The Red Horse [Hardcover]

Eugenio Corti (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2000

A literary phenomenon in Italy, this European best-seller was voted the best Italian novel of the decade in a public survey. Its success has gone way beyond Italy, having been translated into Spanish, French, Japanese and 3 other languages. This epic historical novel about World War II and after, written from the author's own personal experiences as an Italian Freedom Fighter, is a profoundly moving account of the war, those who fought in it on both sides, and the effects the war had on families in the author's hometown in northern Italy.

On a wider scale, it is a faithful witness to the actual events of the war—including the historic personages who appear, the Russian campaign, the Nazi barbarism, the Communist gulag, the North Italian resistance, and beyond to the political life in the two decades after the war. This world, filled with powerful personalities, drama and clashing armies, bathes in the complex light of the truth.

A truly great historical novel with its epic scope, what makes this a masterpiece is the underlying spiritual dimensions of the protagonist, his family and friends, which illuminates the ongoing tragedy of the war and its aftermath. In the end, it is a story of faith and hope in a world reduced to barbarism and cruelty.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1000 pages
• Publisher: Ignatius Press; Translated from Italian edition (October 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0898707471
• ISBN-13: 978-0898707472
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 2.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,258,002 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Drama and the hope during World War II, November 27, 2000

By 

Stefano Ratti (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Red Horse (Hardcover)

This is the best book I have ever read! Corti gives us an incredibly deep insight into the Second World War and the immediately following years, the years of the "rebirth" in Italy. His characters' point of view starts always from the deepest and most human desires in a time where destruction and havoc seem to be dominating the world, reducing men to war machines. The pages of the Russian campaign will glue you to the book and will give you a sense of real drama. This book helped me to understand more the meaning of life and provoked me with more questions. Corti gives you a sense of real hope and, at the same time, of real commitment to life, even in the most dramatic circumstances. The size of the book is just an indication of how much you are going to get out of it and, except for a few pages at the beginning, never gets boring.

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best WW2 novels in recent Years, February 14, 2001

By 

Aussie Reader ""Rick"" (Canberra, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Red Horse (Hardcover)

Recently I was sent a copy of Eugenio Corti's novel `The Red Horse' to read. This looked like a daunting task as the book is over 1,000 pages in length. However I was amazed that the pages just seem to fly by. The novel is set in Italy during the Second World War and tells the story of how the war affected Italy and its people through the eyes of some of the participants. The first hundred pages may seem a little boring but I must tell you that after that the narrative moves along at an exciting pace. The story of the Italian soldiers fighting in Russia was magnificent and I don't think that I could go to far wrong in comparing this section of the book to Guy Sajer's `The Forgotten Soldier'. The descriptions of the men and fighting were excellent and I found it hard to put the book down.

I know that many historical authors tend to dismiss the Italian fighting soldier of World War Two but when consideration is given to the weapons and equipment used by the Italian Army it is understandable why they are compared in such bad light to the German soldier or the Allies. I must admit that this book opened my eyes to the misery suffered by the Italian soldiers in Russia and it also fired a desire to read more about the Italian Alpine troops and their campaigns during World War Two, especially in Russia. As I mentioned earlier the first hundred pages may seem boring initially but when you get into the book it makes sense why the author went into such detail about the central characters as we follow them and their families through the war and into the final peace.

I cannot help but feel how the author has used his personal experience of serving on the Russian Front to make this such a great story; it is compelling reading. The accounts of the retreat during the Stalingrad battle are magnificent; you can actually picture the frozen wasteland as the soldiers tiredly trudge through the wind swept villages being hounded by the advancing Soviet troops. The accounts of the many rearguard actions are excellent and I really felt for the men who fell during the fighting. Many other reviews have mentioned that this is a powerful and moving novel of World War Two and I must concur with those sentiments. This is a great story and anyone who has an interest in the fighting on the Russian Front will be truly taken by this account.

The book continues on another level with the Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943 and the subsequent campaign in Italy. We follow accounts of the Italian partisans, Communists, Royalist and bandits. This again is another interesting level of the story and one, which I had very little knowledge of. I enjoyed this section of the book as much as the account of the Russian Front. The book does not finish with the war's end in 1945 but continues with the surviving characters through the harsh years of peace and political turmoil that Italy found itself in with the conflict between the Catholic Church and the Communist Party.

Overall this book was a delight to read but at times towards the end maybe I felt that the author was trying to convert me to the Catholic Church however it must been read in the context of the times. I would have no hesitation in recommending this book to anyone who wants to learn about Italy during the war or anyone who has an interest in the Eastern Front during WWII. This is a great story and one of the best novels I have read in years, well done to the author!

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible Book, March 6, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Red Horse (Hardcover)

This is an absolutely incredible book. It is the "War and Peace" of WWII. Despite a painfully slow start (please ignore the first 100 pages), the next 900 pages read very quickly, you will not be able to put this book down until the end. The writing improves dramatically. Anyway, the book follows the experiences of a number of characters from the town of Nomana in Lombardy (northern Italy) through WWII and beyond. It has incredible scenes from the Russian campaign and the retreat of the Italians, horrible gruesome stuff from the Russian POW camps (makes a Japanese POW camp look like Club Med), and a fascinating look at post-war Italy and the relationship between the Christians and the communists. The writer is a conservative Catholic and that in and of itself is an interesting and different perspective. William F. Buckley would love this novel, but I'm sure anyone else out there, even a die-hard communist, would appreciate it. Sure, I was a bit annoyed by the translation (which seemed a bit weak) and the occasional interjection of pure politics but it hardly detracted from the real majesty of this masterpiece. I've reviewed hundreds of books on Amazon and there are maybe only 2 or 3 which I've enjoyed more, and none that I have been more personally moved by. Read it and buy it for your friends.