Corelli's Mandolin

Drugi put citana knjiga. Ono cega se sjecam bila je ljubavna prica i njezini glavni i sporedni protagonisti, a sada i znam zasto. Ostalo nije vrijedno sjecanja. :P
Realno, 200 stranica previse!

This apparently little-known book is a jewel. Written with passion and incandescant humor, the novel recreates WWII-era Greece (and to a certain extent, the rest of Fascist-occupied Europe at that time) with striking beauty. The characters are unforgettable and nearly all likeable; raw pathos, tragedy, comedy, and romance are fused into one gripping narrative that defies classification. It is, if anything, an effective composition of high Romance and a coming-of-age story: two classic stories in one. But it never takes itself seriously. The story is remarkably erudite, also: historical data is incorporated seamlessly into the story, and the many classic and contemporary references are treated with the same delight as the meat of the story itself. The overall impression of the book is that of a touching, highly entertaining story written by one with a deep love of the people and places.  Corelli's Mandolin: A Novel is among my highest-recommended book.

It was great in parts but dull at times that it bored me to death. I am just glad that it's over.

The author may have tried to accomplish too much with this story. Like Shakespeare and Melville, he includes passages that could practically stand alone as good advice on living or doing something. There are some high-level summaries of historical developments that perhaps do not belong here, at least in that format. There is a certain amount of technical detail about music that left me behind. He could have just deleted the early chapter on Mussolini. And if I wanted to be picky (I don't) I could point out developments that felt a little contrived. Those are my reservations.

But on the other hand we have the depth and appeal of the principal characters, and the author's affectionate and benevolent view (while not failing to acknowledge their human limitations). The story opened my eyes to a region and to events that were new to me, brought a range of heartfelt responses including laughter and tears, and kept me riveted from start to finish. I was sorry to reach the end. This may not be a great novel, but it's very, very, very good -- certainly better in terms of character development than others of a similar genre (say, Doctor Zhivago or Gone With the Wind).

I enjoyed the structuring of this novel and moreso Louis de Bernières' writing style. The novel itself was a mix of historical and personal account during wartime Europe. The story followed a couple of vantage points with the first from Italian troops deploying to Albania, then forward-deploying to a small island in Greece. The Italian forces were Axis Power troops cooperating with the German military. The second was the insular life of Greek culture and its people as war & ideological hemorraghing forces itself onto the island. Of these points, the story of romance and the tragedy of war were emashed to create a solemn story.


Though set admist war and tragedy there seemed glimpses of hope. I guess hope can be a powerful thing as seen in the ending of the novel. Overall I liked the colorful imagery and text utilization to paint a big picture as the story progressed. I have not seen the 2001 movie starring Nicholas Cage and Penelope Cruz so I don't know how they compare. Thanks!

n  "Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away."n
—Doctor Iannis.


Απαπα!
Why, oh why did I wait twenty years to read this enchanting novel?

Being something of a contrarian, I didn't succumb to the rampant Corellimania that existed after this novel's release in 1994, but I'm especially pleased that I have now righted this wrong.
Bernières serves up a Greek wartime love story that is as multi-layered as a Sunday moussaka.
Set on the Ionian island of Cephalonia during Italian and German WWII occupation, the book hits the ground running. Before you’ve even sniffed the mezze, Louis conjures up a delightful opening scene in Dr Iannis's surgery that should have you chuckling out loud before you can shout taramasalata!

Admittedly, Bernières does go off the rails for a bit, retreating into a one-man word orgy, all too pleased with his own authorial genius. This results in some superfluity in the early chapters.
But don't worry, stick with it, fellow bibliophiles; once this frippery subsides, the main players are introduced and the story gathers momentum.
Doctor Iannis, and daughter Pelagia, are the beating heart of a modern fable that even Aesop would have been proud to put his name to.
Girl-power-Pelagia, whose presence is intrinsic to the story, is brought up to be fiercely independent, as her father knows only too well that wartime Greece is resolutely patriarchal.
We also learn about in-the-closet, Italian man-mountain, Carlo Piero Guercio, who was previously sent on a suicide mission to wintry Albania (where beards became stalactites and soldiers purposely shit themselves in order to savour some momentary warmth).
Happily, Carlo's repressed homosexuality, and his unassailable bravery, is written with the nobility it deserves.
"I am exploding with the fire of love and there is none to accept it or nourish it," he laments.

Apparently, Bernières has done a huge disservice to the memory of the real-life Greek freedom fighters, who fought valiantly against their oppressors; but, from a purely artistic standpoint, the timeless futility of war is exemplified within these pages to such a degree that it makes Catch-22 seem a mere Catch-11 in comparison.

Enter reluctant warrior, Captain Antonio Corelli, heading a ragtag troop of Italian soldiers who march into Cephalonia pulling funny faces and blowing kisses at signorinas.
You might be pleased to know that despite a copious infusion of delightful humour, the author ensures that the stark horrors of war are not expunged. And there is a passage, approaching the last part of the book, that is so lion-hearted, so profoundly sad, and so utterly moving that I had to put the book down to allow my emotion to subside.

The populace, and the soldiers themselves, are starving, but between the rocks of such hardship, fragile love affairs begin to blossom. And, as in all good love stories, there is a great deal of sacrifice and heartache to be found. One such example is that heroic Carlo secretly harbours a profound amore for Captain Corelli which, crushingly, has to remain secret.

By the end of this sweeping, tragicomic epic, I have a feeling that most of you will have grown to love Carlo, Antonio, Iannis and Pelagia as much as I did.
Such was my excitement in the reading of this book I, of course, began smashing plates on the kitchen floor, shouting “Opa!”

God, it was truly a great read, fully deserving of all five stars!

Un libro che fa pensare. Che ti impone di sapere. I riferimenti storici sono tanti, e non solo quelli dell'eccidio dell'esercito italiano. C'è tanta Grecia, da farmi sentire in colpa per come l'Europa ha trattato questo popolo, c'è tutto l'orrore della guerra, e c'è la delicatezza di una storia d'amore d'altri tempi, nel posto sbagliato e nel momento sbagliato.
E mi ha fatto venir voglia di vedere Cefalonia.

I am happy I give finally read this book. I have to agree with other reviews and say the second part was a bit anticlimactic and dare I say silly. After the war and assuming Pelagia was married and not checking is bizzare. Saying that I learnt a lot about Kefalonia and the Italian massacre, Greek civil war and 1953 earthquake.

The characters in the book are fantastic. Dr Iannis, Corelli, Pelagia, Mandras and his mother, the goat and pine marten all add to the colour. Finally, Carlo is my favorite with his ultimate sacrifice saving Corelli from the firing squad. I now will have to watch the film and see how Hollywood butchered it.