Stolen Time by Vangelis Hatziyannidis - Revision history

Sue at 10:01, 11 May 2018

2018-05-11T10:01:06Z

Sue at 10:57, 31 March 2018

2018-03-31T10:57:50Z

Sue at 16:10, 11 January 2015

2015-01-11T16:10:27Z

Sue at 14:33, 28 November 2012

2012-11-28T14:33:03Z

Keith at 09:50, 7 November 2009

2009-11-07T09:50:45Z

Keith: 1 revision

2009-10-24T17:29:40Z

1 revision

Keith at 16:11, 25 December 2008

2008-12-25T16:11:33Z

New review

{{infobox
|title=Stolen Time
|author=Vangelis Hatziyannidis
|reviewer=Jill Murphy
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=An unusual and slightly spooky tale, Stolen Time mixes gothic and magic realist elements to great effect. The style is perhaps too distant for some, but Bookbag enjoyed it tremendously.
|rating=4
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|format=Paperback
|pages=224
|publisher=Marion Boyars Publishers
|date=1 Jan 2007
|isbn=978-0714531267
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>071453126X</amazonuk>
|amazonus=<amazonus>071453126X</amazonus>
}}
A young archaeology student appears on a TV game show and is spotted by a close-knit group of five intellectuals. The strangers make contact with the young man and offer him a small fortune if he will agree to spend two weeks with them in a remote hotel. He will be required to undergo a series of interviews with them, sometimes as a group and sometimes individually.

Once at the hotel, the young man begins to wonder if all is as above board as he had imagined. It appears that he is not the first highly-paid guest to have stayed at the hotel. One of the previous subjects seems to have left in a hurry. The hotel manager and his son are unforthcoming. A strange girl brings flowers to the hotel almost daily. And there is talk of a lost goddess whose name must never be spoken aloud, lest she wreak a terrible revenge.

Stolen Time is a curious, but very intriguing blend of gothic spookiness and magic realism. It also has a strangely stilted feel which could be a side effect of the translation from the original Greek, but on balance I don't think so. The translation is excellent. The young archaelogist speaks and writes in a formal way that is very reminiscent of the governess in Henry James' [[The Turn of the Screw]]. And as in The Turn Of The Screw, Stolen Time is very much concerned with how much power its narrator has to convince and manipulate the reader. Does this sect of intellectuals deliberately spend its time trapping its victims or is it the young man who is the real hunter? The eventual unravelling of the hotel's mysterious secret does not provide closure for the young man nor for the reader.

This is a moody, introspective and atmospheric book far more concerned with social dynamics, the nature of power and self-examination than it is with the course of events. It wanders backwards and forwards through its plot with a vague but insistent air of menace. It's full of a subtle meandering through the murkier side of the human pysche and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Thanks to the publisher, Marion Boyars, for sending the book.

{{amazontext|amazon=071453126X}}

{{commenthead}}

@@ Line 20: / Line 20: @@
 Once at the hotel, the young man begins to wonder if all is as above board as he had imagined. It appears that he is not the first highly-paid guest to have stayed at the hotel. One of the previous subjects seems to have left in a hurry. The hotel manager and his son are unforthcoming. A strange girl brings flowers to the hotel almost daily. And there is talk of a lost goddess whose name must never be spoken aloud, lest she wreak a terrible revenge.
-Stolen Time is a curious, but very intriguing blend of gothic spookiness and magic realism. It also has a strangely stilted feel which could be a side effect of the translation from the original Greek, but on balance I don't think so. The translation is excellent. The young archaelogist speaks and writes in a formal way that is very reminiscent of the governess in Henry James' [[The Turn of the Screw]]. And as in The Turn Of The Screw, Stolen Time is very much concerned with how much power its narrator has to convince and manipulate the reader. Does this sect of intellectuals deliberately spend its time trapping its victims or is it the young man who is the real hunter? The eventual unravelling of the hotel's mysterious secret does not provide closure for the young man nor for the reader.
+Stolen Time is a curious, but very intriguing blend of gothic spookiness and magic realism. It also has a strangely stilted feel which could be a side effect of the translation from the original Greek, but on balance I don't think so. The translation is excellent. The young archaelogist speaks and writes in a formal way that is very reminiscent of the governess in Henry James' ''The Turn of the Screw''. And as in The Turn Of The Screw, Stolen Time is very much concerned with how much power its narrator has to convince and manipulate the reader. Does this sect of intellectuals deliberately spend its time trapping its victims or is it the young man who is the real hunter? The eventual unravelling of the hotel's mysterious secret does not provide closure for the young man nor for the reader.
 This is a moody, introspective and atmospheric book far more concerned with social dynamics, the nature of power and self-examination than it is with the course of events. It wanders backwards and forwards through its plot with a vague but insistent air of menace. It's full of a subtle meandering through the murkier side of the human pysche and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{infobox
+{{infobox1
 |title=Stolen Time
 |author=Vangelis Hatziyannidis
@@ Line 12: / Line 12: @@
 |date=January 2007
 |isbn=978-0714531267
-|amazonuk=<amazonuk>071453126X</amazonuk>
+|cover=071453126X
-|amazonus=<amazonus>071453126X</amazonus>
+|aznuk=071453126X
 }}
 A young archaeology student appears on a TV game show and is spotted by a close-knit group of five intellectuals. The strangers make contact with the young man and offer him a small fortune if he will agree to spend two weeks with them in a remote hotel. He will be required to undergo a series of interviews with them, sometimes as a group and sometimes individually.

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 |buy=Yes
 |borrow=Yes
 |pages=224
 |publisher=Marion Boyars Publishers
@@ Line 27: / Line 26: @@
 {{amazontext|amazon=071453126X}}
 {{commenthead}}

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