Content Note: Sexual Violence
This is an awful piece of shit book that I had to read for A Level. De Beniere's emotionally manipulates you with a shallow yet aesthetically pleasing folksy depiction of Greek Island life...before he hits with the BIG SMACKDOWN....DUN DUN DUN....COMMUNISM IS BAD...POSSIBLY EVEN WORSE THAN FASCISM...
De Bernieres smears the Greek Communist resistance against Nazism as a gang of psychopaths, even going as far to use attempted rape of one of the main characters to do so. When he was called out of this, he had a massive piss baby fit and rambled the same shitty narratives about totalitarianism.
In conclusion, this book is a real big piece of shit.

This historical fiction and romance by English author Louis de Bernières, set in Kefalonia (Cephalonia) during WWII, was the winner of the 1995 Commonwealth Writer’s Prize. Pelagia is the daughter of the island’s doctor, the educated and patriotic Dr Iannis. She grows up learning the healing arts from him, and gets engaged to the handsome Mandras. Mandras goes off to fight with a group of rather extremist communist Greek partisans and does not reply her devoted letters.

Captain Antonio Corelli lands on the island with his regiment of occupying Italian soldiers. Sadly this only happened at the end of Chapter 23 out of 77, as the book dragged a little for me before this. Corelli is a death of fresh air, with his devotion to his choir and mandolin, cheeky humour and compassionate sense of honour. Corelli is stationed at the doctor’s home as a boarder. Gradually Pelagia and Corelli fall in love, despite the obstacles of war and being natural enemies.

The was a great book which highlights the culture and ways of the island, the joy of romance and the atrocities of war, including the 1943 massacre of the Acqui troops by German soldiers. Following the Italian surrender to the Allies, the Germans demanded their dearmourement, provoking a conflict which ended up with 9,500 of the 12,000 Acqui troops being killed, over 5,000 being murdered by an execution squad.

I loved the story and de Bernière’s witty and ironic writing style, my only complaint was there was just too much of it. While there were some comical side stories, like the strong man, the drunken priest and the hermit who thought he’d seen a parachuting angel, there was just too much of it for me. This was one of the rare cases when I enjoyed the movie as much as the book. I have previously enjoyed his Australian story Red Dog, so I’d be keen to try another of his books.

Má dovolená byla trochu ve znamení Louise de Bernières, a tahle perla byla poslední kousek, který jsem měl s sebou. A možná ten nejlepší. Film jsem zatím neviděl a je otázka, jestli se na něj ještě teď podívám, kniha mě ale dostala totálně. Nic tam nechybí, je tam to řecké horko, příjemná atmosféra i pohostinnost kterou známe z dovolených, za tím už ale vystrkují rohy všelijací oškliví démoni jak z minulosti, tak ze současnosti. A najednou je ze středomořské idylky peklo a všichni ti andělé okolo shazují bílé hábity a vytahují na vás vidle. Někdy z toho mrazí, někdy vás to dojme, někdy rozesměje, ale nikdy vás to nenechá jen tak. Výborná věc.

This book had so much charm that I would occasionally lose sight of how serious it was. I would be thinking of it as lighthearted and then there would be a chapter or two about the stark brutality of war. I enjoyed this book but I have rarely cried so hard.

Highly recommended.

Řecký ostrov, přes který se převalily dějiny. Ta kniha je vlastně hlavně o lásce, o přátelství a o tom, co pro sebe lidi dovedou udělat, když k sobě patří (a nemyslím to jen partnersky). Vlastně jsem ji otevřel proto, že vyšlo nové vydání a já si tak po letech chtěl smazat jeden literární dluh, malý hřích. Má to pomalejší rozjezd, ale díky němu se přenesete do doby a na to místo a pak už si jen užíváte úžasnou atmosféru šestého největšího řeckého ostrova. Budete se smát (hodně), budete plakat (nejen na konci) a vůbec, ani trochu, se vám nebude chtít z toho světa odejít. Na konci jsem popoháněl oči, aby četly co nejrychleji, protože jsem hrozně potřeboval vědět, jak to dopadne. Je to komplexní, mnohovrstevnatá kniha, na kterou nezapomenu.

Dnes nebo zítra si chci pustit film, snad mě nezklame.

Captain Corelli's Mandolin Louis de Bernières A thoroughly enjoyable book, which brought me laughter sadness anger happiness disappointment redemption and wastefulness. In essence this story was a love triangle between Pelagia (local Doctor Lannis daughter) Mandras her first sweetheart a young local fisherman, whom she fell out of love after Mandras never kept in contact after he went away to fight the Italian and German invasion, only because he was illiterate and ashamed he couldn't write to her, she lied to him only was to her detriment later on in the story. Meanwhile along comes Antonio the sophisticated suave Italian musician slash philosopher soldier who per chance was billeted to her and Doctor Lannis home. At first she hated the captain staunchly even tried to sabotage his pistol by washing it with the dishes, she then got used to him and put up with his crazy antics which were overboard apparently like a typical Italian. Then she battled with herself and in the end succumbed to her emotions and finally fell head over heels in love, a love that in the end could never be. But all that was brutally torn away by Italy's surrender in 1943 then the true war crime against the Italian 33rd Acqui division which lead to the deaths of 9000 Italian soldiers a deed instigated by the notorious German first mountain division, who racked a string of war crimes throughout the war. This story left you with a feeling of profound feelings of sorrow for Pelagia & Antonio she definitely had loved and lost and she had known nothing but loss and tragedy through most of her life from her mother's death all the way to losing Antonio in a very unusual way. I loved this book brought out so many emotions.

Poignant and humorous, Corelli’s Mandolin takes the reader on a journey through both the landscape of the gorgeous Greek island of Cephallonia and the troubled hearts and minds of its inhabitants. Pelagia we meet from the beginning-a doctor’s daughter, a fresh maiden, a a captivating beauty. She jumps at the chance to affiance herself to Mandras, a fisherman who sees his glory in the coming war.
Invasion is imminent and Italy finds excuses to wreak havoc in Greece. The forces land on both the mainland and the islands, including Cephallonia. Enter Antonio Corelli and his mandolin. He is billeted with Pelagia and her father, and romance ensues. But what of Mandras?
The civil war in Greece that takes place at the same time as WWII is not forgotten on these pages. A resistance group called ELAS hides in the mountains stealing from the villagers and shooting all those who stand in their way. They are communists. This upheaval continues into the 1950s, mostly against those who wish the royal family back in leadership. There is bombing, looting, raping, internment camps. The book continues to cover this story as well. I had thought it was just a war love story. I was ever so wrong.
This book is a love story, but it’s also about finding peace; solidarity and unity; support systems; defining unique inspiration; and kindness. I understand why it’s considered a classic.

Captain Corelli's Mandolin has, unfortunately, become victim to it's own success. It has become one of those books that anyone who is anyone has read and so nobody now wants to read for fear of being a fashion victim. It even features in Notting Hill, Hugh Grant is reading it at the very end of the film when he and Julia Roberts are sitting in the garden. However, don't let this put you off - it's a brilliant book.

The story, briefly, is a typical love story.During the 2nd World War, the inhabitants of a small greek island, Cephalonia, have their lives disturbed by the arrival of an invading Italian army. The main characters we are concerned with are the local doctor, Iannis, and his daughter, Pelagia, they are forced to billet the commander of the Italian army, Captain Antonio Corelli, in their home. The islanders do everything they can to make life difficult for the Italians, forming a quiet sort of resistance group, and Pelagia does her bit by making life uncomfortable for Captain Corelli. Despite their natural resistance to an invader, Dr Iannis finds a kindred spirit in Corelli and they develop a mutual respect. Iannis is a poet at heart, he is working on a History of Cephallonia and Corelli too is a natural poet. Corelli is naturally averse to a life in the army, he is a musician (playing the mandolin of the title) who wants nothing more from life than to play and write music. He is not a natural military leader, preferring to organise his men to sing opera than to set patrols, but he gains their respect through his strong character.

We don't meet Corelli till half way through the book but he is instantly likeable and the electricity between him and Pelagia can't be missed.

What is it about this book that makes it so brilliant? The odd-ball characters, like the strongman Megalo Velisarios or Father Arsenios the overweight priest?;is it the wonderful descriptions of the Greek Island of Cephalonia?; is it the love/hate relationship between Corelli and Pelagia?

Louis de Bernieres has a wonderful style of writing, interspersing the main thread of the story with what seem at first sight to be unconnected anecdotes. In this book these anecdotes centre around Prime Minister Metaxas of Greece, Mussolini and a soldier named Guercio amongst Saints and madmen!

These sidetrackings initially deterred my mum from reading this book - after I had read it and raved to her that she "had to read it" but if you take them at face value, eventually you begin to see their significance to the story. It's a bit like life, I guess, no one story exists in isolation, de Bernieres seems to say, everything is influenced by what has happened in the past or what is happening elsewhere in the world. "No man is an island" John Donne said, and even on the island of Cepphalonia, where things seem not to have changed since the time of St Gerasimos, the outside world encroaches and people are effected by the events outside their own sphere of existence.

Read this book and you will be caught up by the story of Corelli and Pelagia and you will feel the warm Greek sun on your face. However I'm sure you will never imagine Nicholas Cage as Captain Corelli.

This is one of those books that I didn't actually have much interest in reading; nothing about it appealed to me, and watching the movie a few years ago didn't change that. But for some reason that eludes me now, I picked up a copy from somewhere, and after having it sit on my shelf for another year or so, I finally read it as part of my 2010 TBR Challenge. And I must say, as mentally exerting as it can be at times, it was well worth it.

Set on the picturesque Greek island of Cephallonia during WWII, the novel has a much broader focus than just the island and several key characters. It is, if nothing else, a chronicle of the war from the Greek perspective - a forgotten, overlooked perspective. While on the island, the story is about beautiful Pelagia, the doctor's daughter, and her romance with an Italian captain, Antonio Corelli, but the larger novel is also about the absurdity of war; the rise of a fascist group in Greece after the War, who pretended to be Communists (or maybe we should just change the meaning of the word "communist" since there are so few "real" communists that are anything like socialists); the failure of the Allies to protect Greece, over-run as it was with Nazis; the sad poignancy of unrequited love; how illiteracy and lack of education can lead to brain-washing; and how a life of sorrow and bitter loneliness can be lived based solely on a misperception.

It's a hard book to summarise beyond the basics, and a harder book still to talk about because it's so busy. Slow and steady but highly detailed and shifting often between parallel stories. Different characters carry their own storyline, sometimes for just a chapter, sometimes ongoing, all serving to flesh out the context of what's happening in and around Cephallonia. It's quite the masterpiece, but like many things worth reading, it's not the easiest read. It can be dense, and slow, and at times even a bit obscure. The first, oh, 120 pages took me about two weeks to read and I honestly wondered if I'd be able to finish it; then, finally, Captain Corelli turned up and things really picked up. The next two hundred pages went by in a flash before it slowed down a bit, leading towards a comfortably-paced ending.

The aspect of the novel that deals with the war, with the mechanics of it, the poor organisation, the fruitlessness of it, the absurdity of it, reminded me strongly of n  Catch-22n. Leaders are portrayed as either buffoons or sad, impotent losers. Their decisions are farcical, and people die for it. It's tragic, and yet like many tragic things, heavily loaded with irony. Or perhaps we could say, irony is heavy loaded with tragedy. Either way, the impact hits you right in the gut.

One of my favourite characters was Carlo, the secretively gay Bombardier who loves deeply but must always keep it to himself. He is a real hero, and from his journal as well as how we see him through other characters' eyes, he becomes a truly beloved character. He wasn't the only character - the novel is populated with engaging characters, people like Dr Iannis and his garrulous friends, Psipsina the pine marten and the delightfully curious Lemoni. The main characters - Pelagia, Dr Iannis, Antonio, Mandras and Carlo - are the most fully-realised, all their flaws laid bare as well as their strengths. And because the story takes place not just before and during the war, but well into the 90s, we see their lives play out like a true Shakespearian tragi-comedy.

I would have loved a map of the region, though. While I was able to keep up with most of the larger-scale events thanks to teaching history and reading n  Safe Area Goražden about the war in Bosnia, I knowledge of the European map is a bit sketchy (for some reason I struggle to even mentally place where France is in relation to other countries, and vice versa - it's always lower than I expect it to be) and I wasn't always sure where action was taking place. A map of southern Europe, with places relevant to the story included, would have really helped me, especially in that first 120 pages. As for events, it is beneficial to have a working knowledge of WWII - some things are clearly explained and expanded on, and the Greek aspect, like I said, is well covered; but at times I lost my place in events and time.

The tragic irony - those two always go hand-in-hand, don't they? - that permeates the novel at times makes it more heartbreaking than if it had been straight and serious. More sympathetic, certainly. There are times when the story turns brutal - or, rather, depicts the brutality of war, and I'm not talking about dying in battle, to which we still consider a certain degree of honour is attached. It's especially heart-wrenching to consider that the best phase of the war for the Cephallonians were the golden days when the Italians "occupied" them - reluctantly, and quite differently from the Nazis whom they shared occupation with. To see what happened after Italy changed sides, I'd like to think that de Bernières is exaggerating, but the Jews were by no means the only ethnic or religious group to suffer under the Nazis, I'll leave it at that.

I did have a few quotes I wanted to share, while I was reading it, but a good week has gone by since I finished it, and considering it took me over a month to read, I can't remember where they were or what they were. But it does have some fantastic lines, dry, witty, sophisticated, harsh, honest, sweet and shy. It's an impressive novel, and while I don't know that I'll be reading any more of his books in the near future - it was an absolute slog, after all - I was still deeply impressed by what he achieved with Captain Corelli's Mandolin.

DNF at 20% (page 100).

I bought this in a 2nd hand bookstore because I enjoyed the writing on the first few pages. After many years sitting on my shelves I brought it with me on vacation in Kefalonia because it was set there. I hoped it will make the reading experience a lot more interesting. I am not sure what went wrong. The writing seems funny and elaborate but it was such a chore to advance. I felt I was running in the sand. I almost never opened the book with anticipation and I preferred to finish another book instead. I think the writing is too flourished, it gave me the impression that the author thinks too much of himself and his book, trying too hard to be funny and serious at the same time. The result was tedious for me but many seem to like his writing.

Hate the movie (even though i love Nic Cage) love the book.Last 100 something pages i could not stop crying.Because even though she was rich and comfortable in the end, she was not happy and missing her dad and lover.She was missing the days they were on the edge of dying from hunger because she had loved ones then.Maybe because i was far away from my mom that time it really hit home.

This is such a beautiful book that I am more than willing to ignore its faults. A tender love story which makes the geography of Kephallonia a main character; a memoir of war and its futility; a testament to the fact that us humans are indeed capable of good things, if we only learn how to suppress our defective side; and a biography of the human soul as present in all of us. Yes, sure, it's a relatively cookie cutter story. You expect many things before they happen; weirdly, though, when they happen, you're not mad. Rarely have cliches left me so completely lacking annoyance at their existence. Yes, sure the first quarter of the book is not the best executed piece of writing I have ever seen. In fact, after chapter three I had kind of given up on reading it and started on other things, only to come back to it, read 20 more pages and then not be able to put it down for the next day. It has a rhythm to it, maybe something of the sounds of mandolins mixed with the dreaded passage of time, and it makes me think of the merciless ticking of the clock, tuned to the beat of a heart that's never stopped loving. THIS is how you do a love story.