Captain Corelli's Mandolin (Vintage Classics) [Import] [Paperback]

Louis de Bernieres (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 8, 2010 | Series: Vintage Classics

Extravagant, inventive, emotionally sweeping, Captain Corelli's Mandolin is the story of a timeless place that one day wakes up to find itself in the jaws of history. The place is the Greek island of Cephallonia, where gods once dabbled in the affairs of men and the local saint periodically rises from his sarcophagus to cure the mad. Then the tide of World War II rolls onto the island's shores in the form of the conquering Italian army.

Caught in the occupation are Pelagia, a willful, beautiful young woman, and the two suitors vying for her love: Mandras, a gentle fisherman turned ruthless guerilla, and the charming, mandolin-playing Captain Corelli, a reluctant officer of the Italian garrison on the island. Rich with loyalties and betrayals, and set against a landscape where the factual blends seamlessly with the fantastic, Captain Corelli's Mandolin is a passionate novel as rich in ideas as it is genuinely moving.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Brims with all the grand topics of literature — love and death, heroism and skull-duggery, humor and pathos, not to mention art and religion…A good old-fashioned novel."
—Washington Post Book World

"An exuberant mixture of history and romance, written with a wit that is incandescent"
—Los Angeles Times Book Review

"Stunning…A high-spirited historical romance…Remarkable."
—The New York Times Book Review

"His novel will give pleasure to all sorts of readers. It is also so good that it will last."
—A.S. Byatt writing in Evening Standard

"Captain Corelli’s Mandolin is an emotional, funny, stunning novel which swings with wide smoothness between joy and bleakness, personal lives and history…it’s lyrical and angry, satirical and earnest."
—Observer

"A wonderful, hypnotic novel of fabulous scope and tremendous iridescent charm."
—Joseph Heller

"It is funny, heartbreaking, and horrifying in its fictional testimony….Captain Corelli's Mandolin, delightful and sad, comic and at the same time nearly unbearable in its portrayal of European darkness during the war, is a tour de force depiction of the triumph of life over evil by one of Europe's great comic writers of our time."
—Booklist

"Dazzling.…a fabulous book in the tradition of Tolstoy and Dickens.…So joyous and heartbreaking, so rich and musical and wise, that reading it is like discovering anew the enchanting power of fiction."
—San Francisco Chronicle

From the Inside Flap

Extravagant, inventive, emotionally sweeping, Corelli's Mandolin is the story of a timeless place that one day wakes up to find itself in the jaws of history. The place is the Greek island of Cephallonia, where gods once dabbled in the affairs of men and the local saint periodically rises from his sarcophagus to cure the mad. Then the tide of World War II rolls onto the island's shores in the form of the conquering Italian army.
Caught in the occupation are Pelagia, a willful, beautiful young woman, and the two suitors vying for her love: Mandras, a gentle fisherman turned ruthless guerilla, and the charming, mandolin-playing Captain Corelli, a reluctant officer of the Italian garrison on the island. Rich with loyalties and betrayals, and set against a landscape where the factual blends seamlessly with the fantastic, Corelli's Mandolin is a passionate novel as rich in ideas as it is genuinely moving.


From the Trade Paperback edition. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 560 pages
• Publisher: Vintage Classics (March 8, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 009954086X
• ISBN-13: 978-0099540861
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 1.1 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (68 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,809,376 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Magical yet realistic, January 31, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Captain Corelli's Mandolin (Audio Cassette)

This is a wonderful book; beautiful, realistic, magical, and unbelievably sad. In,for example, the book's gradual transition from the idyllic beauty of the island at first, to the bleakness and the hardship that follows, we can see the real effect of war on people's lives; how some things change and some last, and how neither occurrence is guaranteed. Along the way, we also get insights into not only the central characters' lives, but also of the other characters or even figures of power, as well as the historical background told in a striking, interesting manner.

This book had me crying throughout the entire last day that I read it; however, while this to me shows that it must have been great to be so moving, I also do fall into the group of people who did not like the ending. Partly, I admit, it was because I found it too sad; too cruel, like a Hardyish twist of fate, that the child that gave meaning to Pelagia's life after Corelli's departure should have been the reason he stayed away. But partly, I also felt that de Bernieres' condensing of nearly half a century's story into the last quarter of the book was unnecessary, and the events somewhat implausible. Having created such a wonderful world of characters (sometimes when reading it, it seemed more real than ordinary life), it seemed a waste to leave it behind.

However, the book itself is an incredible piece of writing, and one of the best books I have ever read. The rating I have given "Captain Corelli's Mandolin" could be counted as full marks for the main bulk of the book, and considerably less for the last quarter/fifth of the book.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Captivating, August 29, 2000

By 

Ben Heywood (London, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Captain Corelli's Mandolin (Audio Cassette)

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.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Smashing stuff :), August 22, 2000

By 

Kriz (Hong Kong) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Captain Corelli's Mandolin (Audio Cassette)

This novel is one of the best books that I have ever read. In my short 16 year-old life, I have not yet read any book even remotely comparable to the emotions and afterthoughts I have experienced throughout my reading of this novel. It is not only a semi-historical novel, it is a demonstration of the humour, tragedy, human fallacies and qualities in a time of conflict. The happenings de Bernieres describes are vivid, breathtakingly colourful...sometimes I wish that I myself could experience the lives of Pellagia or Corelli, just to feel what they felt at times of intense happiness, sadness or love. Although the beginning may be unattractively slow, or long-winded, don't be put off, because you'll definitely be missing out on the wealth of literary ecstacy later on....the ending, I'll just say that you shouldn't expect anything; but ultimately, it is more realistic than any other corny movie ending where "everyone lives happily ever after". Anyway, I believe that ANYONE should read this book. Life would less exciting without it. :)