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The Birthday Party (novel)
Encyclopedia
The Birthday Party is a biographical novel
by Panos Karnezis
first published in 2007.
shipping magnate
who for that end of August day has arranged a grand party on his private island
in the Aegean
to celebrate his daughter's 25th birthday. In a series of flashback
s, the omniscient narrator of the novel chronicles the businessman's life from his childhood days in İzmir
to his present cosmopolitan existence and status as one of the richest men in the world. However, being a master at deception
, the billionaire has rewritten his own history so often that there are patches of his past his family know next to nothing about and of which even his official biographer cannot make head or tail. Sensing now that his life is gradually drawing to a close, Timoleon plans to use the birthday party as his final attempt to take influence on his daughter's extravagant life and, by doing so, to ensure that his accumulated wealth stays in the family.
Practically all reviewers have pointed out the numerous parallels between the fictional protagonist and Aristotle Onassis
.
in 1903 to a railway engineer father and a schoolteacher mother. When he is one year old, his parents move to İzmir, where he spends his childhood and adolescence. A mediocre pupil, he drops out of high school at 18, only months before graduation, having already proven his business acumen at the age of 15 by buying a dilapidated boat, repairing it himself and then renting it out. One day his father walks out on his family, never to be seen, or heard of, again, and in 1921, during the Greco-Turkish War, Timoleon decides to seek his fortune in Argentina
. Leaving his mother behind, he travels to Buenos Aires
and starts working for a telephone company. It is in South America that he lays the foundation of his wealth, operating on both sides of the law and increasingly applying as yet unheard of business practices such as closing contracts to transport oil on tankers
that have not been built yet. During that time he also makes the acquaintance of Dr Aristide Patrikios, a physician and fellow Greek who will become his only lifelong friend. As far as his private life is concerned, in his younger years it never occurs to Timoleon to get married, but he has countless love affairs, also with married women.
In 1939, already a rich man, and—erroneously—known to business rivals and competitors as "The Turk
," he moves his company headquarters to New York City, and during the Second World War his growing fleet services both the Allies
and the Axis powers
, resulting in even greater profit. All the time carrying on with his turbulent love life, only after his 40th birthday does Timoleon think the time has come for him to get married and have offspring. From a bourgeois
background himself, he has always been in awe of old money
and aristocracy
and resentful of, and at the same time attracted by, the upper crust, so he starts courting the 16 year-old daughter of shipping tycoon Daniel Negri, Miranda, who is still attending prep school
. In 1948, against her father's wish, the couple get married when Miranda is 19 and Timoleon is 44 years old.
The Timoleons move to London, and Miranda gives birth to two children, Sofia (in 1950) and Daniel (in 1954). While Timoleon's business prospers in the wake of the Suez Crisis
, making him one of the richest men in the world, his marriage soon disintegrates, and the children are left in the care of a nanny
and a governess
while the two spouses increasingly go their separate ways. Miranda Timoleon, unprepared for life's harsh realities due to an over-protective Catholic upbringing, seeks solace in tranquillizers
but eventually tries to combat her husband's continued womanising
by having love affairs herself. In 1964, at a point where the couple consider divorce and a legal battle over custody
of the children is likely to break out, Miranda Timoleon, aged 35, dies of a drug overdose on the private island her husband has recently bought. A carefully planned suicide, her death nevertheless stirs rumours
, notably in the yellow press
, that Marco Timoleon may have killed his wife, either intentionally or unintentionally, and the tycoon himself feels no need ever to disperse them.
As his children grow up, Timoleon tries to prepare them for adult life but soon realizes that there is little he can do to mould their characters and influence their decisions. He finds out that Sofia is more and more taking after him, especially as far as her voracious sexual appetite is concerned. Moving out of the family home, which is now in Paris, France, at the age of 18, she embarks on a life described by the narrator as a "permanent holiday":
Daniel Timoleon, on the other hand, has developed into an inconspicuous introvert
whose only passion is flying planes: he shows no interest whatsoever in his father's business and ignores each of the eligible
young women presented to him by his father. The family is ripped further apart when, in 1969, Timoleon, now 66, meets 33 year-old American divorcee Olivia Andersen and in the following year decides to marry her. Sofia takes an instant dislike to her stepmother, and it only takes a few years for Timoleon's second marriage to show signs of failure, too, so much so that in the end Olivia, whose permanent residence is a penthouse apartment
in New York City, is not allowed to enter her husband's island without his prior consent.
In early 1973 Ian Forster, an eager British journalist, approaches Timoleon with the proposal to write his authorised biography. Timoleon agrees to the project and pays all of Forster's expenses although he soon turns out to be far less co-operative than Forster would have wished. Also, he has him sign a confidentiality agreement
so that the young would-be author lives in constant fear of never being able to publish his extensively researched book. While interviewing everyone still alive who has ever been close to the shipping magnate, Forster also makes the acquaintance of Sofia Timoleon, who, without her knowledge, is being spied on by her father's private investigators. Probably out of boredom
, Sofia adds Forster to her long list of lovers, but their unexpected mutual attraction leads to a longer love affair conducted in what they believe is absolute secrecy. In truth, however, Timoleon is informed about each and every move the two lovers make.
Despite the 1973 oil crisis
, which affects his business badly, the biggest blow to Timoleon's life is his son's death in a plane crash in the summer of 1974. While entertaining a married woman half his age in his earthly paradise for the weekend, Timoleon sees one of his old Piaggio
seaplanes piloted by Daniel approaching the island in bad weather and actually becomes an eye-witness to his son's fatal accident when the plane is overturned during the landing procedure. Timoleon is shattered by the loss of his child, and his robust health slowly starts to deteriorate, the most obvious sign for the ageing tycoon being the realisation of his sudden impotence
.
Naturally, Timoleon turns his attention to his daughter as his last hope. When he is informed in the spring of 1975 that Sofia has seen her gynaecologist
and he listens to a taped telephone conversation between her and Forster in which she informs her lover that she is pregnant, he feels the urgent need to do something about this uncalled for situation before it is too late. Intending to persuade Sofia to have an abortion
right during her stay on the island, he has one of the many guest rooms of his villa converted into an operating theatre
, hires Dr Patrikios and a nurse to perform the operation, and, to her great surprise, sends Sofia an invitation to a lavish birthday party in honour of her 25th birthday. On the day of the party, he arranges a private talk with Ian Forster during which he threateningly explains to him that he will be allowed to publish anything about his life on condition that he can persuade Sofia to have an abortion and that he subsequently vanish from her life forever. When Forster cautiously broaches the subject to Sofia, she realises how little her love for him is reciprocated. She tells Forster that she has never been pregnant, that she only wanted to put his loyalty to the test, and that he has failed that test as far as she is concerned. Then she breaks off their relationship and retires to her room while the party is still in full swing. There, having inherited her mother's melancholy
disposition, Sofia swallows an overdose of pills. She survives her suicide attempt because on the following day she is rescued by Dr Patrikios and the nurse.
Marco Timoleon dies two years later, aged 74.
Biographical novel
The biographical novel is a genre of novel which provides a fictional and usually entertaining account of a person's life. This kind of novel concentrates on the experiences a person had during his lifetime, the people he met and the incidents which occurred are detailed and sometimes...
by Panos Karnezis
Panos Karnezis
Panagiotis Karnezis is a Greek writer. Born in Greece in 1967, he moved to England in 1992 to study Engineering. He was later awarded a M.A. in Creative Writing by the University of East Anglia. His first collection of stories, Little Infamies, was published in 2002...
first published in 2007.
Plot introduction
Set on a single day in late summer of 1975, it is about the rise to wealth and fame of Marco Timoleon, a 72 year-old GreekGreeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
shipping magnate
Business magnate
A business magnate, sometimes referred to as a capitalist, czar, mogul, tycoon, baron, oligarch, or industrialist, is an informal term used to refer to an entrepreneur who has reached prominence and derived a notable amount of wealth from a particular industry .-Etymology:The word magnate itself...
who for that end of August day has arranged a grand party on his private island
Private island
A private island is a disconnected body of land wholly owned by a single private citizen or corporation. Although this exclusivity gives the owner substantial control over the property, they still fall within the jurisdiction of national and sometimes local governments.-Ownership:There are many...
in the Aegean
Aegean Sea
The Aegean Sea[p] is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...
to celebrate his daughter's 25th birthday. In a series of flashback
Flashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
s, the omniscient narrator of the novel chronicles the businessman's life from his childhood days in İzmir
Izmir
Izmir is a large metropolis in the western extremity of Anatolia. The metropolitan area in the entire Izmir Province had a population of 3.35 million as of 2010, making the city third most populous in Turkey...
to his present cosmopolitan existence and status as one of the richest men in the world. However, being a master at deception
Deception
Deception, beguilement, deceit, bluff, mystification, bad faith, and subterfuge are acts to propagate beliefs that are not true, or not the whole truth . Deception can involve dissimulation, propaganda, and sleight of hand. It can employ distraction, camouflage or concealment...
, the billionaire has rewritten his own history so often that there are patches of his past his family know next to nothing about and of which even his official biographer cannot make head or tail. Sensing now that his life is gradually drawing to a close, Timoleon plans to use the birthday party as his final attempt to take influence on his daughter's extravagant life and, by doing so, to ensure that his accumulated wealth stays in the family.
Practically all reviewers have pointed out the numerous parallels between the fictional protagonist and Aristotle Onassis
Aristotle Onassis
Aristotle Sokratis Onassis , commonly called Ari or Aristo Onassis, was a prominent Greek shipping magnate.- Early life :Onassis was born in Karatass, a suburb of Smyrna to Socrates and Penelope Onassis...
.
Plot summary
Marco Timoleon is born somewhere in AnatoliaAnatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
in 1903 to a railway engineer father and a schoolteacher mother. When he is one year old, his parents move to İzmir, where he spends his childhood and adolescence. A mediocre pupil, he drops out of high school at 18, only months before graduation, having already proven his business acumen at the age of 15 by buying a dilapidated boat, repairing it himself and then renting it out. One day his father walks out on his family, never to be seen, or heard of, again, and in 1921, during the Greco-Turkish War, Timoleon decides to seek his fortune in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
. Leaving his mother behind, he travels to Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
and starts working for a telephone company. It is in South America that he lays the foundation of his wealth, operating on both sides of the law and increasingly applying as yet unheard of business practices such as closing contracts to transport oil on tankers
Tanker (ship)
A tanker is a ship designed to transport liquids in bulk. Major types of tankship include the oil tanker, the chemical tanker, and the liquefied natural gas carrier.-Background:...
that have not been built yet. During that time he also makes the acquaintance of Dr Aristide Patrikios, a physician and fellow Greek who will become his only lifelong friend. As far as his private life is concerned, in his younger years it never occurs to Timoleon to get married, but he has countless love affairs, also with married women.
In 1939, already a rich man, and—erroneously—known to business rivals and competitors as "The Turk
Turkish people
Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...
," he moves his company headquarters to New York City, and during the Second World War his growing fleet services both the Allies
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
and the Axis powers
Axis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
, resulting in even greater profit. All the time carrying on with his turbulent love life, only after his 40th birthday does Timoleon think the time has come for him to get married and have offspring. From a bourgeois
Bourgeoisie
In sociology and political science, bourgeoisie describes a range of groups across history. In the Western world, between the late 18th century and the present day, the bourgeoisie is a social class "characterized by their ownership of capital and their related culture." A member of the...
background himself, he has always been in awe of old money
Old Money
Old money is "the inherited wealth of established upper-class families " or "a person, family, or lineage possessing inherited wealth." The term typically describes a class of the super-rich, who have been able to maintain their wealth across multiple generations.- United States :American locations...
and aristocracy
Aristocracy
Aristocracy , is a form of government in which a few elite citizens rule. The term derives from the Greek aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best". In origin in Ancient Greece, it was conceived of as rule by the best qualified citizens, and contrasted with monarchy...
and resentful of, and at the same time attracted by, the upper crust, so he starts courting the 16 year-old daughter of shipping tycoon Daniel Negri, Miranda, who is still attending prep school
University-preparatory school
A university-preparatory school or college-preparatory school is a secondary school, usually private, designed to prepare students for a college or university education...
. In 1948, against her father's wish, the couple get married when Miranda is 19 and Timoleon is 44 years old.
The Timoleons move to London, and Miranda gives birth to two children, Sofia (in 1950) and Daniel (in 1954). While Timoleon's business prospers in the wake of the Suez Crisis
Suez Crisis
The Suez Crisis, also referred to as the Tripartite Aggression, Suez War was an offensive war fought by France, the United Kingdom, and Israel against Egypt beginning on 29 October 1956. Less than a day after Israel invaded Egypt, Britain and France issued a joint ultimatum to Egypt and Israel,...
, making him one of the richest men in the world, his marriage soon disintegrates, and the children are left in the care of a nanny
Nanny
A nanny, childminder or child care provider, is an individual who provides care for one or more children in a family as a service...
and a governess
Governess
A governess is a girl or woman employed to teach and train children in a private household. In contrast to a nanny or a babysitter, she concentrates on teaching children, not on meeting their physical needs...
while the two spouses increasingly go their separate ways. Miranda Timoleon, unprepared for life's harsh realities due to an over-protective Catholic upbringing, seeks solace in tranquillizers
Sedative
A sedative or tranquilizer is a substance that induces sedation by reducing irritability or excitement....
but eventually tries to combat her husband's continued womanising
Promiscuity
In humans, promiscuity refers to less discriminating casual sex with many sexual partners. The term carries a moral or religious judgement and is viewed in the context of the mainstream social ideal for sexual activity to take place within exclusive committed relationships...
by having love affairs herself. In 1964, at a point where the couple consider divorce and a legal battle over custody
Child custody
Child custody and guardianship are legal terms which are used to describe the legal and practical relationship between a parent and his or her child, such as the right of the parent to make decisions for the child, and the parent's duty to care for the child.Following ratification of the United...
of the children is likely to break out, Miranda Timoleon, aged 35, dies of a drug overdose on the private island her husband has recently bought. A carefully planned suicide, her death nevertheless stirs rumours
Rumor
A rumor or rumour is often viewed as "an unverified account or explanation of events circulating from person to person and pertaining to an object, event, or issue in public concern" However, a review of the research on rumor conducted by Pendleton in 1998 found that research across sociology,...
, notably in the yellow press
Yellow journalism
Yellow journalism or the yellow press is a type of journalism that presents little or no legitimate well-researched news and instead uses eye-catching headlines to sell more newspapers. Techniques may include exaggerations of news events, scandal-mongering, or sensationalism...
, that Marco Timoleon may have killed his wife, either intentionally or unintentionally, and the tycoon himself feels no need ever to disperse them.
As his children grow up, Timoleon tries to prepare them for adult life but soon realizes that there is little he can do to mould their characters and influence their decisions. He finds out that Sofia is more and more taking after him, especially as far as her voracious sexual appetite is concerned. Moving out of the family home, which is now in Paris, France, at the age of 18, she embarks on a life described by the narrator as a "permanent holiday":
Sofia was interested in business even less than her brother was. She had struggled through boarding-schoolBoarding schoolA boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
, graduating only thanks to a generous donationDonationA donation is a gift given by physical or legal persons, typically for charitable purposes and/or to benefit a cause. A donation may take various forms, including cash, services, new or used goods including clothing, toys, food, and vehicles...
from Marco Timoleon and refusing to continue to university despite her father's pressure and the pleas of Miss Rees, whom Marco had asked to mediate knowing the retired governess still wielded influence over his daughter.
These days Sofia passed her time travelling with an ever-growing group of friends, who depended on her generosityGenerosityGenerosity is the habit of giving freely without expecting anything in return. It can involve offering time, assets or talents to aid someone in need...
and agreed with everything that she said before she said it. They stayed at exclusive hotels where they demanded the best rooms without having made reservations. Marco Timoleon's reputation and money meant that foreign dignitaries in curlersHair ironA hair iron or hair tong is a tool used to change the structure of the hair using heat. There are three general kinds: curling irons, used to make the hair curly, straightening irons, commonly called straighteners or flat irons, used to straighten the hair, and crimping irons, used to create crimps...
, half-shaved ambassadors with lather on their cheeks and honeymooners in bathrobes were asked to vacate their suites with the excuse that a mistake had been made in allocating their rooms. [...]
The world in the morning was an unknown planet to her: no matter when she went to bed, at midnight or at dawn, she woke up in late afternoon, usually with company, having inherited her father's sexual energy. She had lunch in bed, naked, letting her ephemeral lover feed her, and then took a long bath, not to cleanse herself of sin, for she believed neither in sinSinIn religion, sin is the violation or deviation of an eternal divine law or standard. The term sin may also refer to the state of having committed such a violation. Christians believe the moral code of conduct is decreed by God In religion, sin (also called peccancy) is the violation or deviation...
nor retributionRetributionRetribution may refer to:* Retributive justice* Retribution Engine, a video game engine* Retribution , a novel by Jilliane Hoffman* Retribution , a poem by Longfellow...
, but to give the stranger time to dress and leave the room. Not caring about social class, she slept with waiters, bellboysBellhopA bellhop, also bellboy or bellman, is a hotel porter, who helps patrons with their luggage while checking in or out. Bellhops often wear a uniform , like certain other page boys or doormen...
and security guards as long as they had a nice face and a good body. [...] (Chapter 4)
Daniel Timoleon, on the other hand, has developed into an inconspicuous introvert
Extraversion and introversion
The trait of extraversion-introversion is a central dimension of human personality theories.Extraverts tend to be gregarious, assertive, and interested in seeking out external stimulus. Introverts, in contrast, tend to be introspective, quiet and less sociable. They are not necessarily loners but...
whose only passion is flying planes: he shows no interest whatsoever in his father's business and ignores each of the eligible
Eligibility
Eligibility may refer to:* The right to run for office , sometimes called passive suffrage or voting eligibility* Desirability as a marriage partner, as in the term eligible bachelor...
young women presented to him by his father. The family is ripped further apart when, in 1969, Timoleon, now 66, meets 33 year-old American divorcee Olivia Andersen and in the following year decides to marry her. Sofia takes an instant dislike to her stepmother, and it only takes a few years for Timoleon's second marriage to show signs of failure, too, so much so that in the end Olivia, whose permanent residence is a penthouse apartment
Penthouse apartment
A penthouse apartment or penthouse is an apartment that is on one of the highest floors of an apartment building. Penthouses are typically differentiated from other apartments by luxury features.-History:...
in New York City, is not allowed to enter her husband's island without his prior consent.
In early 1973 Ian Forster, an eager British journalist, approaches Timoleon with the proposal to write his authorised biography. Timoleon agrees to the project and pays all of Forster's expenses although he soon turns out to be far less co-operative than Forster would have wished. Also, he has him sign a confidentiality agreement
Non-disclosure agreement
A non-disclosure agreement , also known as a confidentiality agreement , confidential disclosure agreement , proprietary information agreement , or secrecy agreement, is a legal contract between at least two parties that outlines confidential material, knowledge, or information that the parties...
so that the young would-be author lives in constant fear of never being able to publish his extensively researched book. While interviewing everyone still alive who has ever been close to the shipping magnate, Forster also makes the acquaintance of Sofia Timoleon, who, without her knowledge, is being spied on by her father's private investigators. Probably out of boredom
Boredom
Boredom is an emotional state experienced when an individual is without any activity or is not interested in their surroundings. The first recorded use of the word boredom is in the novel Bleak House by Charles Dickens, written in 1852, in which it appears six times, although the expression to be a...
, Sofia adds Forster to her long list of lovers, but their unexpected mutual attraction leads to a longer love affair conducted in what they believe is absolute secrecy. In truth, however, Timoleon is informed about each and every move the two lovers make.
Despite the 1973 oil crisis
1973 oil crisis
The 1973 oil crisis started in October 1973, when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries or the OAPEC proclaimed an oil embargo. This was "in response to the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military" during the Yom Kippur war. It lasted until March 1974. With the...
, which affects his business badly, the biggest blow to Timoleon's life is his son's death in a plane crash in the summer of 1974. While entertaining a married woman half his age in his earthly paradise for the weekend, Timoleon sees one of his old Piaggio
Piaggio Aero
Piaggio Aero Industries is an aircraft manufacturing company born from the former Rinaldo Piaggio SPA, an Italian company. The company is one of the world's oldest airplane manufacturers, and its planes have been well known from the early days of aviation history.Today, Piaggio Aero Industries is...
seaplanes piloted by Daniel approaching the island in bad weather and actually becomes an eye-witness to his son's fatal accident when the plane is overturned during the landing procedure. Timoleon is shattered by the loss of his child, and his robust health slowly starts to deteriorate, the most obvious sign for the ageing tycoon being the realisation of his sudden impotence
Erectile dysfunction
Erectile dysfunction is sexual dysfunction characterized by the inability to develop or maintain an erection of the penis during sexual performance....
.
Naturally, Timoleon turns his attention to his daughter as his last hope. When he is informed in the spring of 1975 that Sofia has seen her gynaecologist
Gynaecology
Gynaecology or gynecology is the medical practice dealing with the health of the female reproductive system . Literally, outside medicine, it means "the science of women"...
and he listens to a taped telephone conversation between her and Forster in which she informs her lover that she is pregnant, he feels the urgent need to do something about this uncalled for situation before it is too late. Intending to persuade Sofia to have an abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
right during her stay on the island, he has one of the many guest rooms of his villa converted into an operating theatre
Operating theatre
An operating theater was a non-sterile, tiered theater or amphitheater in which students and other spectators could watch surgeons perform surgery...
, hires Dr Patrikios and a nurse to perform the operation, and, to her great surprise, sends Sofia an invitation to a lavish birthday party in honour of her 25th birthday. On the day of the party, he arranges a private talk with Ian Forster during which he threateningly explains to him that he will be allowed to publish anything about his life on condition that he can persuade Sofia to have an abortion and that he subsequently vanish from her life forever. When Forster cautiously broaches the subject to Sofia, she realises how little her love for him is reciprocated. She tells Forster that she has never been pregnant, that she only wanted to put his loyalty to the test, and that he has failed that test as far as she is concerned. Then she breaks off their relationship and retires to her room while the party is still in full swing. There, having inherited her mother's melancholy
Melancholia
Melancholia , also lugubriousness, from the Latin lugere, to mourn; moroseness, from the Latin morosus, self-willed, fastidious habit; wistfulness, from old English wist: intent, or saturnine, , in contemporary usage, is a mood disorder of non-specific depression,...
disposition, Sofia swallows an overdose of pills. She survives her suicide attempt because on the following day she is rescued by Dr Patrikios and the nurse.
Marco Timoleon dies two years later, aged 74.
Parallels to the life of Aristotle Onassis
- Onassis, who hailed from İzmir, also belonged to the Greek minority in Asia MinorAnatoliaAnatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
. - He also went to Buenos Aires as a young man and worked there for a telephone company.
- The fictional and the historical shipping magnate resorted to similarly shady business practices.
- They both led an active sex life.
- Onassis also married into money—his first wife was Athina LivanosAthina LivanosAthina Mary Livanos Onassis Spencer-Churchill Niarchos was the second daughter of the Greek shipping magnate Stavros Livanos. She was best known as the first wife of Aristotle Onassis, but she later married her older sister Eugenia's widower, Stavros Niarchos...
, the daughter of a Greek business mogul. His second marriage to Jacqueline Kennedy was also to a woman many years his junior who was a Catholic U.S. citizen. - Timoleon's unnamed private island resembles SkorpiosSkorpiosSkorpios is a private island in the Ionian Sea off the western coast of Greece and just to the east of the island of Lefkada. The 2001 census reported a population of two inhabitants...
, the island in the Ionian SeaIonian SeaThe Ionian Sea , is an arm of the Mediterranean Sea, south of the Adriatic Sea. It is bounded by southern Italy including Calabria, Sicily and the Salento peninsula to the west, southern Albania to the north, and a large number of Greek islands, including Corfu, Zante, Kephalonia, Ithaka, and...
owned by Onassis. - Christina OChristina OChristina O is one of the world's longest private motor yachts at 325 feet 3 inches . She was originally a Canadian called HMCS Stormont and was launched in 1943. She served as a convoy escort during the Battle of the Atlantic and was present at the D-Day landings...
, the Onassis family yacht, named after Christina OnassisChristina Onassis-See also:*Christina, a song dedicated to her by artist - Patty Griffin*Christina O - the Onassis family yacht, named after Christina by her father-External links:...
by her father, was, just like The Sofia in the novel, one of the most famous society venues of the mid-20th century. - Alexandros Onassis also died in a plane crash a few years before his father's death.
Reviews
- Jonathan Derbyshire: "The Birthday Party", Financial TimesFinancial TimesThe Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
(August 11, 2007). - Jonathan Gibbs: "The Birthday Party, by Panos Karnezis, The Independent on SundayThe IndependentThe Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
(July 18, 2007). - Maya Jaggi: "The Rich Also Cry", The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
(July 21, 2007). - Mark Sanderson: "The Cunningly Told Story of a Domestic Tyrant", The Daily TelegraphThe Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
(August 1, 2007). - "The Last Tycoon You Would Want", The ScotsmanThe ScotsmanThe Scotsman is a British newspaper, published in Edinburgh.As of August 2011 it had an audited circulation of 38,423, down from about 100,000 in the 1980s....
(July 7, 2007). - "Making of a Magnate", www.metro.co.uk (June 28, 2007).