Rating: 
Summary: A Worthy Read
Review: The Leopard is poetry, philosophy, fiction and non-fiction all rolled up into one remarkable story. It was a truly poignant tale of pride and death of the soul. I cried. Then I read it again.
Rating:
Summary: A people in turmoil amidst a standstill. A Cultural Limbo
Review: The vigour and audacity of this novel is never compromised throughout and moreover it is persistently definied with markings of an apocalyptic doom which postmodern currents cannot comprehend (Hence the last reviewers shrug perhaps). To read this novel is to witness the expression of a community in distress, as it finds itself fidgeting to keep its composure while arrested amidst a quandary and a stalemate that courses without ribaldry or expressing disrespect for a tradition and a cultural milieu that preserves its ambiguity and its distorted propriety. The discomfort of the probing characters is strung and picked so as to strike a melodious ravishment that transgresses all values and disarms the structural apogee of the narrative. In its many particulars, and brusque, yet delicate lyrical tendencies, this novel gives delusional recordings of an island distant and beyond memory. Here we hear the tourbadour's chant nearing with incredulous apathy, both the harmony of a siren song, and the discordant twang of a swan song. Sicilians have a heritage of million of years whcih resonates throughout, and apologizing for my not being a Sicilian, I would suggest a visit to Siracusa, Palermo, Catania, or even off the coast to Taranto (Calabria) to remind us that Odysseus was a Sicilian by all means. Why not?, this may be the embodying of an Odyssey the way it ought to be when transported through time. Di Lampedusa is a classic in disguise. A trickster as well as a true philosopher. I have found such a high quality of "delightful disturbance" only in a handful of artists. Primaraly in De Chirico's paintings, which parallels astoundingly well alongside any reading of "Il Gattopardo," much more incisively than any Surrealist writing ever has. In literature a few examples might be found in Stifter's "Indian Summer" or in contemporary authors Duras (The Lopver, The ravishing of Lol," and "The Malady of Death.")and in W.G. Sebald (especially in his masterwork "The Emigrants.") I ought to add Thomas Mann ("Buddenbrooks," "Doctor Faustus," "The Magic Mountain," and "Death in Venice.") although so much has been said about the last, and Mann is such a virtuoso, that the terror and the sheer lax angst is perhaps dissipated within the operative of the narrative and compelling lyrical brilliance. All are a must read, but it is only in DiLampedusa that a special stunning clarity pervades. It is only in accepting the fading and palliating of life's "truth" that the ensuing beravement of sorrow commences to compose a tale so real it says nothing, if not that, not to be trite, "all is just dust in the wind." However Di Lampedusa conspires - abetted by cultural ebulliance and elegance both - to navigate this voyage as if seized within a standstill. Chimed from afar floats a decadent sweltering heat, while basking underneath is found the novel's storyline. Please plug your ears, or have someone tie you to something or other, else would that you were to identify yourself with one of the novel's lives you'd never leave: In blissfull doom you'd perish along this shoreline! Hereby the island's lure is a perfect lie that speaks fables of yesterday in daring, lingering overtones, consonant with the cunning splendid mirage of sex appeal. A Book for all and none....
Rating:
Summary: The Great Italian Novel
Review: There are books which express the "national character" of a culture. These are the so-called Great National Novels: for instance Walter Scott's for Scotland. I think Il Gattopardo (the original name) is such a book for Italy. The Prince's attitude and words, the famous "we need that all changes in order for everything to remain the same" sums up Italian history in the last 500 years perfectly. One of the treasures of world literature.
Rating:
Summary: A Forgotten Classic??
Review: This is a wonderful historical novel/character study/satire of political "progress" that pays homage to Stendhal. Di Lampedusa's Don Fabrizio (based on the author's own great grandfather), Prince of Salina of Sicily, is an unforgettable character - full of himself and his pampered, aristocratic life, wiley and politically astute, lusty, yet loving, compassionate and melancholicly romantic. The history of the Italian Risorgimento is fascinating. It's a shame that this wonderful writer wrote so little before he died.
Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written historical and familial saga.
Review: This is highly enjoyable reading. The original Italian version is so well written as to give a real physical pleasure to the reader. I would compare it to "Gone with the wind" as a "book of a lifetime", but the characters are much deeper and the historical vision helps us understand even today's Sicily. A beautiful fresco of a disappearing world in Garibaldi's times, giving everlasting views and truths on the future.
Rating:
Summary: An exquisite depiction of changes - political and personal.
Review: This novel is so beautifully written - you feel for the characters. You become a part of Don Fabrizio's world - his happiness and his sadness. I had to read this novel for an Italian History class as an undergrad. It made me want to learn everything about Italy's history - the nation, the people, and the extraordinary emotions. An amazlingly beautiful story, "The Leopard" is worth every moment spent immersed in the world of Italy's aristocracy.
Rating:
Summary: The Leopard--di Lampedusa's portrayal of his ancestors
Review: Throughout this whole book, di Lampedusa creates a centraltheme of death and destruction--the last word is "dust." Butas an old power slowly fades away into the past, a new generation, determined to unite a country so long seperated, takes power from the failing aristocracy, and with it, inherits the same problems that plaugued their ancestors for centuries. Even as di Lampedusa wrote this tale about his ancestors, Sicily was still a lot poorer than the rest of Italy, a situation that is present throughout this book. Putting history aside, what makes this book most enjoyably is the deeply constructed characters and their interaction with one another as history unfolds on the island.
Rating:
Summary: Things changed and did not remain the same
Review: To call Lampedusa's masterpiece "The Leopard" the Italian "War & Peace" --or "Gone with the Wind", for that matter -- is too much to reduce this superb novel to a copy of a more famous book-- what the Italian novel is very very far from being. However, the three novels have some resonance, this novel stands on its own.Using the decadency of a wealthy family, Lampedusa created a beautiful metaphor for his country. The sentence that perfectly describes the spirit of this novel is "Things must change if they are to remain the same". But throughout our reading, one realizes that things changed, and didn't remain the same. One of the highlights of the writer's style is the description. From the beginning the narrative is filled with beautiful descriptions of places, people and food. When a garden is described with abundance of details it feels like where are there with The Prince and his dog Bendicò. But, my favorite segment is the one after the first dinner, when a pudding is served. It feels like we can taste that dessert. And not for a second these profound descriptions are boring or take a detour from the narrative. The characters are also fully developed and presented. From The Prince himself to his dog Bendicò --a lovely character, by the way-- were come across real people that live, and not act. And this is more than we can ask to a novel. People like Trancredi and Angelica come alive when the writer unfolds a story that lasts 50 years. For its political and novelistic achievement, Lampedusa's "The Leopard" is regarded as one of the best books of the 20 Century. And it totally deserves its praise. A novel that won't be easily forgotten by who read it. A classic for the eternity. There is also beautiful film version of this novel, made by Lucchino Visconti in 1963. Both are highly recommended as means of entertainment and culture.
Rating:
Summary: Things changed and did not remain the same
Review: To call Lampedusa's masterpiece "The Leopard" the Italian "War & Peace" --or "Gone with the Wind", for that matter -- is too much to reduce this superb novel to a copy of a more famous book-- what the Italian novel is very very far from being. However, the three novels have some resonance, this novel stands on its own. Using the decadency of a wealthy family, Lampedusa created a beautiful metaphor for his country. The sentence that perfectly describes the spirit of this novel is "Things must change if they are to remain the same". But throughout our reading, one realizes that things changed, and didn't remain the same. One of the highlights of the writer's style is the description. From the beginning the narrative is filled with beautiful descriptions of places, people and food. When a garden is described with abundance of details it feels like where are there with The Prince and his dog Bendicò. But, my favorite segment is the one after the first dinner, when a pudding is served. It feels like we can taste that dessert. And not for a second these profound descriptions are boring or take a detour from the narrative. The characters are also fully developed and presented. From The Prince himself to his dog Bendicò --a lovely character, by the way-- were come across real people that live, and not act. And this is more than we can ask to a novel. People like Trancredi and Angelica come alive when the writer unfolds a story that lasts 50 years. For its political and novelistic achievement, Lampedusa's "The Leopard" is regarded as one of the best books of the 20 Century. And it totally deserves its praise. A novel that won't be easily forgotten by who read it. A classic for the eternity. There is also beautiful film version of this novel, made by Lucchino Visconti in 1963. Both are highly recommended as means of entertainment and culture.
Rating: 
Summary: bad book
Review: very boring, not much else to say. narrative style didn't impress me. once again very boring
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