Captain Corelli's Mandolin

Captain Corelli's Mandolin is set in the early days of the second world war, before Benito Mussolini invaded Greece. Dr Iannis practices medicine on the island of Cephalonia, accompanied by his daughter, Pelagia, to whom he imparts much of his healing art. Even when the Italians do invade, life isn't so bad--at first anyway. The officer in command of the Italian garrison is the cultured Captain Antonio Corelli, who responds to a Nazi greeting of "Heil Hitler" with his own "Heil Puccini", and whose most precious possession is his mandolin. It isn't long before Corelli and Pelagia are involved in a heated affair--despite her engagement to a young fisherman, Mandras, who has gone off to join Greek partisans. Love is complicated enough in wartime, even when the lovers are on the same side. And for Corelli and Pelagia, it becomes increasingly difficult to negotiate the minefield of allegiances, both personal and political, as all around them atrocities mount, former friends become enemies and the ugliness of war infects everyone it touches.

British author Louis de Bernières is well known for his forays into magical realism in such novels as The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts, Señor Vivo and the Coca Lord and The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman. Here he keeps it to a minimum, though certainly the secondary characters with whom he populates his island--the drunken priest, the strongman, the fisherman who swims with dolphins--would be at home in any of his wildly imaginative Latin American fictions. Instead, de Bernières seems interested in dissecting the nature of history as he tells his ever-darkening tale from many different perspectives. Captain Corelli's Mandolin works on many levels, as a love story, a war story and a deconstruction of just what determines the facts that make it into the history books.

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A moving but flawed novel - well worth reading - Rated
There are lots of things to like about this book - I won't list them all because so many other people have, but the things that stand out are Captain Corelli's character (how could they have have cast depressive Nicholas Cage in the film? Roberto Benigni - of 'Life is Beautiful' - was the only possible choice), Pelagia's lovable shrewishness, the humour, unsentimentality, quirkiness and excellent war passages, conveying the horror and brutality of combat and the destructiveness of prejudice and hatred. Problems are De Berniere's self-indulgence, cleverness and tendency to take intrusive authorial stands on political situations, which would be better presented through the characters, leaving us to make up our own minds. The biggest failure of this book is the last 60 pages or so, in which a frantic dash through the history of the island so he can include the earthquake means that Corelli and Pelagia cannot meet up again until they are toothless OAPs. Apart from the frustration of being told in bald summaries the fate of people like the doctor, with whom we have been intimately involved,anyone who has ever lived on a Greek island will know that it is impossible for someone (especially a foreigner) to sneak onto it and creep around unseen. For me the confused beginning and the drawn out ending marred what was a wonderful and moving read, but I would highly recommend it nevertheless. But avoid the film at all costs!

Epic - Rated
This, in my opinion,is one of the greatest stories I have ever read.
Captain Corelli's Mandolin is set during WWII on the Greek island of Cephallonia. It deals with, among many other things, German and Italian invasion, the war as foght between Greece and Italy, communism, facism, homosexuality, honor, betrayal and above all else, Love.

The themes are so wide that I guarantee anyone will find smething they love about this book. I read it as a heartbreaking love story set against the backdrop of a tragic war. I passed it on to my boyfriend as one of my favourite books and he loved it as a political satire on Mussolini and WWII with a pesky love story thrown in.

I cry and laugh every time I read this book. It is truly astonishing. A few people have found it very hard to get through but as the love story does not begin until about half way through the book if you were recommended this book as a romance I can see why you would get fed up. You need to look at this book as an account of War through the eyes of the common man and the futility of invasion. There is a beautiful love story here but this book is so much more than that.

Please persevere with this remarkable book and you may just be blown away.

Breathtaking - Rated
Every so often you read a book that leaves you stunned; this is one of them. Please ,please don't let the first part put you off, persevere and you will be well rewarded with this magnificent tome. This book is all things; hilarious, sad, joyful, frightening and more, it is by far one of the best books I have ever read. If you saw the film first you are in for a treat for the book is 100 times better and has a different ending albeit sadder. If you go to kefelonia you will notice everyone reading this book, but you can curl up on the sofa and enjoy this just the same, make sure you've nothing urgent to do though because once started you will be unable to put it down. Enjoy!

Brilliant - thoroughly recommended - Rated
Took this book on holiday with me and thoroughly enjoyed it.
It made me laugh out loud many times and made me feel like crying more than once.
It works on many levels - a love story, a war story, a lesson in recent history.
All the characters are brilliantly brought to life.
Once you get into it it's almost impossible to put down, I read the last 150 or so pages on 2 consective late night reading sessions.
All in all - a great story, brilliantly told. I felt emotionally drained at the end.

Refreshingly original... - Rated
This book has helped to lighten up the dreadful summer so far! It is written in an refreshingly original style that is almost poetic. De Bernieres's narrative acts as a richly woven tapestry, that slowly draws the reader into the Doctor and Pegalia's world. Apart from the main storyline, it is the supporting characters that help to enrich the novel, with the stories of the Italian soldier, Carlo, Gunter the German occupier, and Mandras the Greek partisan adding poignancy and showing how in the war and the events after it the line between heroes and villains becomes blurred. Whats more, De Bernieres also offers up chapters like 'The Duce' that stray from the main narrative yet build up the general picture displaying the motivations of the major movers in the war, in a style reminiscent of Steinbeck in his 'Grapes of Wrath'. Overall this book is a delight to read, and once you are a few pages in to it, you too will be captivated by the gentle pace and fantastically realised characters.