Louis de Bernières's Captain Corelli's Mandolin: A Reader's Guide

Corelli is an ass and I wanted to punch his face in.

I found this book a little too wordy in the beginning but lately throughly enjoyed the book. There was great romance, adventure and especially humor. I also learned several historical facts about the 2nd world war that I didn't know.

Loved this book. Still nursing the sunburn I got from Tenby beach because I couldn't put it down.

I was reluctant to start as more than one person had said to me 'it drags in the first bit but eventually picks up.' I really enjoyed the opening half of the book - the brief portraits of Mussolini & Metaxas,the vivid description of war, the depth of character of Carlo, life on Cephalonia. I've decided that the problem is the title of the book. The eponymous hero doesn't enter the story until about page 200 in a book of 500 pages. If de Bernieres had named it, say, "Pre-War Life on a Little Greek Island and Captain Corelli's Mandolin", then perhaps people wouldn't have found the first bit a drag. But not as pithy, I grant you.

That said, the heart of the book is undoubtedly the characterisation of Antonio and Pelagia and their love story. But, SPOILER ALERT, I felt as cross as Pelagia at the end and wanted to throw pots and pans at the writer for letting them go through 50 years apart. I'm a romantic. I can cope with the idea of a certain level of misunderstanding which would keep them apart. Perhaps for 5 - 10 years. Not so long that they wouldn't be able to have their own children. But 50 YEARS! Heartbreaking.

They got the title Wrong. The book is "Corelli's Mandolin" while the movie was "Captain Corelli's Mandolin"

I had been reluctant to read this book and had no thought of seeing the movie based on this book. Any story described as “a tragic love affair” does not sound like it meets my reading goals of being entertained and/or enlightened. However, my friend Chris encouraged me to read “Birds Without Wings” by the same author and I thoroughly enjoyed the book. The previous book was set just before, during and just after WWI in Western Turkey. The broad scope of the book described a Turkish community that was composed of diverse people… arriving at different times in history, conscious of their membership in different “tribes”, but living together as members of a common community. While aware and wary of their differences, there is a general respect, love and compassion among members of the community. However, the politics of war lead “the powers that be” to break apart the diverse communities… sending Christian-Greek descendants living in Turkey to Greece, Muslim-Turkish descendants in Greece to Turkey, genocide of Armenians and a lot of persecution in general. The end of of the book describes communities, decades later, which are ethnically homogeneous but with vestigial cultural memories from former neighbors.

This book is set on a Greek island just before WWII, during the war and decades afterward. It is a Greek island with legends of Greek deities, Orthodox Christianity with local customs, memories of past invaders who are no longer present… and references to Greeks of Turkish background which is a passing reference to the previous book. This island is all Greek. The war brings invaders. Italy occupies the island. The German’s join them. A British spy drops into observe. The Greek residents do not have an army and cannot resist the occupations but they are vocally contemptuous.
At this point the book reminded me of the war propaganda book written by John Steinbeck, “The Moon is Down”. It is a lightly veiled story of the Nazi invasion and occupation of Norway at the beginning of WWII. The occupiers intend to be courteous and respectful of the residents… trying to sow good will. However it fails because occupation by foreign troops is too large an indignity. --- It’s in the news all the time if you can’t find the book. --

This book is a bit different. An eccentric Greek doctor and his daughter encounter an eccentric Italian captain… who is really a musician. The Italians are quite charming. The Germans less so. But on this island the different groups of people discover their commonalities. A lot of text is spent on the differences, however the book is about people from different backgrounds coming together.

But it doesn’t work. It is a war. It is an occupation. It is truly ugly. On one hand, this book is about the tragedies wrought by war. The lives of the islanders look so full and interesting before the war. The people are fascinating. But the war kills many of them. It changes the lives of all of them.

The end of the book takes us to the late 20th century. Instead of wells and oil lamps, the island has water systems, electricity, condominiums and such. The island is a tourist spot with people from all nationalities visiting.Young people are excited about the future.
In a broader aspect, the book is about remixing tribes that were isolated following WWI.

Spoiler… Tragic, unthinkable things happen. But this book does end on a good note. I wish I read it earlier.

One of the best written sweetest romances I've ever read. Ignore Nicolas cages poor acting in the movie.

My favourite book so far. Beautifully written. Slow to start but get past Chapter 3 and you're hooked. I will never watch the Hollywoodised movie - how can you change the ending?!