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Summary: " What have they done with the lives we laid aside"
Review: It is 1914 and Captain Antonio Corelli, a young Italian officer, is posted to the Greek island of Cephallonia as part of the occupying forces. At first he is osctracised by the locals, but as a conscientous but far from fanatical soldier, he proves in time to be civilised, humorous - and a consummate musician. When the local doctor's daughter's letters to her fiance go unanswered, the working of the eternal triangle seems inevitable.I first decided to read this book when the movie was about to be released but now I find that it is quiet different - it is much better. I would have to agree that the book is often much better than the movie. !!!!
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Summary: A book that will have you laughing and crying simultaneously
Review: Like other readers I struggled with this book for the first two chapters, but after that became entirely engrossed and I was so glad I stuck with it! Louis De Bernieres has truly written a masterpiece. I kept checking on how many pages I had left as I didn't want to leave the idealic island of Cephallonia. The characters created are incredibly warm, real and very funny but just when you least expect it you are shocked to read graphic descriptions of war and its devastating effects. This will be a novel that you will always remember. A true literary masterpiece that entertains every step of the way.
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Summary: It took me three tries to read it, but it was worth it.
Review: I picked up this book three times, and was disappointed to get bogged down & turned off in the first 80 pp. the first two. But god, the third time, it stuck, and I was able to continue, and I'm still experiencing aftershocks. An intelligent, literary, lyrical novel - I wept copiously over Carlo while reading a local cafe and wasn't even embarassed. I share the general consensus that the ending was a disappointment (and I wasn't expecting a happily-ever-after) in that the mungeing together of so many years into so few pages was clumsy, but my love for the rest of the story makes me forgiving. I refuse to see the movie (the dreadfully miscast Nicholas Cage and his atrocious accent - ugh!) and encourage anyone who is curious after seeing the preview to read the book instead. The most moving novel I have read in a long time.
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Summary: Awesome Book!!!!
Review: My grandfather brought this book for me from England, saying that he had heard great reviews about it. Though a little aprehensive at first, because I know how his book selection can be, I found myself in love with this book. I couldn't put it down and would stay up late into the night hoping that Corelli would return to Pelagia. I am 15 and have given Captain Corelli's Mandolin to my English teacher to read because it is a truly inspiring and great book. It shows the the torture of lost loves, and beauty when the two lost loves are finally reunited. I fell in love with this book, and now I wish I hadn't read it so fast, but instead, savored every last word of it. The vocabulary used is tantalizing, making this book a masterpiece. He joins things together, never once mentioning something that didn't have some sort of importance later on down the road. Everybody should read this book........I have a long line waiting after my English teacher!!
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Summary: A breathtaking novel
Review: Truly a breathtaking novel. I am from Grece and the character and flavor of the book captures the small idealic life on the Greek island. I loved how the author interspersed Greek words and phrases in the novel, i.e. Lemoni means lemon. The historical parralells in the novel are wonderful, the earthquake did happen. Grab this book and read it before the movie. When you see the movie, the book will blossom in your mind. Even better go and see this island, you will not want to leave.
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Summary: A Very Difficult Read
Review: This was a tough one. It felt as though the author was on a mission to use every word in the dictionary only once. People just don't speak this way. It took me less time to read Atlas Shrugged.
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Summary: A world of Emotions
Review: The book takes you back in those years were things were simple and you did not need much to aprecciate life. Through historical events shows the transformation of places and people's lives to a struggle for both survival and maintainance of dignity. A war can tear people apart but can also bring enemies together through feelings and emotions that know no teritorial differences. The amazing thing is that stories like this one, have taken place through history and this is precisely what makes this book so wonderful. We are reminded through this book, feelings and emotions that everyday life has taken away. This is a book that helps to understand the Greek way of thinking, but i believe that everybody can find part of his/herself in it. I am not an expert in criticizing books but i don't believe that you have to be a proffesional to understand the impact of a book on yoursefl. I just hope you all enjoy it as much as i did.
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Summary: A students view of Captain Corelli's Mandolin
Review: I was introduced to the novel through my English course. Admittedly I wasn't overjoyed at the prospect of reading such a large novel, but it wasn't long before I was completely engrossed in the story. As a love story it excelled all others I have ever read, as a historical war story it didn't contain too many facts to really weigh the reader down, but similarly didn't contain too few. De Bernieres' depiction of war left me realising just how much of an affect it has. As a teenager I wasn't fully aware of the atrocities of war, but as I came to know the characters I really began to understand their pain. This is one novel I have no doubts I will read again, and will, without a doubt, recommend it to my friends. It is a beautifully written book that I defy anyone not to cry to.
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Summary: impossible to put it down
Review: Surely one of the best books I've read to date. Bernieres' use of the language is captivating, full of insight and very poetic at places. A must-read for all who cannot miss a good story about love, life, death and politics.
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Summary: Captivating
Review: As someone who has been known to consume novels in mere hours, I rearely buy books - I borrow them instead. After countless recommendations, however, I picked up a copy of Louis de Bernieres' novel in an airport bookshop, and read the first sentence, to me always the yardstick of whether a book will be worth the read or not. 25 minutes later the shop assistant was asking me whether I wanted to buy it, a smile on her face. I did, and never have I been alternately amused, entertained, moved, educated and captivated by a novel to actually read it through to the finish without interruption - of any kind. I was near silent for the entire plane journey - an eight hour flight. The only sounds I made were stifled, tearful laughter, and stifled, tearful sobs. Words will not suffice to describe Captain Corelli's Mandolin. Written in a richly lyrical style by a man in utter command of language (and not just English), the humour is infectious, the story compelling, the characters so fully fleshed it is almost as though you know them personally - and this of course means that the tragic events which do eventually follow strike home on the heart like nothing you will have read before or will read again. Tears do not roll down my cheeks that easily, yet Carlo's heroism has stayed with me weeks afterwards, as has Corelli's spirit, Pelagia's beauty and Doctor Iannis' indefatigable spirit. Yes, the last 70 pages add an epilogue that seems a touch out of place - maybe John Madden's film will address this - but nothing can detract from the humanity that has gone before, or the pathos and the sheer beauty of de Bernieres' prose. This is the greatest novel I have ever had the fortune to pick up and anyone with a romantic bone in their body should have it as compulsory reading. In a word? Wonderful.
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