Stylistically and thematically reminiscent of Raymond Carver, the 16 stories in Something Will Happen, You'll See concern the harsh realities of the working poor suffering from the economic and political crisis in Greece. Christos Ikonomou uses spare punctuation and heavy repetition of words, phrases and paragraphs to mirror the relentlessness of the lives and struggles of his protagonists.
One character tells his drinking companions--a poor naval pensioner, a family man who had to beg for money to pay for a funeral, and a junkie's father--"sometimes I think hatred is like the air we breathe in this city. It may be killing you slowly, but you still can't live without it." Indeed, it is often hatred, of the wealthy, of the police, of politicians, of romantic partners who have failed them, that drives characters' actions--perhaps the only thing that gives them agency in a world outside their control. In a later story, one worker remarks, after going unpaid yet another month, "it's so strange to be poor, you're like one of those penguins they show on TV watching the ice melt all around them and they have no idea what to hold onto or how to keep themselves from going crazy and so they start attacking one another out of fear."
This collection dovetails with The Scapegoat by Sophia Nikolaidou, also translated by Karen Emmerich, which features students questioning education and facing a miserable future due to the austerity crisis. Something Will Happen, You'll See may be their future. --Evan M. Anderson, collection development librarian, Kirkendall Public Library, Ankeny, Iowa