The Cretan Runner: His Story of the German Occupation

I read this novel on our first vist to Crete 5 yrs ago and when we revisited the Island 4 yrs a go we actually got to meet Mr Psychoundakis.
He was most a most gracious man who was attending a reunion at Souda Bay Cemetary. All very moving ! The Cretans are so brave, kind hearted and genuine even though as a race they have endured so much hardship under invading forces over the years. This novel is a must read for all who are interested in the islands life and history.We are going back next year and I for one cannot wait.

Absolutely heartbreaking in it's authenticity (41/46 people found this helpful)

I bought this book to read whilst on holiday in Crete last week. It was my 4th visit to the island, and I had already worked my way through 5 of the other 6 books I'd taken with me. I'm a novels sort of girl, but I have a fascination with the Cretan countryside, people, and way of life.

I was somewhat nervous of embarking on a dusty historical narrative (and I'm afraid I didn't really gain much from Mr Leigh Fermor's introduction), but the rest of the narrative was incredible. To have someone explain first-hand the amazing pain, suffering and yet dignity suffered by the Cretans during WWII was heart-rending. I felt like shaking my next door neighbours in our hotel (95% german tourists) and demanding that they account for the attrocities inflicted by their parents and grandparents.

Because of George's simple view of life (which is NOT to say that he is simple: far from it), the narrative is refreshingly accessible. Candid in the extreme, and a real eye-opener.

The Cretan Runner - Buy this book! (26/32 people found this helpful)

Read this book: George still needs the money! Psychondakis is, or at least was, an authentic genius. Now in his late seventies & still resident in his birth-village after a life of near poverty no-one is more deserving of a belated windfall... The history of George's life & trials is eruditely covered in Fermor's excellent introduction. After a valiant & poorly rewarded war he endured false imprisonment & near persecution whilst still managing to turn out volumes of translation & poetry. The 'Runner' itself was written during the course of the war when George was in his early twenties & working for the British & the Cretan resistance & tells the story of the struggle for liberation from the Germans from the point of view of an uneducated 'though brilliantly articulate Cretan peasant. The strengths lie in its' witty pen portraits of the allied officers that George meets & in its' conveyance of the utter hatred & disgust felt by the local people for their barbaric German oppressors. Fermor's own translation of George's original manuscript neither alters or edits anything significant in either the narrative nor in the rhythms of Psycoundakis' slightly idiosyncratic demotic prose. Only recently republished in Penguin paperback the book is widely available at last & provides perhaps the only authentic indigenous account of a neglected war theatre, though one much visited by the British, & sadly German, tourist.

An outstanding read and a thoroughly novel viewpoint (16/17 people found this helpful)

It is rare to read accounts of the guerilla war in Europe written by the local participants, rather than the Allied officers sent in to direct them and that makes this book all the more valuable. It is unaffected, honest and an extraordinary account of an extraordinary war. How the Cretan people kept going in the face of such hideous brutality is a testament to the human spirit. The bravery of the individual players left me incredulous.

An incredible story told by an incredible man. (19/20 people found this helpful)

A very lively account of a forgotten theatre of the Second World War. Though forgotten it was no less brutal and the descriptions of the German reprisals on the local populace are harrowing. Psychoundakis is not an educated man but his writing is a joy to read. As you read the book you get the impression of sitting around the camp fire listening to one or other of your comrades regaling the group with stories of derring-do and high adventure. It is easy to forget that it was, literally, a matter of life or death and the chance of capture high. I think what impressed me the most was the lack of hatred, no yearning for revenge on the Germans. At the end of the war when the German garrison had surrendered they were luckly to have been spared their lives after the appalling and savage way they oppressed the Island. Had they been anywhere else but in the hands of the Cretans, a noble and proud race, I don't think many Germans would have left the island alive. This book is excellent, I strongly recommend it.

The Cretan Runner: His Story of the German Occupation

George Psychoundakis

Reader Reviews:

A brilliant piece of writing. (7/8 people found this helpful)

Absolutely heartbreaking in it's authenticity (41/46 people found this helpful)

The Cretan Runner - Buy this book! (26/32 people found this helpful)

An outstanding read and a thoroughly novel viewpoint (16/17 people found this helpful)

An incredible story told by an incredible man. (19/20 people found this helpful)

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