THOUGH I READ THIS BOOK MANY YEARS AGO, ONE CANNOT HELP BUT LOOK DEEP INTO THEIR HEARTS, AND ASK THEMSELVES, "WHO AM I, WHERE AM I GOING, AND FOR WHAT PURPOSE DID GOD PLACE ME HERE ON EARTH?". A MOTIVATING AND SOUL SEARCHING BOOK WORTHY OF THE ORIGINAL GREEK CLASSIC. CHRISTOS LINARDAKIS

A long, long time ago, I read this book and it changed the way I read literature. Kazantzakis' book goes beyond writing - it is a vivid exploration of the flame that consumes man. To go back to reading the frivolous so-called literature of today almost seems pointless. I am just thankful that Kazantzakis left us with such a rich body of work to read. The libraries were full of his books twenty years ago, but today I rarely find them on any shelf. To those of us who were lucky enough to discover him early, we know that he is the best kept secret of the twentieth century.

This is the best book I have ever read. Granted, I have read it in greek but still, there is no match. Homer would have loved his hero over again.

Kimon Friar had one advantage over Keeley and Sherrard, the two big names in the translation of Modern Greek poetry, and that was that he was more skilled at recreating the form of the poem. (Keeley and Sherrard nevertheless have moments in their Elytis translations when the result is good English poetry.) Friar has translated the massive Odyssey by Kazantzakis and skilfully reproduced the complex metre of the epic. One could compare him to Richard Lattimore, the translator of ancient Greek texts, in his ability to produce translations that were literal and still captured something of the poetry. HOWEVER, you should be warned that the price will be shocking when you see the actual book. It is pocketbook size, and somewhat poorly bound. It's a shame that this book, which satisfies such an important need, should do it with such undeserved exclusiveness.

That said, the book is still indispensable. Anyone interested in Modern Greek literature cannot afford to be without it. Even at this price.

Not simply a compilation of the best of Greece's modern poets, this work is also a journey in time, a book that touches both the ancient mysteries and the splendour and the dream that will always be Greece.

An excellent book for the experianced lover of modern Greek poetry or for the uninitiated. A bottomless treasure chest of beauty and mystery that can and will be returned to for years. Buy this book!

I really like the author and I saw this book in a used bookstore and didn't get it. But then I couldn't get it out of my mind. So I went back to get it and I'm glad I did. It is a strong and moving book. He expresses the thoughts of someone who sees nothing but God. His life is God. This has nothing to do with any religion, as it is above a set of rules or beliefs. I can relate to him. Get the book if you can.

The name Nikos Kazantzakis is anathema to so many; countless Americans probably only know him as the man who authored the book "The Last Temptation of Christ" on which the controversial (and widely demonized) movie was based. There was much more to this man than met the eye, however. Such Americans don't know the reader of Nietzsche and Bergson, the man who idolized both Christ and Lenin as saviors of humanity, the brooding genius whose incisive glacial intellect was perpetually at war with the hot blood of his idealism and passion. A fascinating and fragmented character who ascended the peaks and explored the dark valleys of human experience more than most, Kazantzakis commits pen to paper here with a spirituality that will haunt the reader; it is more alive and explosive than any camp-meeting revival. Writing with a distinctly modernist tone of world-smashing and revolution akin to Marx and with a racy, frenetic, hot-blooded pace which D.H. Lawrence would've admired, Kazantzakis introduces us to HIS idea of God: not the friendly father figure of Christian lore, but the turbulent, primordial drive for life and change within the universe, striving (successfully, through sometimes violent fits and starts) to ascend, to create, to thrive, to "transubstantiate matter into spirit". More akin to Bergson's idea of "elan vital", this is a series of spell-binding meditations that most mainline believers of any stripe probably wouldn't like; precisely because it scares the living daylights out of you with its frightening possibilities and its sirens' call of seemingly chaotic life-affirming zest. The late Kazantzakis beckons to us across the void, urging us to take the plunge and gaze into that vortex without fear, even though we will lose all we are in the process.

"Nonsense" is a very draft and cruel word to characterize an attempt to describe the CHAOS. For that's what this book is. How can one describe the Chaos, the human agony for the purpose of life? Every time you visualize yourself as a tiny dot (equals to nothing compared to the universe) and you ask the all-time-big-questions, you fill the fear. If you want to ease your heart, read the bible, or whatever the holy book of your religion (we all do in times of despair). You will be reassured for the absolute truth for all your questions and fears. But if you want to keep your eyes open and dare to look at the chaos this book will be a good companion. It is not perfect, but is the best attempt I know. Using Kazantzakis' words from "Report to Greco", the author is "facing the chaos and says I like it!"