Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernières

I love this book. What do others who have read it think?

What are your favourite bits? I love the whole book - there's not a dull moment, even the whole history of Cephallonia - but the beginning of the opening chapter, with Dr Iannis removing the pea from old Stamatis' ear, always makes me laugh and I think is my favourite opening chapter of any book I have read. It really grabs the readers attention (granted, the first time I tried reading it I stopped not long after starting it, but I was only about 10 or 11).

Who's your favourite character? I think they're all rich and colourful but I particularly like the antics of Velisarios. But Pelagia, Captain Corelli, and Dr Iannis are all wonderful characters too. And Psipsina the pine marten is funny, as is Lemoni, the little girl.

Discuss!




EDIT: Seriously, has no one read this???

I have! It is fantastic! I really like the chapter about musslini (sp) it is so funny and also very true about politics and dictators.

I have! It is fantastic! I really like the chapter about musslini (sp) it is so funny and also very true about politics and dictators.

Which one is that? I can't remember.

I love this book, I read it after liking the film. The books ending is really sad though, I definately preferred the films ending.:)

I've never seen the film and I'm not sure I want to - the nature of some parts of the book makes it impossible to properly turn it into a film, and from what mum's told me about the film they've changed a heck of a lot.

As for the ending, I think it's more bittersweet than actually sad.:upset:

It's one of my favourite books, although I don't like the history of Cephallonia so much. It's been a long time since I re-read it so I can't really remember much other than the general story.

Has anyone read anything else by Louis de Bernieres? I have 'Birds without wings' and have read about half I think. Some bits are interesting but I never really got into it and gave up sometimes last year. I may try again some time.

I totally agree about the first chapter.

Picking a favourite character is hard - I love them all. Favourite minor character would have to be Bunny (I love the running gag where he moves from speaking Chaucerian to Shakespearean English and so on - a really clever way of playing around with the fact that the book is written in English but we understand that te characters are not really speaking that language).

My students warned me never to see the film - they told me I'd probably kill someone.

lol I've never seen the film, I've heard it's bad though

Lol, sounds it.

To answer your other question: I haven't read any of Louis de Bernière's other books, but I did get "The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts", which I think is worth having just for the title! Hopefully I'll get around to reading that once I've finished re-reading the LOTR.

I felt so bad after reading that book. I cried nearly all the way through it and was more upset that mario the mouse had died than anything else. It's such a brilliantly witty and beautiful story. I'm welling up just thinking about it!!! :lol:

Louis de Bernières is one of my favorite authors. I have read everything he has written to date and I am planning to read his last book “Notwithstanding” in the next few weeks.

I fell in love with his work after reading “Captain Corelli's Mandolin”, but his Latin American trilogy is the best collection I have ever read.
I love the style he uses in his earlier books of multiple narrations. I love the magic realism approach he uses in the trilogy (heavily influenced by Gabriel García Márouez, who is another of my favorite authors) and I love the language he uses, his sentences are melodic and captivating.

Captain Corelli's Mandolin

I don’t really have a favorite character, but I suppose if I did it would be Dr. Iannis, though I am swayed by Carlo and his unselfish devotion.

I love how de Bernières deals with the themes of war, fascism and communism and how well the impact of the war in Europe affects this little Greek island. He has described this novel aptly as "what happens to the little people when megalomaniacs get busy." And it is a theme he explores again in his trilogy.

I will never watch the film again, I can’t believe the shambles they made of the plot and how they changed the personalities of the characters. I don’t like the softening and the unrealistic approach they took, when dealing with the darker parts of the book. Most of all I did not like Nicolas Cage and Penélope Cruz’s two dimentional potrayl of complex, well developed, fleshed out characters.

I hated the change to the ending.
I like the fact Corelli was imperfect. How he rejected Pelagia after the war because he saw her with a baby, and how he didn’t want to know when he found out Carlo was homosexual. I like also that Pelagia has become slightly bitter about how her life turned out. It is realistic and it gets across de Bernières point of how much war can impact and change the lives and attitudes of ordinary people.


Latin American trilogy

Such a wonderful collection of work, I can not recommend enough. The characters are so well developed and thought out. The magic element of the books is so captivating and beautiful.

The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts

The first book deals mostly with the political unstability of a fictional Latin American country and of the war between a corrupt military and the communists guerrillas. Its impact on the everyday people of a small town of Chiriguaná, forces them to react.

The humour is in the everyday people and their reflections of the threat to their hometown as well as their observations of everyday things. The magical elements of the book centre around Aurelio “the magical Sierra-turned-Jungle Indian” who guides the town with acurate premonitions. And the colonial Spanish conquistadors, who where presevered in frozen ice for centuries and are defrosted to become part of the town.
The tragic elements of the novel are the devestating affect of a corupt military on the whole country and how easily the military adapt to a method of horrific torture.

Señor Vivo and the Coca Lord

This book centres around Senor Vivo and his run in with a ruthless coca lord El Jerarca. The story works in parallel with the contiued story of characters in the first novel and with the incompident leadership of the country’s President Veracruz.

The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman.

A contiuation of the story where military coruption and drug trading is now accompnied by another treat to the oridinary people, the corupt amoral clergy of Cardinal Guzman, determined to stamp out the heresy of the countryside.

The books are heartfelt and devastating in parts, horrific and challenging in others, but they contain such underlying sweetness and humor, you become hooked very quickly.


Red Dog

It’s a nicely put together book about a dog, who impacted the lives of several people in Western Australia. The dog is real and de Bernières pieces together its life from the stories of people who remember it.

Birds Without Wings

Not quite up to the previous standard of work, but a beautiful book all the same. I love de Bernières attention to detail in this novel. And you meet and learn the origins of Drosoula (Mandras’s mother) from Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. Again the characters in this story are impacted by the larger issues of the outside world. Political, social and religious differences are the main themes.

A Partisan's Daughter

I was a bit let down by this one. I wasn’t a fan of the characters or the plot. It was well written and good story telling, but the unreliability of the main story teller in the book was frustrating. I felt there was nothing solid to endear me. I found the characters realistic, but empty and unrevealing.

I've almost bought Senor Vivo and the Coco Lord a few times, I han't realised it was part of a trilogy though so I'm now quite glad I didn't.

I couldn't get through Birds without Wings when I started it a couple of years ago, it's still on my bookshelf though and I plan to try again some time.

As for A Partisan's Daughter I enjoyed it in a strange way, it took me a long time to get into, and I didn't really enjoy it especially while reading it but I missed it when I had finished, and I did think about it quite a lot.

I've almost bought Senor Vivo and the Coco Lord a few times, I han't realised it was part of a trilogy though so I'm now quite glad I didn't.

It would be so easy to do - the fact that it is part of a trilogy is not mentioned any where on the book. I recommend the trilogy very much. It’s a lot easier to get into compared to "Birds without wings", I think the characters are much more endearing and humorous. It's fresher and moves quite quickly. There are some pretty horrific parts to it, but it challenges you.

As for A Partisan's Daughter I enjoyed it in a strange way, it took me a long time to get into, and I didn't really enjoy it especially while reading it but I missed it when I had finished, and I did think about it quite a lot.

I might try this again. I think I was expecting a something similar to his previous books and was disapointed. It's why I have put off reading his latest until now.

I saw the film the other day. I decided I couldn't properly criticise it unless I'd seen it...

I was FURIOUS.

:grumble:

I saw the film the other day. I decided I couldn't properly criticise it unless I'd seen it...

I was FURIOUS.

It's a whole lot of bad! Why did he let them do it???

I just finished Notwithstanding Louis de Bernières latest, he is back on form. I really enjoyed it.