Tom Lynch

There's a certain authenticity in a true Chicago writer--a grit, humor, a sense of place in both time and character--and Petrakis keeps these qualities in his pocket, and now, ten novels thick, the vivid, often-comic author breathes "The Orchards of Ithaca," a deep look at a Chicago family in 1999 Greektown. His hero, Orestes Panos, battles the Clinton scandal in his dreams, but in reality faces a biting mother-in-law who belittles him at every turn. He wishes he could've been more, could've been more courageous, could've taken more adventurous turns. But he hasn't, and now he lives with his decisions. Petrakis, a longtime Chicagoan and repeated National Book Award finalist, shovels in sexual frustration, nostalgia and the obsessions of youth into a short book with giant scope. He brings the city to life with a snap of his finger.

Harry Mark Petrakis reads from "The Orchards of Ithaca" on August 26 at Barbara's Bookstore, 1218 South Halsted, (312)413-2665, at 7:30pm. Free.

(2004-08-25)

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