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Σεμέλη
267 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1999
About the author
Τούλα Τίγκα
10 books7 followersΗ Τούλα Τίγκα γεννήθηκε στα Τρίκαλα, όπου και ζει σήμερα. Σπούδασε Αγγλική Φιλολογία στο Πανεπιστήμιο της Θεσσαλονίκης. Έχει γράψει βιβλία για παιδιά και για νέους και μυθιστορήματα. Στα έργα της συγκαταλέγονται τα βραβευμένα με το βραβείο του Κύκλου του Ελληνικού Παιδικού Βιβλίου "Οδός Γραβιάς" (Εκδ. Πατάκη 1991), "Η εποχή των υακίνθων" (Εκδ. Πατάκη 1993) και το βραβευμένο με το βραβείο του λογοτεχνικού περιοδικού "Διαβάζω" "Τα χρόνια τρέχοντας" (Εκδ. Πατάκη 1999).
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
June 12, 2025
Very early on, I figured out that this book wouldn't be an enjoyable one and from the 2nd chapter in, I was determined to give it two stars and put it on my boring/dissapointing bookshelf, since it's not as bad as my other one star book Η Αγάπη Του Μεγάλου Μαγίστρου because mrs. Tiga probably knows one or two things about making a proper sentence.
However, by the time I had read 50% of it, I changed my mind and decided to give it one star.
Now, to make things more clear, let me give you a list of all the things (at least those that I can still remember) that are wrong with this book:
- Very, very, very slow plot. With the exception of the last two chapters, we had the same story and the same scenes repeating over and over again. No, I don't want to know how the main character spent every night of August or what she was doing everytime she was at the beach. Do they move the plot forward? No. Do they add to your characters' development? No. But then again, the plot and the characters were not that great to begin with.
- Speaking about badly written characters, this is the 2nd thing that is wrong with the book. The main heroine is a whinny 30 something year old who (according to the book's summary) is trapped in a relationship with a man she doesn't love anymore and has now fallen for one of his friends. In reality (and this isn't at all mentioned in the book's summary) the story is about how she never got over the fuck boy she stalked and eventually dated as a teen. She is described as "an old soul" who wasn't free to "follow her heart" when she was younger and now lives a life trapped in a loveless affair and spends all of her time reading and feeling nostalgic. And the fuck boy I mentioned, well (spoiler alert) becomes a regular character in the last two chapters, after our main character runs into him during her holliday. He still is a fuck boy, but now he is a fuck boy with a wife and two sons, so you may add cheating to his sins as well (the heroine is guilty of that too) along with being a psychologically manipulative douche. Unfortunatelly, Semele,our main lead cannot see that and from her teens 'til her late 30s, glorifies his behavior and even in the last chapter of the book dreams of being his and his alone.
Time for a little game! Go in the comments and tell me what would you do if someone told you to have sex with them, even if you were feeling uncertain, and threatened to break up with you, since you obviously didn't love them enough to go through with it
Also, about the other two characters, the so called "other two ends of that love triagle" well, they are underdeveloped as f*ck. We know little about Philipp, the person who Semele dates in the first chapters of the book. His main and only character treat, is that he puts work over personal life and dreams of becoming a successful politician. The other man, Nikitas, becomes a regular character during the last chapters as well, when he too runs into Semele during her vacations and admits his feelings to her, oh, and he is a painter. See why I'm telling you that Philipp and Nikitas are underdeveloped as f*ck?
- Well, what I said about the heroine, being "an old soul, who is trapped in her memories and no one really understands" isn't a bad thing on its own. It is a bad thing tho when the feelings of the protagonist are described through metaphors and in a very unrealistic way. It did a very bad job at making me sympathize with the main character (and all the other characters to be honest) because all these emotions that she felt, seemed quite fake to me. A pleasant change to this patern, was when she was describing how her family was treating her when she became a teen and the unrealistic writing was cut in half.
- Time and place are a bit off. There are so many flashbacks and so many dream sequences that, at the beggining, I had troubles telling whether she was talking about the past or the present and whether she was awake or dreaming again.
- The advertising and the way this book presents itself. Another thing that I hated about this book, was the mostly inaccurate synopsis (I have already mentioned that in the review) and I also hate how in the prologue, this is described as a book that "against modern time's cruelty, describes life as it really is, describes women as they really are, describes love as it really is" because this book has been nothing but shallow, with badly written characters, filler scenes, flashbacks and dream sequences to make up for the lame characters and plot and mediocore writing
Moral of this review: A pretty cover with Piero di Cosimo's artwork doesn't mean that the book is gonna be good and fancy words with greek mythology references are not gonna improve a mediocore story.
In case you made it 'til the end of this review, thank you for still being here. I hope my first full book review didn't bore you to death. See you soon :)
However, by the time I had read 50% of it, I changed my mind and decided to give it one star.
Now, to make things more clear, let me give you a list of all the things (at least those that I can still remember) that are wrong with this book:
- Very, very, very slow plot. With the exception of the last two chapters, we had the same story and the same scenes repeating over and over again. No, I don't want to know how the main character spent every night of August or what she was doing everytime she was at the beach. Do they move the plot forward? No. Do they add to your characters' development? No. But then again, the plot and the characters were not that great to begin with.
- Speaking about badly written characters, this is the 2nd thing that is wrong with the book. The main heroine is a whinny 30 something year old who (according to the book's summary) is trapped in a relationship with a man she doesn't love anymore and has now fallen for one of his friends. In reality (and this isn't at all mentioned in the book's summary) the story is about how she never got over the fuck boy she stalked and eventually dated as a teen. She is described as "an old soul" who wasn't free to "follow her heart" when she was younger and now lives a life trapped in a loveless affair and spends all of her time reading and feeling nostalgic. And the fuck boy I mentioned, well (spoiler alert) becomes a regular character in the last two chapters, after our main character runs into him during her holliday. He still is a fuck boy, but now he is a fuck boy with a wife and two sons, so you may add cheating to his sins as well (the heroine is guilty of that too) along with being a psychologically manipulative douche. Unfortunatelly, Semele,our main lead cannot see that and from her teens 'til her late 30s, glorifies his behavior and even in the last chapter of the book dreams of being his and his alone.
Time for a little game! Go in the comments and tell me what would you do if someone told you to have sex with them, even if you were feeling uncertain, and threatened to break up with you, since you obviously didn't love them enough to go through with it
Also, about the other two characters, the so called "other two ends of that love triagle" well, they are underdeveloped as f*ck. We know little about Philipp, the person who Semele dates in the first chapters of the book. His main and only character treat, is that he puts work over personal life and dreams of becoming a successful politician. The other man, Nikitas, becomes a regular character during the last chapters as well, when he too runs into Semele during her vacations and admits his feelings to her, oh, and he is a painter. See why I'm telling you that Philipp and Nikitas are underdeveloped as f*ck?
- Well, what I said about the heroine, being "an old soul, who is trapped in her memories and no one really understands" isn't a bad thing on its own. It is a bad thing tho when the feelings of the protagonist are described through metaphors and in a very unrealistic way. It did a very bad job at making me sympathize with the main character (and all the other characters to be honest) because all these emotions that she felt, seemed quite fake to me. A pleasant change to this patern, was when she was describing how her family was treating her when she became a teen and the unrealistic writing was cut in half.
- Time and place are a bit off. There are so many flashbacks and so many dream sequences that, at the beggining, I had troubles telling whether she was talking about the past or the present and whether she was awake or dreaming again.
- The advertising and the way this book presents itself. Another thing that I hated about this book, was the mostly inaccurate synopsis (I have already mentioned that in the review) and I also hate how in the prologue, this is described as a book that "against modern time's cruelty, describes life as it really is, describes women as they really are, describes love as it really is" because this book has been nothing but shallow, with badly written characters, filler scenes, flashbacks and dream sequences to make up for the lame characters and plot and mediocore writing
Moral of this review: A pretty cover with Piero di Cosimo's artwork doesn't mean that the book is gonna be good and fancy words with greek mythology references are not gonna improve a mediocore story.
In case you made it 'til the end of this review, thank you for still being here. I hope my first full book review didn't bore you to death. See you soon :)
Displaying 1 of 1 review