Love Among the Greeks

By Bob Strother

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1424100348
• ISBN13: 9781424100347
• Release Date: April 2006
• Publisher: Publish America
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

You'll Love These Greeks

With a style that's smooth, sleek and Southern, Bob Strother entices us to travel back in time to a world as familiar to the fraternity/sorority alumnus as it is foreign to the uninitiated. Love Among the Greeks carries us through the first stormy college years of Johnny Chase - the ups and downs of love, friendship, and fraternity, and the painful process of growing into adulthood. It is a pleasure to immerse ourselves in his velvety writing. Bob has created a strong, interesting set of characters and he brings them to life with a pleasantly fluent stroke of his pen. Johnny Chase says, "Shoulder to shoulder with the other Kappa Sigma brothers and pledges, I experienced the warm glow of belonging." Bob has made it possible for all of us to experience that warm glow of belonging by sharing with us his Love Among the Greeks.

A Thinking Man's "Animal House"

At first glance, Bob Strother's "Love Among the Greeks" might seem to be a retelling of a certain John Belushi flick. The setting--Fraternity Row during the early Sixties--and specific elements--such as frat-boy pranks, toga parties, grotesque Homecoming Day parade floats, and even the song "Louie Louie"--are common to both works. But if the reader expects one silly scene after another, think again! With all due respect to the movie mentioned above (one of my favorites, I should add), Mr. Strother's novel actually has a plot. The story centers around a love triangle involving Johnny Chase, his girlfriend Randy Roberts, and her roommate Rivers Lloyd during their freshman and sophomore years at the University of Chattanooga. Think "Some Kind of Wonderful" for the Baby Boomer generation, but don't expect a schmaltzy ending. From page one, the infamous "Hell Night" scene ("Thank you, sir! May I have another!"), Mr. Strother disarms the reader with his down-to-earth prose. Just when you've gotten comfortable with Johnny Chase's frank narration of his questionable moral choices (Oliver Cromwell's "warts and all" remark might have easily crossed our Kappa Sigma brother's mind), Mr. Strother challenges your assumptions. One of my favorite scenes occurs in the mailroom of the Tri-State Life Insurance Company, where Johnny and his three curious female coworkers thumb through an insurance executive's copies of "Eros" magazine. The three women ask Johnny to judge which of them is the best kisser. Like Aphrodite, Millie (the most knowledgeable of the three in matters of the flesh) tempts Johnny into declaring her the winner of the make-out contest. But unlike Paris, Johnny accepts the bribe and then keeps his mouth shut. "You know, there's not a way in the world I'm going to answer that question," Johnny tells the disappointed trio. "No matter what I say, two of y'all are going to be mad." That Johnny could be wise enough to avoid a Trojan War in this instance but foolish enough to sabotage his relationship with Randy is nothing short of a Greek tragedy.

A Trip Inside Frat Boy's Brain

If you've ever wondered what goes on inside a frat boy's head--or if you once were a frat boy and want to take a trip down memory lane--this book is for you. If you want a book that will make you remember your college days with a smile (whether or not you've ever been inside a frat house--I haven't) this book is for you. Bob Strother takes us back to the early sixties with ease. His understated but evocative prose escorts us through the era, with Johnny Chase as our guide. This was a fun read, one that I hated to see end.

Delightful and Delicious

Bob Strother escorts us through hallowed halls of youth which must tweak the Greek to warm remembrance and sadden the Barbarian not so favored by the gods. Just as Pat Conroy compels us to whiff the surf of South Carolina beaches, Strother delights the senses with exquisitely entwined local architecture and charm, venues and settings from the Appalachian Mountains to the sweat-drenched sand of Daytona. Strother's dialogue sweetly captures the innocence we fail to recognize until it begins evaporating from our lives. He carries us back to backseat love, going steady, Popsicles, ice sickles and broken hearts. We traipse lightly through the turbulent '60's as our own age of innocence and romance came so slowly to a close, we scarcely noticed. In another time - before Free Love and Watergate -- Strother tickles us with slow dancing as foreplay. Kisses are sweet signets of commitment; explorations of ourselves. Jealousy, confusion, rivalry are compounded by innocence. It's a voyeur's delight which leaves one with face pressed against the window hoping to see more. Strother created in Johnny Chase an artist and a diplomatic gentleman of chivalry. I'd like to know him better. He can be somewhat self-serving and adeptly capable of rationalizing himself. Yet, above all, Johnny Chase is a romantic and Love Among The Greeks enlightens the uninitiated soul to yearn for a seat in the arena.