I must admit I was slow to warm up to this novel. de Berniere's prose are beautiful, dramatic, and flow so smoothly that I felt compelled to forge through his initial meanderings. Once the characters sprang to life I was enraptured, if not obsessed with their happenings and felt as if I was part of their lives. This may be the only downfall of reading such an enchanting tale.... I was compelled to read into the wee hours of the morning unable to rest the book upon my nightstand! And I cried when it was finished. I don't remember what enticed me to read this heretofore unknown author's tale, but I'm so happy that I have had the experience!

The presence of--& intrepidly sudden breaks from--romantic conventions is what makes "Corelli's Mandolin" (alongside its romantic older brother, book two of his Latin American trilogy, the devastating love tale "Senor Vivo and the Coca Lord") one of the MOST ROMANTIC novels of ALL TIME. On par with "Gone With the Wind," & other epics like "Cold Mountain" & "The English Patient," it truly was, to this impressionable-though-selective reader, what is the equivalent of a wondrous trip to Adult Disneyland, where surprises loom ever-near, and whimsy runs amok.

But what makes this utterly brilliant is the prose (on top of an unpredictable and thrilling plot). The writer is this supernova de Bernieres (all 4 of his novels at this point are in my Must-Read List). Here, you realize exactly WHY you read. WHY people bother to write--if you are Louis De Bernieres you simply cannot not keep producing. The gift is almost mythical, and you are compelled to feel that the auteur has had the TIME of his LIFE writing this, writing and falling head-over-heels in love with his creation which, indeed, depicts LOVE and is, itself, wholly a product of love--the love of beautiful prose.

In "Corelli", the tricks and poetics already explored in the often-lauded Latin American trilogy, collaborate once more to make a solid work of art. As is customary, just as this tale takes one of its manifold dark turns, when times in the Greek island are dire, desperate and almost-hopeless, the titular character appears & drives the darkness away. This, as if a gift from the Greek gods themselves. Or the gift from a master to his drooling spectator.

This, his fourth (amazing!!!) concoction, puts in evidence the fact that not ALL magic realism belongs to sir Garcia Marquez. Louis de Bernieres' brand is all his own: humorous, unpredictably playful and savagely biting. The effect lasts outside of the book; the novel is a rotund success. My favorite of Louis de Bernieres (so far).

I devoured Corelli's Mandolin like some bon vivant living in the 20th century. Like a character in one of his novels, in fact. I became for a full two days, a blissful accomplice, just grateful to be nothing but a hoodwinked voyeur.

Felt all the feels ❤️


“We forgave the British and the Venetians. Perhaps we won’t forgive the Germans. I don’t know. And in any case, the barbarians have always been convenient; we have usually had someone else to blame for our catastrophes. It will be easy to forgive you, because all of you are dead.”

“But at last she understood the true source of all his fortitude and sacrifice, and she understood that nothing is less obvious in a man than that which seems unquestionable.”

The writing was brilliant! The author moved from biting humor lampooning one or another political power to heartbreaking confessions of longing and loneliness, from the tender dialogue between a father and his only child to the laugh-out-loud antics of drunken soldiers with equal skill. Even minor characters came to life with memorable clarity. I thought I disliked romances and had my fill of WWII novels, but I was wrong. I could have finished this in a few days, I simply did not want to put it down, but I forced myself to read it in small chunks so I could make it last as long as possible. I am certain this will make the list of my favorite books of the year.