Interesting and enjoyable story spanning nearly 100 years. The story enlightened me to Greek history. ( )

this story is about Thessaloniki, a city in Greece that had a blend of Christian, Muslims and jews living in harmony, The characters in this novel live through political upheaval, war and natural disasters. Katerina, a seamstress of great talent, and Dimitri, a son of a weathy local fabrrc merchant each make tthis place their home. The novel is them telling this story to their grandson.
A good read. I enjoyed learning some Greek history and how a Greek town fared during and after WWII. Well written. ( )

A good combination of history and a story, really enjoyed it. ( )

I haven't read much about Greece before and this book has whetted my appetite. What an interesting point in history to write about - destruction of a city, the divvying up of people by religion, two World Wars, and the rise of fascism and communism. I also enjoyed the story, but I have to say the history going on around them kind of stole the focus for me. I would probably have enjoyed it better if it wasn't couched in a modern-day story telling session by grandparents to grandson. For some reason, that seemed a little dissonant from the rest of the book.

* I received this book for free from Goodreads First Reads. ( )

The Thread is a story of the 20th century Greece and more specifically, it is the history of Greece's second largest city, Thessaloniki, up in northern Greece's Central Macedonia region.

Starting with the Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917, the narrative mostly follows the story of Katerina, one of about a million Greek refugees forced to flee Asia Minor after Greece and Turkey find themselves on the opposite ends of the bayonets late in World War I and for some years after.

Katerina grows up to be an accomplished modistra, or seamstress, hence the title. The descriptions of sewing techniques and patterns and the use of tailoring terminology is quite frequent, but I found that strangely compelling. I mean there are probably not many books where you get to read about that. Also, a guy could probably not write it.

The story takes us through the transformation that this multicultural and multi-faith city undergoes due to the pressures of the events of the 20th century, such as the expulsion of Muslim population, the German occupation and Greek collaboration in World War II and other events following that.

Of course, most of this information is conveyed through personal story-lines of Katerina and her friends, caught up in this web historical events. The romance between Katerina and Dimitri is one of the central themes, although it takes a while to get going.

Before delving into some criticism, let me say this: the author, despite being a British woman, displays a very thorough knowledge of Greece, both its history and the little details of everyday life, so have no worries on that account.

Now then, a few minuses:
* Often historical events and political and social changes are dealt with just a paragraph of summary. Now, granted, the book spans nearly a century, so I guess it couldn't have been helped.
* There's a period of time when Katerina is doing something that I think is quite awful and it's kind of glossed over.
* Really the most bang for your buck is probably the opening scene of the great fire. There aren't many more scenes like that after that, even though the events themselves could lend another one or two.
* The Greek women put up with a lot from their men, and they're kind of very meek about it. A stronger female character with a bit more bite to her could have done wonders for this book.
* Nearly all of the scenes are confined to the private houses of Thessaloniki residents and to the sewing workshops. There could have been room for a bit more variety.

Still, a worthy read if you're interested in learning more about Greece.

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