Customer Reviews

Comrade Don Camillo

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My home library contains some fabulous titles from Signor Guareschi. Over the years my wife and my brother and I have started guarding them with our lives. Particularly the above title. What a sublime humour and a bygone era. I went to Italy to see Palmar and the river Po. Made lot of Italian friends on that trip. Read Guareschi. Particularly the House that Nino Built.

I read this book when I was only thirteen, which wasn't old enough to grasp all of the subtleties in Guareschi's political and cultural satire and humor, but I did get some of it, despite my basically still being a kid. The book pokes fun at both Italian and Soviet politics through the antics of the irrepressible Comrade Camillo, a mischievous priest who has his own agenda in accepting the invitation to visit the Soviet Union. Guareschi wrote a number of other successful books, including a series of Don Camillo books, but I don't know how many of them were translated into English. If there were, I never saw any of them, but I enjoyed this one, and it now stands as a window into another era of Cold War politics that is rapidly receding in the wake of the Berlin Wall's coming down and now the events of of 9/11.

Giovanni Guareschi's irascible, irrepressible
Don Camilloworms his way into a select group
chosen by his rival Peppone (nowa Senator) to
receive a guided tour of Kruschev's USSR.
Can Don Camillo turn the hearts of a few
"godless Communists" without bringing ruin
on his old friend?

This fifth Don Camillo book dates from 1964
and is the only one to take the beloved
characters from their Po Valley setting, but
Guareschi still works his magic on the reader.

The author Giovanni Guareschi died in 1968. His books are now hard to obtain and probably the humour has lost its bite as conditions in the world have overtaken many ideas and viewpoints. They must be viewed in context with the era of Stalin , communism and Catholicism. The effects they had upon people and countries such as Italy- though the thoughts and views given to the priest Don Camillo, which are also those of the author were very outspoken and thought provoking. It is ,however, the humour portrayed and the relationship between the priest and constant chats and entreaties from both that makes the books highly entertaining and worth reading. They are quite difficult to obtain but draw out the humanity and #everyman# roots of all.For anyone who might remember the 60,s they are icons - for the youger generation - read them for the humour at a time when there was not .

I have just received Comrade Don Camillo from my daughter who came back to Chile from a visit to the US. It is a lovely clean copy and I am 100% satisfied!

I have just finished rereading this book for the umpteenth time.
Even after all these readings, the lump in my throat and the tears in my eyes
are bigger than ever. The humor is gentle. The characters are so beautiful
and lovable that you feel a close friendship with them. I love all the
Don Camillo books, but this one to me is far and away the best.

I recommend "With God in Russia" by Father Walter Ciszek SJ who writes
about his time in the Russian prison (for being a priest) and his experiences
after his sentence was complete, but he was not allowed to leave the country.

All I can say about both these books is:

If you have a heart it will be touched.

Please see my review for the Don Camillo and His Flock.Same is applicable, great read for a good laugh.

I hadn't read any Don camillo books since high school. Since where I live, no library has Guareshi books, I shelled out the money for 'Comrade Don Camillo' and wasn't disapointed. Even if you have not read any of Don Camillo's adventures, no matter, as you Guareshi immediately pulls you into his world. There is a chuckle on every page (small chuckles, but nonetheless). Here father Camillo finagles his way onto a communist-sponsored trip to the Soviet Union and sets upon frustrating/annoying Peppone--all to allow the Italian comrades on the trip to see the light. There is even a quite touching episode concerning an Italian and his Polish wife stuck in rural Soviet Union. Setting part of it in the Soviet Union allowed Guareshi to take the gloves off againts communism at another point--although never in a way that detracted from his humor.

I was thinking of giving it four stars. Reason? Too short. Dreaded turning each page, knowing that I was coming closer to finishing the book.

The book I received was a shrink-wrapped, new book, printed years ago, without a dust cover.