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carolinajfonseca's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
joejames's review
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
jgintrovertedreader's review against another edition
3.0
Pelagia is a beautiful 17-year-old girl living on the Greek island of Cephallonia when World War II breaks out. The Italians eventually occupy the island and that's when she meets Captain Antonio Corelli, a man who joined the Army because he thought it would give him plenty of time to practice his mandolin.
There were about 100 pages when I was enchanted by this book, from about page 250-350. Everything else was just okay.
The author is a beautiful writer. He's very poetic and his images just leapt to life for me. He's also a very intelligent, multi-lingual writer and my vocabulary, which I think is probably better than average, was not up to the task. Aside from obscure English words, there were bits of Greek, Italian, French, and a smattering of German thrown in for good luck. Wow. I could generally figure out what was going on, but reading this was a little too much like work in some parts. The book is told from many, many, points of view and each voice is very distinct. That's very hard to pull off, so he did get huge points for that.
He also has a little bit of the whole [b:Catch-22|168668|Catch-22|Joseph Heller|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1242256344s/168668.jpg|814330] thing going on. He shows you the absurdity of this whole war--well, this part of it, anyway--very plainly. But where Joseph Heller chose to show the horrible side of war in a very graphic injury that you've read about for a while before you find out what it is, de Bernières horrifies you and then breaks your heart in a couple of scenes that are ultimately tearfully, achingly beautiful. I'm not a crier, but even I welled up a little. He shows that while war can be absurd, it's also ugly, but our more-human moments shine all the more brightly in its darkness. Just beautiful.
The ending--eh. I saw it coming from pretty far out, so it was predictable but still left me hugely frustrated.
You could probably read my favorite 100 pages by themselves and mostly get it without reading everything else. If you ever have time on your hands at the bookstore, give it a try. Mostly though it was a lot of work for such a short payoff. I see here on GR that "people who viewed this also viewed" [b:Love in the Time of Cholera|9712|Love in the Time of Cholera|Gabriel García Márquez|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166052341s/9712.jpg|3285349]. I can see that. So I'll agree. If you enjoyed that one, you'll probably enjoy this one too.
There were about 100 pages when I was enchanted by this book, from about page 250-350. Everything else was just okay.
The author is a beautiful writer. He's very poetic and his images just leapt to life for me. He's also a very intelligent, multi-lingual writer and my vocabulary, which I think is probably better than average, was not up to the task. Aside from obscure English words, there were bits of Greek, Italian, French, and a smattering of German thrown in for good luck. Wow. I could generally figure out what was going on, but reading this was a little too much like work in some parts. The book is told from many, many, points of view and each voice is very distinct. That's very hard to pull off, so he did get huge points for that.
He also has a little bit of the whole [b:Catch-22|168668|Catch-22|Joseph Heller|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1242256344s/168668.jpg|814330] thing going on. He shows you the absurdity of this whole war--well, this part of it, anyway--very plainly. But where Joseph Heller chose to show the horrible side of war in a very graphic injury that you've read about for a while before you find out what it is, de Bernières horrifies you and then breaks your heart in a couple of scenes that are ultimately tearfully, achingly beautiful. I'm not a crier, but even I welled up a little. He shows that while war can be absurd, it's also ugly, but our more-human moments shine all the more brightly in its darkness. Just beautiful.
The ending--eh. I saw it coming from pretty far out, so it was predictable but still left me hugely frustrated.
You could probably read my favorite 100 pages by themselves and mostly get it without reading everything else. If you ever have time on your hands at the bookstore, give it a try. Mostly though it was a lot of work for such a short payoff. I see here on GR that "people who viewed this also viewed" [b:Love in the Time of Cholera|9712|Love in the Time of Cholera|Gabriel García Márquez|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166052341s/9712.jpg|3285349]. I can see that. So I'll agree. If you enjoyed that one, you'll probably enjoy this one too.
nenich19's review against another edition
5.0
DeBernieres displays an exceptionally horrifying talent for writing realistically. The horrors of war, the depressing experience of having to conceal your sexuality in fear of becoming a social outcast, the struggles of the young, love, madness... everything is portrayed so terrifyingly realistically, it's impossible not to love it.
And it's also impossible not to be saddened by it. Other than World War II you get to see the damage civil war has made. It very nearly destroyed the Greek civilization. And all the influences from abroad, America, Russia, United Kingdom only contributed to the demolition of all the values that made up Greece.
It's a novel that made me fall in love with the island life of the old, when things were simple. Today just sucks.
And it's also impossible not to be saddened by it. Other than World War II you get to see the damage civil war has made. It very nearly destroyed the Greek civilization. And all the influences from abroad, America, Russia, United Kingdom only contributed to the demolition of all the values that made up Greece.
It's a novel that made me fall in love with the island life of the old, when things were simple. Today just sucks.
rampaginglibrarian's review against another edition
4.0
I remember reading somewhere recently that some of the youth of today think they are living in the worst of times. I fear maybe they are unaware of history (or maybe it’s just a matter of thinking your own problems are worse than anyone else’s?~it's all in the perspective). I never did see the movie Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, and i can’t remember if it was something i really wanted to see or not, but i’m glad there was nothing to corrupt my reading of Louis de Bernières’ novel Corelli’s Mandolin. De Bernières writes with a lyrical wit and at the end of my reading i found my book riddled with highlighting marks.
Corelli's Mandolin is set on the idyllic Greek island of Cephallonia spanning from the early years of World War II to the mid 1990s (and though many readers seem to think the first hundred pages of this book were slow going, i found them to be a beautiful construction of the characters who will soon take over your heart and soul). Soon the island is occupied by the Italian forces and a certain Captain Corelli who starts to fall in love with the beautiful and willful Pelagia. The feeling is definitely mutual, though Pelagia is engaged to another.
De Bernières weaves together many voices to tell his story, and this book does not make for entirely easy reading. It is a very literary novel and i found myself consulting the dictionary quite often~rather unusual for me. I have been working on it for quite some time (slipping in a few other reads now and then~my neurologist has also been playing around with my migraine meds~a little chemistry experiment really, to see if maybe she can make my head stop hurting~and i think it has zapped my concentration a bit~and perhaps my attention span, and maybe i am getting even more tangential than usual, as evidenced by this whole parenthetical train of thought...). But today, a little more than halfway through, i found myself glued to the spot, unable to put it down. It's funny (or perhaps not so funny~maybe sad) how i can be reading a book set during a war and suddenly be rather surprised by the brutality and ugliness that it contains~and it seems a bit ironic that as i was reading it, just as things were at their worst, i was hearing fireworks outside, bombs bursting in air~at first i thought the imagery was miraculously powerful before i realized what day it was.
I was definitely crying at the end of this story. I sometimes wonder if we are truly crying for the characters we have come to know and love or if we are crying for some part of ourselves.
"History repeats itself, first as tragedy, and then again as tragedy."
Corelli's Mandolin is set on the idyllic Greek island of Cephallonia spanning from the early years of World War II to the mid 1990s (and though many readers seem to think the first hundred pages of this book were slow going, i found them to be a beautiful construction of the characters who will soon take over your heart and soul). Soon the island is occupied by the Italian forces and a certain Captain Corelli who starts to fall in love with the beautiful and willful Pelagia. The feeling is definitely mutual, though Pelagia is engaged to another.
De Bernières weaves together many voices to tell his story, and this book does not make for entirely easy reading. It is a very literary novel and i found myself consulting the dictionary quite often~rather unusual for me. I have been working on it for quite some time (slipping in a few other reads now and then~my neurologist has also been playing around with my migraine meds~a little chemistry experiment really, to see if maybe she can make my head stop hurting~and i think it has zapped my concentration a bit~and perhaps my attention span, and maybe i am getting even more tangential than usual, as evidenced by this whole parenthetical train of thought...). But today, a little more than halfway through, i found myself glued to the spot, unable to put it down. It's funny (or perhaps not so funny~maybe sad) how i can be reading a book set during a war and suddenly be rather surprised by the brutality and ugliness that it contains~and it seems a bit ironic that as i was reading it, just as things were at their worst, i was hearing fireworks outside, bombs bursting in air~at first i thought the imagery was miraculously powerful before i realized what day it was.
I was definitely crying at the end of this story. I sometimes wonder if we are truly crying for the characters we have come to know and love or if we are crying for some part of ourselves.
"History repeats itself, first as tragedy, and then again as tragedy."
robin_s's review
dark
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
juliaec's review against another edition
4.0
I absolutely loved the first 500 pages of this book, and hated the last 20
clamduncan's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
yeastvan's review against another edition
emotional
funny
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0