Second Quarter Outside Reading Book Review

Second Quarter Outside Reading Book Review
The Cretan Runner by George Psychoundakis. Published by Penguin Books
Novel Genre: Non-Fiction


The Cretan Runner is a witness account of the German Invasion of Crete in 1941 which devastated Crete for several months. It is written like a journal, and narrated in first-person by the author, George Psychoundakis. The story's protagonist is the author during the invasion where he is 21 at the time and first takes place in Canea, Greece but through his journeys is brought to several other cities on the island and even Egypt. George is given the task of sending important messages to cities and villages on the island of Crete, which is very mountainous. This means he and whomever he runs with must cross mountains daily and avoid German search parties. Throughout the book, he suffers from close calls with the Germans, starvation, and many other problems.
"Full of death, and the excitement of a fighter who wildly enjoys his own part of the dangerous business."-The Sunday Times. I completely agree with the quote as George did live and enjoy the lifestyle at several points, even in the bleakest times. He was also known for his infectious laugh and personality by many who knew him, and by his commander at one point who also translated the book from Greek, (Sir) Patrick Fermor.
In this book, the writing style is very similar to basic English and is sometimes hard to read in one sitting as some points in description become very lengthy. Also, since it was translated into English by a British man, it sometimes differs from American English in certain word meanings. "Soon the long-awaited telegram, saying that the aeroplane with stores would be arriving in a few days, came from Cairo. I don't remember where I had been sent, but I was not present at the drop. But when I got back, I learnt the whole queer story."(81) This was towards to beginning of the story which was describing the first night of the invasion when several airplanes began dropping German parachutists onto the island during the dead of night.
Reading this book I saw how hard some moments were for many in Europe. People often times had livestock and food stolen so that the Germans could continue to fight. I also have a relationship with this book through my grandfather and his brother who were very similar to George. They also served in the Greek Resistance during World War II and also sometimes sent messages to other cities and villages. I enjoyed this book greatly and would like to read other books by George Psychoundakis as he wrote other books about World War II, and the fact that I like to read about stories, fiction or non-fiction, about events in World War II.