Long Lost Dog of It Paperback – April 2, 2014

Long Lost Dog of It is a rarity. Oftentimes you'll find a book that's well-written, but full of flat automatons that we've seen a hundred times before - or the reverse happens where you end up with interesting characters and lacking prose. That's not the case with Kazepis's debut novel, which weaves several narratives together with such a mastery of language, and an understanding of the complexity of human nature that by the time I finished it I could only say to myself, "Damn, this is how it's done."

This is my biggest pleasant surprise of the year. I loved this. It's got a little bit of everything: Lesbian lovers drinking away their nights at punk shows and strip clubs, interntional hitmen, a disgraced cop turned vagrant, hallucinatory scenes of Greek mobsters smoking DMT, and all backdropped by massive austerity protests and absolute chaos. This is the Greece that you won't see on TV, the seedy underbelly, and it's a refreshing setting for one of my favorite noir novels I've read in a while. Add in the Kathleen Hanna references and the fact that the title is taken from a Black Flag song and what's not to like?

I read the book over two days in jury duty last week and I don't know if you know much about jury duty, but for the most part you are just in some sort of limbo waiting outside of the world around you, it's somewhat surreal. While reading the book I was transported to a world very unlike my own while currently already being in a world unlike my own. I remember finishing the book and going "damn, I liked that" not out loud, mind you, because I was in the "quiet room" but then we were sent out for lunch and I didn't want to eat, I just wandered the downtown area having to remind myself what world I was actually in. I'm going to sit on it for a few months before I give it a second read through and get some more cohesive thoughts on it, but for now I'll just say, "damn, I liked that."

Awesome little novel that's both hilarious and full of heart. It takes place in Greece, which adds some interesting flavor to what may seem a more general noir.Feels like Bolano and Fellini with splashes of Jean Pierre Melville.Absolutely amazing.

This simply did not work for me. The narrative was too wandering and unfocused. I never knew exactly what was going on. Each chapter shows a different character. They're like little slices of life, showing a few moments of their lives, then moving on to someone else. I felt like the structure could have been better, placing the individual chapters closer together, maybe two or three at a time. When you get back to the first person you forget what was going on with them in the first place. It's hard to remember which name is attached to who making it more confusing. It's like the author didn't know which story he wanted to tell so he told them all. The story was just too unfocused and hard to follow.Kazepis can write a good sentence there's no doubt about that. He injects a lot of heart and love into his words, it's just that he has a hard time telling an actual story with them. It never really goes anywhere and the different characters never interact until toward the end. In full disclosure I didn't actually make it to the end. I finally gave it up at seventy-five percent and had to put it down. Clearly I'm in the minority judging from other reviews, but there must be something I missed.There's a lot of heart in this book that's nicely written, but meanders far too much, which ultimately caused me to lose interest.

I bought this book the day it came out and when I came home from work a few nights later I started reading just to get a feel for it and ended up reading the s*** out of it in just three hours. I do not consider myself a reader. I usually read maybe one or two books a year and it takes a few weeks to get through a whole book as I am very slow. However Michael Kazepis' book read like a movie. The scenes were vivid, the characters distinct, and with dialogue witty. To be honest I was a little disappointed that it was over so quickly. But that was quickly made up for by what happened next. Wanting to thank the author for a fun night of reading I tweeted out the book with some kind words and thought nothing of it. The next day I awoke to over a thousand new followers, (only had about 30 to begin with) and everybody wanted to talk about the book. "What does it mean?" "What do you think he was trying to say?" "I feel I understand this character's point of view because..." It was overwhelming for me because I'm not a critic, I'm not literary minded; I just had fun reading a book. So I tried answering a few questions and private messages and to my surprise it lead to women sending me pictures of themselves with offesr to hook up and men sending me invitations to hang out and asking for advice.Now I am not saying that if you read this book you will have a similar experience where women will want to be with you and men will want to be you; but I am saying that spending a few hours on this book will be rewarding, the degree to which will vary.

I read a lot of books and I never end up finishing them at times. I have ADD when it comes to reading. And when I read this book... I couldn't stop reading it. Why? Simply put, this writer cares about every single detail. I was blown away at how the book is put together from beginning to end. I loved the style of writing and look forward to future releases from this author.

First let my say I read about 1 book a year. I picked up this book to read during vacation and enjoyed it thoroughly. Quick moving, gritty story. Only negative is I read it in 3 days and nothing to read the rest of vacation. Great read!!!

The Long Lost Dog of It is the debut novel by Michael Kazepis, a writer who I hadn’t heard of previously. It’s published by Broken River Books, who are fast becoming one of my favourite indie publishing houses.The novel is set in Athens during one of the anti-austerity protests that brought the city to a halt in 2011. The narrative focuses on the lives of a vagrant who used to be a police officer, a young lesbian couple who are having serious relationship difficulties, and a hitman who has returned home for his father’s funeral. They have nothing in common with the exception of a violent incident that occurs in the latter half of the tale – an incident that impacts on their lives in ways both major and minor.TLLDOI is quite an original spin on the ensemble cast novel. Usually, these kind of ensemble cast novels are linked by an event that happens at the beginning or first half of the tale, and the characters’ tales develop out of this event. TLLDOI turns this on its head and deals with what happens to these people before the main event. It unfolds at an unhurried pace, taking its time, revelling in the details – the sights, sounds and smells of Athens – and lets the characters breathe a bit before finally tightening its grip on the story.TLLDOI is superbly written. Kazepis has a poet’s eye for a descriptive turn of phrase. He doesn’t ladle on the metaphors, nor does he waste words in getting to the point. He builds his characters well and brings them to life with some choice dialogue and dramatic moments. Of course, some characters are stronger than others. Maniotis, the hitman, is incredibly strong, as is Varia, the vagrant, and some of the supporting characters like Karras and Mesrine are just as fully realised. The tale of Junesong and Pallas, the lesbian couple, although strong, didn’t hold my attention as well as the other stories, partly because the main focus of the narrative, involving Maniotis, would have worked just as well if they weren’t in it. Still, that’s a minor caveat.And it also has one of the best action sequences I’ve read in several years. A gunfight between two of the characters that escalates into a wider conflict with the police and ties most of the characters together in one way or another. I doubt very much that I’ll read a more stunning setpiece this year.TLLDOI is a very confident debut by a writer with real promise. It’s another hit for J. David Osborne’s Broken River Books, and it comes highly recommended.

A book that perfectly captures the uncertainty of living during a financial crisis, reflected in the troubled relationships of its protagonists. There were times when I felt I had seen and visited the mean streets of Greece.Try to read it in one sitting as I left a gap between starting it and finishing the book.Trust me, this will help you to keep up with the reasonably large cast for slim volume, and for the most part seem superfluous to the plot and perhaps the reason why some critics found it a little bit hard to read.I look forward to the authors next book, whilst keeping an eye out for his selections as a publisher, filled under King Shot Press.

The hot, tense streets of Athens are as much a character of this book as the lost souls that in their different ways find their lives have somehow unraveled. Stark, poetic and enigmatic. Highly recommended.