The Birthday Party

The Birthday Party

by Panos Karnezis

Jonathan Cape, HK$208

A Greek engineer who has written three books in the 10 years he has been writing in English, Panos Karnezis has a command of his second language better than most authors do of their first. Making his name as an elegant stylist with his first book, Little Infamies (2002), a collection of short fables about a nameless Greek Village - and drawing inevitable comparisons to Vladimir Nabokov and Joseph Conrad, two other authors for whom English wasn't their native tongue - Karnezis secured his reputation with The Maze (2004), a novel about the aftermath of the Greco-Turkish war.

In his latest offering, Karnezis has again turned his pen to Greek myth, this time with a fictional treatment of the life of Aristotle Onassis, the late billionaire whose name will forever be linked with the industrial excesses and fantastic wealth of the 20th century.

The most famous shipping magnate of the previous century, equally renowned for his bad temper, womanising and fabulous wealth, Onassis' tale has been told many times before. Gossip columns, essays, biographies, movies and even an award-winning Broadway play have all explored his life.

To their number Karnezis has added The Birthday Party, a re-imagination of Onassis' life that takes a number of liberties with the truth and makes full use of the novelistic freedom to analyse, caricature and dramatise people and events.