Corellis Mandoline

It took me quite awhile to finish this unusual novel, not because it failed to hold my interest, but because it felt so strange to be reading a story about an old catastrophe while living through brand new interesting times...the daily news has been most distracting.

Corelli's Mandolin is a WWII novel set on the Greek island of Cephallonia, during the Italian occupation. Louis de Bernieres weaves history and local folklore together in this touching story that centers around Pelagia, a young Greek woman who falls in love with Captain Corelli, a member of the occupying army.

Though these two characters are the novel's focus, there are many other engaging, charming, and tragic characters, and I cared about all of them. I'm always impressed when an author makes me feel compassion for characters who turn bad, and de Bernieres achieved that at least once in this story.

Pelagia's father, Dr. Iannis, is a fascinating character, and the wisdom he passes on to his daughter are among the most profound words I've ever read in a novel.

The ending was not what I expected, and did not seem realistic, but then, it's not supposed to be. I interpret it as statement about what was taken from people who didn't get to live the lives they should have had. I loved the way Pelagia gets to reminiscence at the end, remembering Carlos, Velisarios, Lemoni, Psipsini, and Drosoula...because as her father once said, when loved ones die, you have to live on their behalf...

Bravo! Thank you, Kevin, for the recommendation.

I'll have a more detailed review later on in my blog, but for now I can say that this was a pretty good book.
I haven't read too much historical fiction, so I was very interested to see the perception of WWII in Greece and Italy and the evolution of their ideas around that time.
The characters were quite interesting, but the pacing was a bit off since the author would frequently stop to talk about the history of the war or the culture of the people before going back to the characters. Those were interesting interludes, but they did chop up the pace of the plot. It did bring a grander scope to the story rather than focusing just on Pelagia and her life.
The last third of the story felt very rushed as ~40 years passed in a few chapters. It's justified though, given the nature of the story at that point; I would say the end parts are a bit bittersweet.