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Dean Bakopoulos

Author of Please Don't Come Back from the Moon

3+ Works 520 Members 26 Reviews

Works by Dean Bakopoulos

Summerlong (2015) 143 copies
My American Unhappiness (2011) 123 copies

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I had never heard of this author nor anything about the book before I started reading it. Sometimes this is a good thing. In this case it was. I had now expectations. It is an interesting take on a marriage that is imploding, and adds some offbeat sideline players to the mix. I do think it is helpful to be at least in your late 30's or older and married to appreciate the book. The story is a little predictable, and things do all kind of come together to neatly but it was a very good book.
 
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zmagic69 | 9 other reviews | Mar 31, 2023 |
This was a surprisingly strong debut novel which I thoroughly enjoyed. Set in a working class suburb of Detroit predominantly occupied by Ukranians and Polish, in this coming of age story we follow the narrator and his circle of friends as they try to find their way following a mass desertion by the men folk in the area, who one by one disappeared into the night as prospects in the area dwindle away following mass factory closings.

As the friends grow up in a town with few employment prospects beyond the new shopping mall, Bakopoulos writes with absorbing prose as the youngsters try to make their way in life against the limiting odds of the realities of their environment.

4 stars - a beautifully written novel with writing that punches above its weight. I'll be looking out for more from this writer.
… (more)
 
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AlisonY | 10 other reviews | Feb 19, 2023 |
In the sweltering heat of one summer in a small Midwestern town, Claire and Don Lowry discover that married life isn't quite what they'd predicted.

One night Don, a father of two, leaves his house for an evening stroll, only to wake up the next morning stoned and lying in a hammock next to a young woman he barely knows. Meanwhile, his wife, Claire, leaves the house to go on a midnight run—only to find herself bumming cigarettes and beer outside the all-night convenience store.

As the summer lingers and the temperature rises, this quotidian town's adults grow wilder and more reckless while their children grow increasingly confused. Claire, Don, and their neighbors and friends find themselves on an existential odyssey, exploring the most puzzling quandaries of marriage and maturity. When does a fantasy become infidelity? When does compromise incite resentment? When does routine become boring monotony? Can Claire and Don survive everything that befalls them in this one summer, forgive their mistakes, and begin again?… (more)
½
 
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jepeters333 | 9 other reviews | Mar 15, 2022 |
This was a surprising find in the bargain bin of a big box store--a slow, slightly fantastic, sadly realistic coming of age story that captures life in lower middle-class, unexceptional McDonald's America in a way that few writers really bother to do.

 
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EQReader | 10 other reviews | Dec 1, 2020 |

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Works
3
Also by
1
Members
520
Popularity
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Rating
3.8
Reviews
26
ISBNs
23
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1

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