Athina Onassis In the Eye of the Storm

I honestly would prefer to give this 2 stars but I can't go quite as far as saying "I don't like it". It's...okay.It is poorly written - poor structure and jumping around the timeline randomly and without warning. It also reads less like a book and more like the transcript from a conversation with someone who says whatever he remembers as he remembers it, even if it isn't relevant to the part of the story he was just talking about.I think also that the author is trying to be diplomatic, just in case Athina one day favours him again. He doesn't really seem to know what to say about these people. But there is info that you can infer (and that's why it's OK not completely disliked). For example, he says over and over that Thierry, Athina's father, fought for years to protect Athina's right to manage her own money, then reveals how Thierry, having brought up Athina to be very dependent and not particularly educated or informed, tricked and emotionally blackmailed her into giving him control of her money. Thierry is a supposedly good papa but he tricks Alexis into tricking Athina into giving Thierry almost $100 million for being a father. Thierry moves all of Athina's money into bank accounts she cannot access but she is a bad daughter for suing him to get access and the reason she lost the case is because she legally gave her dad control of her money...but oh, the only reason she signed her rights away is because her father bullied and tricked her into it...but oh, she wouldn't have sued her father if her husband wasn't manipulating her.So, as I said, I can't dislike or hate it because there's a lot of info I didn't know before. I also like that he doesn't pick a side - after all, Thierry's control of Athina's money is likely as complicated as all that. But it could have been written in some logical flow - chronological order, by incident, something! It is also very repetitive.Finally, there is a lot of tell not show. The author insists that he and Athina were close but doesn't tell anecdotes showing it. A polite two sentence thank you letter from Athina for a gift he sent to her via her father's secretary or whatever, isn't proof of anything. He does say that they vacationed together but up to where I read, he hasn't given any details. I don't need to know every detail about her private life but a couple of cute anecdotes would have been nice.Disclaimer - I quit reading 25% properly in. It is just too difficult to read. I just skimmed through the rest.

One of the best celebrity biographies. A mine of information about the Onassis heiress.As an expat living in Greece where the Onassis family has an almost legendary status I wanted to learn more about the secretive last heir of the famous shipping dynasty. Alexis Mantheakis, the author of this biography, is well known in Greece for his association with the heiress, her father and the family, while numerous prime time news broadcasts have shown him at her side in Athens, in Ibiza, on yachts, as well as at weddings with Athina the immediate family. He writes with candour about her father Thierry Roussel, seen by many as a gold digger and about her husband Doda de Miranda. I too wondered what her life was like and what really took place behind the public facade of the shy heiress seen in the media blitzes everywhere she appeared. This insider book recounts a wide variety of incidents, some frightening, such as the kidnap scare in 1997 in Switzerland, as well as amusing chapters about her grandfather`s drunken antics, and there are accounts of obsessive admirers such as the love-struck Petros, a sixty year old suitor who repeatedly invades Athina`s Swiss villas and her Paris apartment in an attempt to present himself as a potential and highly suitable husband.The book has a wealth of information about the Onassis and Roussel families, revealing carefully kept Onassis family secrets such as the kidnapping by a Turkish officer and disappearance of a 12 year old Onassis girl in Asia Minor, and the lifelong search for her by an uncle of Athina. His journey comes to an end with an unexpected twist. Along with the daily life of the heiress that the aurthor recounts from his presence at the various Roussel family homes and on his travels with them as a family guest, there are accounts of the huge Onassis fortune battle court cases and the intrigues behind them; a legal struggle that took place between Athina`s father and four Onassis Foundation Greeks, all former Onassis executives who fought long and hard against the French former playboy. Along with descriptions of visits to Scorpios, the off limits private Onassis island , Mantheakis attends birthday parties and private dinners at the Ibiza mansion where he is a house guest.The author includes anecdotal stories about Onassis youthful high jinks and a chapter at the end of the book regarding the question of whether there is in fact an Onassis curse on the money that accompanies the name.The length of the victim list is chilling as are the circumstances of their deaths. It remains for the reader to decide whether the tragedies are merely coincidence or if the curse does go hand in hand with the fortune that young Athina Onassis has inherited. All in all a book that for me at least answered many questions, was very interesting and well written. I recommend it to other readers.

Ok for a whatever happened to-not really about Athina much, though.Tons of the court battle, so if you like that you’ll love this.

I just wrote this about another book. But the title suggests it is about the life of Athina. I was 41 percent of my way through it and it was still about the battle for her fortune. Skipped through and it was Aristotle, his marriage to Jackie etc. You might enjoy it, but don't expect much about Athina.

My heart goes out to Athina. I believe her husband is taking advantage of her for the use of her money for his well being. She seems to be walking in her mother's shadow step for step. I only hope she does not go the way of drugs as her mother did and that she can put the Onassis curse to rest.As for the author I felt he was a little full of himself. Very egotistical.I found the web's woven by big money absolutely mind boggling . Hard to follow how it all works, that is probably because I don't have to worry about that in my personal life.It would be hard to trust or believe anybody's allegiance, always wondering if it is your money or you that is their true love.

I ordered my sign on Monday, it was with me on Wednesday of the same week. Beautifully packaged so as to protect the sign. The sign has been made and the name of the house centred. Two holes have been provided along with the Screws and fixings. There is protection provided covering the sign for the drilling, and fixing the protection can then be pealed off when the sign is in position.This was a fantastic service providing young people with work. The service has been second to none.Very happy.

As far as I could make out this was written by an ex-employee with a grudge. It seems there are a lot of snide remarks or criticisms couched as comparisons which didn't impress me in the least and I packed it in at 11% in. He also assumes we all know everything there is to know about Athina-like referring to Sandrine-I'd no idea who she was !!I expected a book about Athina's life but this kicks off with Athina at 19 and with what she was doing then and right away refers to her husband.He mentions all he's done for the family at every turn which I found pretty tiresome and it comes across as a massive dose of sour grapes to me and I wasn't the least bit interested. That wasn't the book I planned on reading when I downloaded it.

Informative in places but this book is really written from his own perspective and as one reviewer wrote it has a lot of Un complementary comments in it. You can tell if there's a person he doesn't like in his narrative from his unflattering remarks and doesn't seem to to like the English characters. If Athina distanced herself you can see why in this book such as unfairly linking Dorsa's death with the Onassis curse, it seems back handed.

I thought this book was going to be a true story type book, but instead it's an insiders account of Athena' s life by one of her father's men.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It was a very good insight into the Onassis family written by someone who knew the family a informative and a very good read. I would recommend it