposite of 'vapid' and 'banal'? It's SORRY, WRONG COUNTRY, Konstantine Paraadias' aavagely, even viciously witty, hysterically funny, brilliantly insightful collection of awesomely acidic anecdotes about his beloved homeland of Greece, and all the weirdos who (more or less) live there.I admit up front, I only started reading this thing because Konstantine is my buddy. I mean, a book about Greece? Seriously? My wife made me watch that Big Fat Wedding movie, isn't that enough? But once [...]

I have read a lot of books, most i liked, some i didn't. The thing that distinguishes a good book from a mediocre one for me is the immersion that i get from it. Which book makes the world go quiet? I dont care about styles of writing or genres, I dont care cwho wrote them or the impact that they have at the rest of the world, the books i love make me forget the heat when outside is hot enough to fry eggs, make me stop noticing the hours that i spent in the public transportations because those w [...]

A country in decline decays only when its citizens realize it; they might sink deeper in shit every year, like a camel in moving sand, but instead of being panicked and try to abandon ship they just play “pirates.” In my honest opinion, this is the message Konstantine Paradias tries to pass to his readers in his Adult Fiction novel “Sorry, Wrong Country.” Through a series of short stories, brilliantly written and edited, Kostas describes us his conversance with people most of us would no [...]

So, I am riding the metro on my way to/from work in this particular country and I catch myself bitterly smiling while reading the book. Amazing job Kostantine! I am normally just utterly freaked out at this time of day (too close an interaction with co-citizens of this crazed country).Not to mention that a person smiling on the metro is quite a strange post-post modern, post apocalyptic live art installation these days.