Captain Corelli's Mandolin is set in the early days of the second world war, before Benito Mussolini invaded Greece. Dr Iannis practices medicine on the island of Cephalonia, accompanied by his daughter, Pelagia, to whom he imparts much of his healing art. Even when the Italians do invade, life isn't so bad--at first anyway. The officer in command of the Italian garrison is the cultured Captain Antonio Corelli, who responds to a Nazi greeting of "Heil Hitler" with his own "Heil Puccini", and whose most precious possession is his mandolin. It isn't long before Corelli and Pelagia are involved in a heated affair--despite her engagement to a young fisherman, Mandras, who has gone off to join Greek partisans. Love is complicated enough in wartime, even when the lovers are on the same side. And for Corelli and Pelagia, it becomes increasingly difficult to negotiate the minefield of allegiances, both personal and political, as all around them atrocities mount, former friends become enemies and the ugliness of war infects everyone it touches.

British author Louis de Bernières is well known for his forays into magical realism in such novels as The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts, Señor Vivo and the Coca Lord and The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman. Here he keeps it to a minimum, though certainly the secondary characters with whom he populates his island--the drunken priest, the strongman, the fisherman who swims with dolphins--would be at home in any of his wildly imaginative Latin American fictions. Instead, de Bernières seems interested in dissecting the nature of history as he tells his ever-darkening tale from many different perspectives. Captain Corelli's Mandolin works on many levels, as a love story, a war story and a deconstruction of just what determines the facts that make it into the history books.

A Great Wartime Love Story!, 16 Sep 2008
This book is a fantastic read that starts toward the end of World War 2 and covers generations.
The tale tells of a young Greek girl and an eccentric Italian Captain finding love during the Italian "occupation" of the Greek island of Cephallonia, although the Italian army hardly treats it as such due to disenchantment with having to fight for reasons & ideals they do not share with their leaders.
The author creates extremely tangible scenes, people & feelings that you're left feeling like you really knew the characters & places.
There are a few strange plot-holes but this in no way detracts from the overall story and I was actually quite gutted that it had to end!
A really good read that everyone will enjoy & appreciate I think.

masterpiece, 03 Sep 2008
I'll keep this short - plenty of the reviewers here are clearly budding authors!


Absolutely brilliant, should be on GCSE reading list. I havnt read as good a book in many years.


Dont be put off by the film which downgraded the book into a chick-flick.

A moving but flawed novel - well worth reading, 28 Feb 2008
There are lots of things to like about this book - I won't list them all because so many other people have, but the things that stand out are Captain Corelli's character (how could they have have cast depressive Nicholas Cage in the film? Roberto Benigni - of 'Life is Beautiful' - was the only possible choice), Pelagia's lovable shrewishness, the humour, unsentimentality, quirkiness and excellent war passages, conveying the horror and brutality of combat and the destructiveness of prejudice and hatred. Problems are De Berniere's self-indulgence, cleverness and tendency to take intrusive authorial stands on political situations, which would be better presented through the characters, leaving us to make up our own minds. The biggest failure of this book is the last 60 pages or so, in which a frantic dash through the history of the island so he can include the earthquake means that Corelli and Pelagia cannot meet up again until they are toothless OAPs. Apart from the frustration of being told in bald summaries the fate of people like the doctor, with whom we have been intimately involved,anyone who has ever lived on a Greek island will know that it is impossible for someone (especially a foreigner) to sneak onto it and creep around unseen. For me the confused beginning and the drawn out ending marred what was a wonderful and moving read, but I would highly recommend it nevertheless. But avoid the film at all costs!

Epic, 31 Dec 2007
This, in my opinion,is one of the greatest stories I have ever read.
Captain Corelli's Mandolin is set during WWII on the Greek island of Cephallonia. It deals with, among many other things, German and Italian invasion, the war as foght between Greece and Italy, communism, facism, homosexuality, honor, betrayal and above all else, Love.

The themes are so wide that I guarantee anyone will find smething they love about this book. I read it as a heartbreaking love story set against the backdrop of a tragic war. I passed it on to my boyfriend as one of my favourite books and he loved it as a political satire on Mussolini and WWII with a pesky love story thrown in.

I cry and laugh every time I read this book. It is truly astonishing. A few people have found it very hard to get through but as the love story does not begin until about half way through the book if you were recommended this book as a romance I can see why you would get fed up. You need to look at this book as an account of War through the eyes of the common man and the futility of invasion. There is a beautiful love story here but this book is so much more than that.

Please persevere with this remarkable book and you may just be blown away.

Breathtaking, 12 Dec 2007
Every so often you read a book that leaves you stunned; this is one of them. Please ,please don't let the first part put you off, persevere and you will be well rewarded with this magnificent tome. This book is all things; hilarious, sad, joyful, frightening and more, it is by far one of the best books I have ever read. If you saw the film first you are in for a treat for the book is 100 times better and has a different ending albeit sadder. If you go to kefelonia you will notice everyone reading this book, but you can curl up on the sofa and enjoy this just the same, make sure you've nothing urgent to do though because once started you will be unable to put it down. Enjoy!

A Great Wartime Love Story!, 16 Sep 2008
This book is a fantastic read that starts toward the end of World War 2 and covers generations.
The tale tells of a young Greek girl and an eccentric Italian Captain finding love during the Italian "occupation" of the Greek island of Cephallonia, although the Italian army hardly treats it as such due to disenchantment with having to fight for reasons & ideals they do not share with their leaders.
The author creates extremely tangible scenes, people & feelings that you're left feeling like you really knew the characters & places.
There are a few strange plot-holes but this in no way detracts from the overall story and I was actually quite gutted that it had to end!
A really good read that everyone will enjoy & appreciate I think.

masterpiece, 03 Sep 2008
I'll keep this short - plenty of the reviewers here are clearly budding authors!


Absolutely brilliant, should be on GCSE reading list. I havnt read as good a book in many years.


Dont be put off by the film which downgraded the book into a chick-flick.

A moving but flawed novel - well worth reading, 28 Feb 2008
There are lots of things to like about this book - I won't list them all because so many other people have, but the things that stand out are Captain Corelli's character (how could they have have cast depressive Nicholas Cage in the film? Roberto Benigni - of 'Life is Beautiful' - was the only possible choice), Pelagia's lovable shrewishness, the humour, unsentimentality, quirkiness and excellent war passages, conveying the horror and brutality of combat and the destructiveness of prejudice and hatred. Problems are De Berniere's self-indulgence, cleverness and tendency to take intrusive authorial stands on political situations, which would be better presented through the characters, leaving us to make up our own minds. The biggest failure of this book is the last 60 pages or so, in which a frantic dash through the history of the island so he can include the earthquake means that Corelli and Pelagia cannot meet up again until they are toothless OAPs. Apart from the frustration of being told in bald summaries the fate of people like the doctor, with whom we have been intimately involved,anyone who has ever lived on a Greek island will know that it is impossible for someone (especially a foreigner) to sneak onto it and creep around unseen. For me the confused beginning and the drawn out ending marred what was a wonderful and moving read, but I would highly recommend it nevertheless. But avoid the film at all costs!

Epic, 31 Dec 2007
This, in my opinion,is one of the greatest stories I have ever read.
Captain Corelli's Mandolin is set during WWII on the Greek island of Cephallonia. It deals with, among many other things, German and Italian invasion, the war as foght between Greece and Italy, communism, facism, homosexuality, honor, betrayal and above all else, Love.

The themes are so wide that I guarantee anyone will find smething they love about this book. I read it as a heartbreaking love story set against the backdrop of a tragic war. I passed it on to my boyfriend as one of my favourite books and he loved it as a political satire on Mussolini and WWII with a pesky love story thrown in.

I cry and laugh every time I read this book. It is truly astonishing. A few people have found it very hard to get through but as the love story does not begin until about half way through the book if you were recommended this book as a romance I can see why you would get fed up. You need to look at this book as an account of War through the eyes of the common man and the futility of invasion. There is a beautiful love story here but this book is so much more than that.

Please persevere with this remarkable book and you may just be blown away.

Breathtaking, 12 Dec 2007
Every so often you read a book that leaves you stunned; this is one of them. Please ,please don't let the first part put you off, persevere and you will be well rewarded with this magnificent tome. This book is all things; hilarious, sad, joyful, frightening and more, it is by far one of the best books I have ever read. If you saw the film first you are in for a treat for the book is 100 times better and has a different ending albeit sadder. If you go to kefelonia you will notice everyone reading this book, but you can curl up on the sofa and enjoy this just the same, make sure you've nothing urgent to do though because once started you will be unable to put it down. Enjoy!

Very impressive and beautifully written, 05 Apr 2008
I am originally from Izmir, Karsiyaka, and I was really surprised to find some events that happened in Turkish-Greek war that my grandmother had been telling us about, in this book.

For example, the Turkish soldiers taking revenge from Greeks in Izmir because of what they had seen in Anatolia. When Turkish army entered Karsiyaka, my grandmother saw a Turkish soldier, and asked him to spare her Greek neighbours (they were close friends). The Turkish soldier replied back: "do you know what we have seen in Anatolia?!".

Similarly, the story about setting part of Izmir on fire because of snipers killing Turkish soldiers from houses in Christian neighbourhoods.

It is a real pity that these events took place, and I really hope we can learn some lessons and never let that happen again.

For that reason alone, I would recommend everyone to read this book!


Needs some serious editing, 04 Oct 2007
I loved Captain Corelli's Mandolin when I read it as a teenager over 10 years ago, and was expecting something along the same vein here- I was disappointed however. It's not all bad, but you really have to struggle to stay interested in the characters, and the plot is so disjointed and interspersed with pages and pages of virtually unreadable history. In fact it feels as though it is a history lesson with a story thrown in as an afterthought.


Mixed feelings, 18 Jul 2007
Well, as the title of my review says, I had mixed feelings about this book. Let me say this much, if it weren't for the historical inaccuracies, I would have given this novel five stars. It's beautifully written, an engaging web of stories that just feels so right and true - it *feels like* a wonderfully accurate recreation of events: part poetry, part history lesson, part folk story.

But it is for this very reason that I disliked this novel as well. Although it gives every appearance of having been very carefully and painstakingly researched, the author seems to have fallen for the shameful lies and propaganda put forward by the Turkish government to this day, in which they pretend that atrocities that they committed were in fact committed against them. He appears to have taken all of his research directly from the Turkish government, and completely ignores accounts of events from France, Germany, the US (etc etc etc) - from civilians and politicians and newspapers, not to mention accounts from actual survivors of the Armenian Genocide, who were forced to leave the country between 1915 and 1923. He presents the Turkish government's justifications for their atrocities as if they are fact - when the records of every other government and respected historian in the world states the exact opposite. I read Mr de Bernieres' descriptions of Greek and Armenian "atrocities" and "revenge" with a mixture of anger, sadness and despair. When such a talented novellist has the power to transmit this distorted version of history to a public consciousness that has largely forgotten the Armenian Genocide, it seems likely that the Turkish government will succeed in their efforts to white wash the events completely from history.

note: Turkey still has laws against "insulting Turkishness", and regularly prosecutes Turkish novellists and journalists who try to enlighten their countrymen as to what really happened during WW1. Many of these writers have been assassinated or threatened by nationalists. In this sort of environment, who should you trust - the Turkish government's version of events, or those of respected historians worldwide?

Just too long!, 30 May 2007
I really enjoyed the descriptions of the villagers and their stories, but was very bored by the history lessons. The story is very gripping in places, but 300 pages would have been enough.

Sometimes, less is more, 27 Apr 2007
Louis de Bernieres can write marvellously, of that there is no doubt. He can touch the heart and he can bring tears to the eyes; he can conjure up the deepest of emotions with the lightest of touches. I hugely enjoyed the Latin American trilogy that preceded "Captain Corelli's Mandolin", and Corelli itself deserved all the critical acclaim it received. Yet despite my anticipation (I have visited Fethiye and walked around the sad ruins of the deserted village close by) I found this latest Turkish offering a little less than a delight. Yes, there are individual chapters that have the de Bernieres magic; yes, there are passages that live up to the best in his previous work; and yes, it is in places erudite, witty, and touching. But put together as a whole there is one overriding flaw, and that is that "Birds Without Wings" is quite simply far too diffuse. While the historical diversions may be edifying, the endless asides make for a tale that can all too easily just become becalmed.

The central character is not a single individual -- rather, it is the village of Eskibahce, and with it the assortment of all too human characters who find their lives transformed forever by tragedy on a global scale, innocents caught up in a maelstrom. De Bernieres' description of the lives of Rustem Bey, Iskander the Potter, Philothei and Mehmetcik (to name but four) is affectionate and detailed. But the problem is how to present the enormity of all that is happening to and beyond this crowd of engaging individuals whilst at the same time keeping the story coherent and focused. It is not a problem that the author solves satisfactorily.

I did learn more than I ever expected to learn about Mustafa Kemal Attaturk; but while all this may be very educational there are in fact 22 chapters on Mustafa Kemal himself, and certainly by the time of chapter 81 the last thing I wanted was a ten page treatise on the death of King Alexander of Greece. There is a time and place for didactic chapters like this, and p481 of a 625 page novel is not one of them. The pace is interrupted and held up like this time and time again: just when things might be building up a head of steam, the story goes off the boil. By chapter 85, to give another example, I really only wanted to finish the book in order to say that I got to the end of it, and then out of nowhere I was embroiled in a superfluous chapter about a drowning Greek -- beautifully written, don't get me wrong: but please, not there, not at this point. If it had not been for the fact that the end was in sight, this would have had me chucking the book at the wall.

Given how much I have enjoyed his other works, it pains me to say -- and I feel disloyal in doing so -- that the long breath I sighed at the end of "Birds Without Wings" was occasioned rather more by relief at finishing it than regret at leaving it. Sometimes less is more, and rather less here would have had me enjoying it a lot more.

A Great Wartime Love Story!, 16 Sep 2008
This book is a fantastic read that starts toward the end of World War 2 and covers generations.
The tale tells of a young Greek girl and an eccentric Italian Captain finding love during the Italian "occupation" of the Greek island of Cephallonia, although the Italian army hardly treats it as such due to disenchantment with having to fight for reasons & ideals they do not share with their leaders.
The author creates extremely tangible scenes, people & feelings that you're left feeling like you really knew the characters & places.
There are a few strange plot-holes but this in no way detracts from the overall story and I was actually quite gutted that it had to end!
A really good read that everyone will enjoy & appreciate I think.

masterpiece, 03 Sep 2008
I'll keep this short - plenty of the reviewers here are clearly budding authors!


Absolutely brilliant, should be on GCSE reading list. I havnt read as good a book in many years.


Dont be put off by the film which downgraded the book into a chick-flick.

A moving but flawed novel - well worth reading, 28 Feb 2008
There are lots of things to like about this book - I won't list them all because so many other people have, but the things that stand out are Captain Corelli's character (how could they have have cast depressive Nicholas Cage in the film? Roberto Benigni - of 'Life is Beautiful' - was the only possible choice), Pelagia's lovable shrewishness, the humour, unsentimentality, quirkiness and excellent war passages, conveying the horror and brutality of combat and the destructiveness of prejudice and hatred. Problems are De Berniere's self-indulgence, cleverness and tendency to take intrusive authorial stands on political situations, which would be better presented through the characters, leaving us to make up our own minds. The biggest failure of this book is the last 60 pages or so, in which a frantic dash through the history of the island so he can include the earthquake means that Corelli and Pelagia cannot meet up again until they are toothless OAPs. Apart from the frustration of being told in bald summaries the fate of people like the doctor, with whom we have been intimately involved,anyone who has ever lived on a Greek island will know that it is impossible for someone (especially a foreigner) to sneak onto it and creep around unseen. For me the confused beginning and the drawn out ending marred what was a wonderful and moving read, but I would highly recommend it nevertheless. But avoid the film at all costs!

Epic, 31 Dec 2007
This, in my opinion,is one of the greatest stories I have ever read.
Captain Corelli's Mandolin is set during WWII on the Greek island of Cephallonia. It deals with, among many other things, German and Italian invasion, the war as foght between Greece and Italy, communism, facism, homosexuality, honor, betrayal and above all else, Love.

The themes are so wide that I guarantee anyone will find smething they love about this book. I read it as a heartbreaking love story set against the backdrop of a tragic war. I passed it on to my boyfriend as one of my favourite books and he loved it as a political satire on Mussolini and WWII with a pesky love story thrown in.

I cry and laugh every time I read this book. It is truly astonishing. A few people have found it very hard to get through but as the love story does not begin until about half way through the book if you were recommended this book as a romance I can see why you would get fed up. You need to look at this book as an account of War through the eyes of the common man and the futility of invasion. There is a beautiful love story here but this book is so much more than that.

Please persevere with this remarkable book and you may just be blown away.

Breathtaking, 12 Dec 2007
Every so often you read a book that leaves you stunned; this is one of them. Please ,please don't let the first part put you off, persevere and you will be well rewarded with this magnificent tome. This book is all things; hilarious, sad, joyful, frightening and more, it is by far one of the best books I have ever read. If you saw the film first you are in for a treat for the book is 100 times better and has a different ending albeit sadder. If you go to kefelonia you will notice everyone reading this book, but you can curl up on the sofa and enjoy this just the same, make sure you've nothing urgent to do though because once started you will be unable to put it down. Enjoy!

Very impressive and beautifully written, 05 Apr 2008
I am originally from Izmir, Karsiyaka, and I was really surprised to find some events that happened in Turkish-Greek war that my grandmother had been telling us about, in this book.

For example, the Turkish soldiers taking revenge from Greeks in Izmir because of what they had seen in Anatolia. When Turkish army entered Karsiyaka, my grandmother saw a Turkish soldier, and asked him to spare her Greek neighbours (they were close friends). The Turkish soldier replied back: "do you know what we have seen in Anatolia?!".

Similarly, the story about setting part of Izmir on fire because of snipers killing Turkish soldiers from houses in Christian neighbourhoods.

It is a real pity that these events took place, and I really hope we can learn some lessons and never let that happen again.

For that reason alone, I would recommend everyone to read this book!


Needs some serious editing, 04 Oct 2007
I loved Captain Corelli's Mandolin when I read it as a teenager over 10 years ago, and was expecting something along the same vein here- I was disappointed however. It's not all bad, but you really have to struggle to stay interested in the characters, and the plot is so disjointed and interspersed with pages and pages of virtually unreadable history. In fact it feels as though it is a history lesson with a story thrown in as an afterthought.


Mixed feelings, 18 Jul 2007
Well, as the title of my review says, I had mixed feelings about this book. Let me say this much, if it weren't for the historical inaccuracies, I would have given this novel five stars. It's beautifully written, an engaging web of stories that just feels so right and true - it *feels like* a wonderfully accurate recreation of events: part poetry, part history lesson, part folk story.

But it is for this very reason that I disliked this novel as well. Although it gives every appearance of having been very carefully and painstakingly researched, the author seems to have fallen for the shameful lies and propaganda put forward by the Turkish government to this day, in which they pretend that atrocities that they committed were in fact committed against them. He appears to have taken all of his research directly from the Turkish government, and completely ignores accounts of events from France, Germany, the US (etc etc etc) - from civilians and politicians and newspapers, not to mention accounts from actual survivors of the Armenian Genocide, who were forced to leave the country between 1915 and 1923. He presents the Turkish government's justifications for their atrocities as if they are fact - when the records of every other government and respected historian in the world states the exact opposite. I read Mr de Bernieres' descriptions of Greek and Armenian "atrocities" and "revenge" with a mixture of anger, sadness and despair. When such a talented novellist has the power to transmit this distorted version of history to a public consciousness that has largely forgotten the Armenian Genocide, it seems likely that the Turkish government will succeed in their efforts to white wash the events completely from history.

note: Turkey still has laws against "insulting Turkishness", and regularly prosecutes Turkish novellists and journalists who try to enlighten their countrymen as to what really happened during WW1. Many of these writers have been assassinated or threatened by nationalists. In this sort of environment, who should you trust - the Turkish government's version of events, or those of respected historians worldwide?

Just too long!, 30 May 2007
I really enjoyed the descriptions of the villagers and their stories, but was very bored by the history lessons. The story is very gripping in places, but 300 pages would have been enough.

Sometimes, less is more, 27 Apr 2007
Louis de Bernieres can write marvellously, of that there is no doubt. He can touch the heart and he can bring tears to the eyes; he can conjure up the deepest of emotions with the lightest of touches. I hugely enjoyed the Latin American trilogy that preceded "Captain Corelli's Mandolin", and Corelli itself deserved all the critical acclaim it received. Yet despite my anticipation (I have visited Fethiye and walked around the sad ruins of the deserted village close by) I found this latest Turkish offering a little less than a delight. Yes, there are individual chapters that have the de Bernieres magic; yes, there are passages that live up to the best in his previous work; and yes, it is in places erudite, witty, and touching. But put together as a whole there is one overriding flaw, and that is that "Birds Without Wings" is quite simply far too diffuse. While the historical diversions may be edifying, the endless asides make for a tale that can all too easily just become becalmed.

The central character is not a single individual -- rather, it is the village of Eskibahce, and with it the assortment of all too human characters who find their lives transformed forever by tragedy on a global scale, innocents caught up in a maelstrom. De Bernieres' description of the lives of Rustem Bey, Iskander the Potter, Philothei and Mehmetcik (to name but four) is affectionate and detailed. But the problem is how to present the enormity of all that is happening to and beyond this crowd of engaging individuals whilst at the same time keeping the story coherent and focused. It is not a problem that the author solves satisfactorily.

I did learn more than I ever expected to learn about Mustafa Kemal Attaturk; but while all this may be very educational there are in fact 22 chapters on Mustafa Kemal himself, and certainly by the time of chapter 81 the last thing I wanted was a ten page treatise on the death of King Alexander of Greece. There is a time and place for didactic chapters like this, and p481 of a 625 page novel is not one of them. The pace is interrupted and held up like this time and time again: just when things might be building up a head of steam, the story goes off the boil. By chapter 85, to give another example, I really only wanted to finish the book in order to say that I got to the end of it, and then out of nowhere I was embroiled in a superfluous chapter about a drowning Greek -- beautifully written, don't get me wrong: but please, not there, not at this point. If it had not been for the fact that the end was in sight, this would have had me chucking the book at the wall.

Given how much I have enjoyed his other works, it pains me to say -- and I feel disloyal in doing so -- that the long breath I sighed at the end of "Birds Without Wings" was occasioned rather more by relief at finishing it than regret at leaving it. Sometimes less is more, and rather less here would have had me enjoying it a lot more.

diappointing, 01 Nov 2008
I have always loved Loius de Berniers` books, as witty, human, original, serious and funny at the same time, in short wonderful to read. But, alas, at last he seems to have reached what one politely calls midlife crisis and all his imagination seems to have slipped down to where this crisis normally takes place. We have to listen - just as the male character of the book - to endless gory and rather boring tales of Roza`s, a yugoslav former prostitute's, mostly sexual adventures, while the fortiish (not really so old) Chris gets more and more aroused and horny about her. The two like each other and love each other a bit, but the man, Chris, is so repressed that nothing happens except at the end where he gets stone drunk and spoils it all. One cannot really sympathize with either character.
Please, wonderful Louis de Berniers, keep writing your great stories and don't get into the cliché trap of middle aged men's single mindedness.

Definetly worth a read..., 15 Aug 2008
I think the way the story is written is done very well and the book is worth reading. Gets you hooked near the end and a sign of a good book is when you get an emmotional attachment and this is what it does. You get into the characters and can picture the scenes vivdly. short review i know but you get the jist, just buy it !

Who said hackneyed claptrap cruising on his famous name? ..., 11 Aug 2008
... because whoever it was, you had it right on the money. Louis de Berniers is a fabulously gifted writer, but he just wasn't trying for this dreadful effort.

No story or plot in itself, one would hope for a richness of character, but there is none, just a couple of one dimensional stereotypes and a load of wikipedia factoids about Tito's Yugoslavia and sleazy soho nightclubs. The scene setting - harking back to the bad old days of seventies Britian by linking in to news stories of the day - is terribly corny.

It gets one star simply because Amazon won't let me give it less. Come on Louis, I know the editors get on your back for output, but this crap really is devaluing your other excellent work by association.

Simple slice, 28 May 2008
Louis De Bernieres has carved out a complex story using really only two main characters who flash back using their own narration to their own contrasting lives. To me, though, it did not seem like a "proper novel" just like a one person play is more of a "performance" than a play. As the narrators by their own admission were making up some of their narration it left me feeling as if the read was all for nothing. Having said that, there were some powerful, moving and dramatic narrated scenes so I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the plight of immigrant young people in London, the 70s/80s and the selfishness/thoughtlessness of passive unhappily married middle-aged men.

The power of a good story, 26 May 2008
Chris, is a travelling salesman aged 40 in an unhappy marriage when he meets Roza, a young woman from Yugoslavia, in Archway, North London. She is standing at the side of the road when he approaches her believing her to be a prostitute, although, as he makes clear, he is not a man who has ever approached a prostitute before.

The year is 1979, Mrs Thatcher is about to take power in England and Marshall Tito will soon die in Yugoslavia. The tragic fragmentation of Yugoslavia is still some way off.

The story is told in the first person by the two characters - Chris and Roza, and in retrospect by the older Chris.

Chris becomes fascinated by Roza. She invites him to visit her as a friend and he comes back several times, in love and in lust as she tells him the events of her life since she was a little girl, the proud daughter of a second world-war partisan fighter.

There is a marked contrast between the passionate and open Roza and the anaemic, closed-down Chris; the vitality and violence of her life compared to the sheltered docility of the life that he has led. Over time and over coffee in the basement of a run-down house where nobody goes by their real name, his repressed lust turns to fascination and then love as he listens to the stories from her life. She at last has found someone who will listen to an account of the heights of joy along with the depths of degradation and humiliation she has experienced. They both work through the mistakes made and wrong paths taken before ending up here.

The painful embarrassment and sad misunderstanding of the ending when Chris the repressed Englishman gets drunk and expresses his feelings at last, leave a strong sense of loss that remains with the reader long after the last word has been read.

With The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts Louis de Bernières's sardonic pen has concocted a spicy olla podrida of a novel, set in a fictitious Latin American country, with all the tragedy, ribaldry and humour Bernières can muster from a debauched military, a clueless oligarchy and an unconventional band of guerrillas. There's a plague of laughing, a flood of magical cats and a torture-happy colonel. The cities, villages, politics and discourse are an inspired amalgam of Latin Americana, but the comedy, horror, adventure and vibrant individuals are pure de Bernières. This masterpiece, the first of a trilogy, is followed by Señor Vivo and the Coca Lord and The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman. --James Barry

A Great Wartime Love Story!, 16 Sep 2008
This book is a fantastic read that starts toward the end of World War 2 and covers generations.
The tale tells of a young Greek girl and an eccentric Italian Captain finding love during the Italian "occupation" of the Greek island of Cephallonia, although the Italian army hardly treats it as such due to disenchantment with having to fight for reasons & ideals they do not share with their leaders.
The author creates extremely tangible scenes, people & feelings that you're left feeling like you really knew the characters & places.
There are a few strange plot-holes but this in no way detracts from the overall story and I was actually quite gutted that it had to end!
A really good read that everyone will enjoy & appreciate I think.

masterpiece, 03 Sep 2008
I'll keep this short - plenty of the reviewers here are clearly budding authors!


Absolutely brilliant, should be on GCSE reading list. I havnt read as good a book in many years.


Dont be put off by the film which downgraded the book into a chick-flick.

A moving but flawed novel - well worth reading, 28 Feb 2008
There are lots of things to like about this book - I won't list them all because so many other people have, but the things that stand out are Captain Corelli's character (how could they have have cast depressive Nicholas Cage in the film? Roberto Benigni - of 'Life is Beautiful' - was the only possible choice), Pelagia's lovable shrewishness, the humour, unsentimentality, quirkiness and excellent war passages, conveying the horror and brutality of combat and the destructiveness of prejudice and hatred. Problems are De Berniere's self-indulgence, cleverness and tendency to take intrusive authorial stands on political situations, which would be better presented through the characters, leaving us to make up our own minds. The biggest failure of this book is the last 60 pages or so, in which a frantic dash through the history of the island so he can include the earthquake means that Corelli and Pelagia cannot meet up again until they are toothless OAPs. Apart from the frustration of being told in bald summaries the fate of people like the doctor, with whom we have been intimately involved,anyone who has ever lived on a Greek island will know that it is impossible for someone (especially a foreigner) to sneak onto it and creep around unseen. For me the confused beginning and the drawn out ending marred what was a wonderful and moving read, but I would highly recommend it nevertheless. But avoid the film at all costs!

Epic, 31 Dec 2007
This, in my opinion,is one of the greatest stories I have ever read.
Captain Corelli's Mandolin is set during WWII on the Greek island of Cephallonia. It deals with, among many other things, German and Italian invasion, the war as foght between Greece and Italy, communism, facism, homosexuality, honor, betrayal and above all else, Love.

The themes are so wide that I guarantee anyone will find smething they love about this book. I read it as a heartbreaking love story set against the backdrop of a tragic war. I passed it on to my boyfriend as one of my favourite books and he loved it as a political satire on Mussolini and WWII with a pesky love story thrown in.

I cry and laugh every time I read this book. It is truly astonishing. A few people have found it very hard to get through but as the love story does not begin until about half way through the book if you were recommended this book as a romance I can see why you would get fed up. You need to look at this book as an account of War through the eyes of the common man and the futility of invasion. There is a beautiful love story here but this book is so much more than that.

Please persevere with this remarkable book and you may just be blown away.

Breathtaking, 12 Dec 2007
Every so often you read a book that leaves you stunned; this is one of them. Please ,please don't let the first part put you off, persevere and you will be well rewarded with this magnificent tome. This book is all things; hilarious, sad, joyful, frightening and more, it is by far one of the best books I have ever read. If you saw the film first you are in for a treat for the book is 100 times better and has a different ending albeit sadder. If you go to kefelonia you will notice everyone reading this book, but you can curl up on the sofa and enjoy this just the same, make sure you've nothing urgent to do though because once started you will be unable to put it down. Enjoy!

Very impressive and beautifully written, 05 Apr 2008
I am originally from Izmir, Karsiyaka, and I was really surprised to find some events that happened in Turkish-Greek war that my grandmother had been telling us about, in this book.

For example, the Turkish soldiers taking revenge from Greeks in Izmir because of what they had seen in Anatolia. When Turkish army entered Karsiyaka, my grandmother saw a Turkish soldier, and asked him to spare her Greek neighbours (they were close friends). The Turkish soldier replied back: "do you know what we have seen in Anatolia?!".

Similarly, the story about setting part of Izmir on fire because of snipers killing Turkish soldiers from houses in Christian neighbourhoods.

It is a real pity that these events took place, and I really hope we can learn some lessons and never let that happen again.

For that reason alone, I would recommend everyone to read this book!


Needs some serious editing, 04 Oct 2007
I loved Captain Corelli's Mandolin when I read it as a teenager over 10 years ago, and was expecting something along the same vein here- I was disappointed however. It's not all bad, but you really have to struggle to stay interested in the characters, and the plot is so disjointed and interspersed with pages and pages of virtually unreadable history. In fact it feels as though it is a history lesson with a story thrown in as an afterthought.


Mixed feelings, 18 Jul 2007
Well, as the title of my review says, I had mixed feelings about this book. Let me say this much, if it weren't for the historical inaccuracies, I would have given this novel five stars. It's beautifully written, an engaging web of stories that just feels so right and true - it *feels like* a wonderfully accurate recreation of events: part poetry, part history lesson, part folk story.

But it is for this very reason that I disliked this novel as well. Although it gives every appearance of having been very carefully and painstakingly researched, the author seems to have fallen for the shameful lies and propaganda put forward by the Turkish government to this day, in which they pretend that atrocities that they committed were in fact committed against them. He appears to have taken all of his research directly from the Turkish government, and completely ignores accounts of events from France, Germany, the US (etc etc etc) - from civilians and politicians and newspapers, not to mention accounts from actual survivors of the Armenian Genocide, who were forced to leave the country between 1915 and 1923. He presents the Turkish government's justifications for their atrocities as if they are fact - when the records of every other government and respected historian in the world states the exact opposite. I read Mr de Bernieres' descriptions of Greek and Armenian "atrocities" and "revenge" with a mixture of anger, sadness and despair. When such a talented novellist has the power to transmit this distorted version of history to a public consciousness that has largely forgotten the Armenian Genocide, it seems likely that the Turkish government will succeed in their efforts to white wash the events completely from history.

note: Turkey still has laws against "insulting Turkishness", and regularly prosecutes Turkish novellists and journalists who try to enlighten their countrymen as to what really happened during WW1. Many of these writers have been assassinated or threatened by nationalists. In this sort of environment, who should you trust - the Turkish government's version of events, or those of respected historians worldwide?

Just too long!, 30 May 2007
I really enjoyed the descriptions of the villagers and their stories, but was very bored by the history lessons. The story is very gripping in places, but 300 pages would have been enough.

Sometimes, less is more, 27 Apr 2007
Louis de Bernieres can write marvellously, of that there is no doubt. He can touch the heart and he can bring tears to the eyes; he can conjure up the deepest of emotions with the lightest of touches. I hugely enjoyed the Latin American trilogy that preceded "Captain Corelli's Mandolin", and Corelli itself deserved all the critical acclaim it received. Yet despite my anticipation (I have visited Fethiye and walked around the sad ruins of the deserted village close by) I found this latest Turkish offering a little less than a delight. Yes, there are individual chapters that have the de Bernieres magic; yes, there are passages that live up to the best in his previous work; and yes, it is in places erudite, witty, and touching. But put together as a whole there is one overriding flaw, and that is that "Birds Without Wings" is quite simply far too diffuse. While the historical diversions may be edifying, the endless asides make for a tale that can all too easily just become becalmed.

The central character is not a single individual -- rather, it is the village of Eskibahce, and with it the assortment of all too human characters who find their lives transformed forever by tragedy on a global scale, innocents caught up in a maelstrom. De Bernieres' description of the lives of Rustem Bey, Iskander the Potter, Philothei and Mehmetcik (to name but four) is affectionate and detailed. But the problem is how to present the enormity of all that is happening to and beyond this crowd of engaging individuals whilst at the same time keeping the story coherent and focused. It is not a problem that the author solves satisfactorily.

I did learn more than I ever expected to learn about Mustafa Kemal Attaturk; but while all this may be very educational there are in fact 22 chapters on Mustafa Kemal himself, and certainly by the time of chapter 81 the last thing I wanted was a ten page treatise on the death of King Alexander of Greece. There is a time and place for didactic chapters like this, and p481 of a 625 page novel is not one of them. The pace is interrupted and held up like this time and time again: just when things might be building up a head of steam, the story goes off the boil. By chapter 85, to give another example, I really only wanted to finish the book in order to say that I got to the end of it, and then out of nowhere I was embroiled in a superfluous chapter about a drowning Greek -- beautifully written, don't get me wrong: but please, not there, not at this point. If it had not been for the fact that the end was in sight, this would have had me chucking the book at the wall.

Given how much I have enjoyed his other works, it pains me to say -- and I feel disloyal in doing so -- that the long breath I sighed at the end of "Birds Without Wings" was occasioned rather more by relief at finishing it than regret at leaving it. Sometimes less is more, and rather less here would have had me enjoying it a lot more.

diappointing, 01 Nov 2008
I have always loved Loius de Berniers` books, as witty, human, original, serious and funny at the same time, in short wonderful to read. But, alas, at last he seems to have reached what one politely calls midlife crisis and all his imagination seems to have slipped down to where this crisis normally takes place. We have to listen - just as the male character of the book - to endless gory and rather boring tales of Roza`s, a yugoslav former prostitute's, mostly sexual adventures, while the fortiish (not really so old) Chris gets more and more aroused and horny about her. The two like each other and love each other a bit, but the man, Chris, is so repressed that nothing happens except at the end where he gets stone drunk and spoils it all. One cannot really sympathize with either character.
Please, wonderful Louis de Berniers, keep writing your great stories and don't get into the cliché trap of middle aged men's single mindedness.

Definetly worth a read..., 15 Aug 2008
I think the way the story is written is done very well and the book is worth reading. Gets you hooked near the end and a sign of a good book is when you get an emmotional attachment and this is what it does. You get into the characters and can picture the scenes vivdly. short review i know but you get the jist, just buy it !

Who said hackneyed claptrap cruising on his famous name? ..., 11 Aug 2008
... because whoever it was, you had it right on the money. Louis de Berniers is a fabulously gifted writer, but he just wasn't trying for this dreadful effort.

No story or plot in itself, one would hope for a richness of character, but there is none, just a couple of one dimensional stereotypes and a load of wikipedia factoids about Tito's Yugoslavia and sleazy soho nightclubs. The scene setting - harking back to the bad old days of seventies Britian by linking in to news stories of the day - is terribly corny.

It gets one star simply because Amazon won't let me give it less. Come on Louis, I know the editors get on your back for output, but this crap really is devaluing your other excellent work by association.

Simple slice, 28 May 2008
Louis De Bernieres has carved out a complex story using really only two main characters who flash back using their own narration to their own contrasting lives. To me, though, it did not seem like a "proper novel" just like a one person play is more of a "performance" than a play. As the narrators by their own admission were making up some of their narration it left me feeling as if the read was all for nothing. Having said that, there were some powerful, moving and dramatic narrated scenes so I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the plight of immigrant young people in London, the 70s/80s and the selfishness/thoughtlessness of passive unhappily married middle-aged men.

The power of a good story, 26 May 2008
Chris, is a travelling salesman aged 40 in an unhappy marriage when he meets Roza, a young woman from Yugoslavia, in Archway, North London. She is standing at the side of the road when he approaches her believing her to be a prostitute, although, as he makes clear, he is not a man who has ever approached a prostitute before.

The year is 1979, Mrs Thatcher is about to take power in England and Marshall Tito will soon die in Yugoslavia. The tragic fragmentation of Yugoslavia is still some way off.

The story is told in the first person by the two characters - Chris and Roza, and in retrospect by the older Chris.

Chris becomes fascinated by Roza. She invites him to visit her as a friend and he comes back several times, in love and in lust as she tells him the events of her life since she was a little girl, the proud daughter of a second world-war partisan fighter.

There is a marked contrast between the passionate and open Roza and the anaemic, closed-down Chris; the vitality and violence of her life compared to the sheltered docility of the life that he has led. Over time and over coffee in the basement of a run-down house where nobody goes by their real name, his repressed lust turns to fascination and then love as he listens to the stories from her life. She at last has found someone who will listen to an account of the heights of joy along with the depths of degradation and humiliation she has experienced. They both work through the mistakes made and wrong paths taken before ending up here.

The painful embarrassment and sad misunderstanding of the ending when Chris the repressed Englishman gets drunk and expresses his feelings at last, leave a strong sense of loss that remains with the reader long after the last word has been read.

At odds, 24 Aug 2005
I guess I'm gonna get crucified here but I did not particularly enjoy this book. I read Corelli from this author first of all, and it was my sheer enjoyment of that book that lead me to buy two more of his books immediately. I wish I'd bought only one (or better, borrowed it). I found this book (and Senor Vivo) over-written and contrived. Sure, I understood the black humour and the biting satire - but it was kinda like being browbeaten with it - in the tactless style of a typical Hollywood movie, rather than being seductively left to draw my own conclusions, like many a French movie. Yes I laughed out loud at some passages. But, whereas the exquisite prose in Corelli simply wafted me from page to page, irresistibly, I found The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts hard going, and it was only applied discipline that made me finish it.

Neisseria's notable triumph!, 06 Oct 2004
In this opening salvo of a trilogy on Colombian society and politics, de Bernieres demonstrates his outstanding abilities. His descriptive powers are vivid, often chilling, in conveying what humans are capable of perpetrating on one another. He produces characters that prance over the pages in a tantalising dance, challenging you to predict their next outrage or fallacy. The story is intricately woven through a loom of surprises, tragedies, and disasters. There are light moments, but they leave you wondering what depth of misfortune is likely to follow. Lest this analysis leave you feeling the book is depressing, take heart. The author portrays solemn realism, but swifts and butterflies of hope and satisfaction will reward the reader, even if their passage seems evanescent.

The "war" is more than simply the manifestations of one man's loins. Don Emmanuel is but one soldier in a wider context. De Bernieres is here campaigning for a broader sense of justice than this semi-imaginary society has been experiencing. What is the justice in a village gathering to defend a local, perhaps the last, virgin from salacious soldiers, only to have a grenade slaughtering the inhabitants. The army, supposedly called up to defend the nation, proves its most rapacious element. How to halt their depredations becomes the focus of this intricately woven tale. In one deliciously described sally, the village uses a local, well, "experienced", young women to visit the army's camp with her charms - and infections, such as neisseria [google it!].

This thinly disguised tale of modern Columbia's stresses depicts a society topped by an oligarchy of vested interests. "Right" and "Left" are but easily swopped labels by elements that have no essential differences. The "natural rulers" are buttressed by a compliant church, which is far more concerned with its own interests than that of the resident peasantry. This agrarian foundation of the country, who have little enough for themselves, occupy remote villages while underpinning the urban society. They are ready victims, easily manipulated or simply ignored. Their attackers are many and defenders few - yet it is typical of de Bernieres' sense of irony that among their champions stands an Army General.

That de Bernieres has copped many awards is adequate testimony to his prowess. He entertains and informs with equal verve. A dash of fantasy added to this story brings home the fact that "religion" is a term requiring expanded definition. The new definition would encompass human feelings more intimately than our present models. Death, never welcome, becomes something less than absolute in this author's hands. If the images he depicts are but our memories of lost loved ones, perhaps we should spend more time celebrating them. These and other questions permeate this book while prompting us to confront and judge our own values. If that's de Bernieres' intent, he's succeeded admirably. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

A dark satire on S American literature and history, 13 Feb 2004
Something that offends no one cannot have achieved greatness. Greatness is not popular. Captain Correlli is popular. I am not surprised that several Captain Correlli readers have not enjoyed this book. Three Tenors listeners are often not going to enjoy a complete opera. Don Emmanuel is not popular, it is a great work of literature. This is where the author found his voice, and like all first times the fresh voice is freshest here, the new ideas are newest here.

This book is also very funny and compelling. If you have read Marquez and/or Vargas Llosa, and loved them, you will be in sympathy with the author's satirical take on magical realism and the horrors of life in South America. But without that background, the satire may be lost on you. The humour is very dark, and one cannot help but feel that if translated into Spanish it would probably be burnt in the streets from Bogota to Buenos Aires. That's the kind of humour I like, but I'm definitely not carrying it in my luggage.

enjoyable but patronising, 20 Jan 2004
Like many readers of de Bernieres I first read Captain Correlli's Mandolin, set on Cephalonia. The author has been accused by many inhabitants of that island of patronising them, changing historical facts and belittling their beliefs. This earlier trilogy of books (of which I confess I have only read this one and the last) is set in a fictional country and, had he set it in a real one, I'm sure he would have received exactly the same reaction from inhabitants there.

Don't get me wrong, he is a very good writer and I did become very involved with the story and characters (particularly the frozen soldiers and plagues of giant cats), but always at the back of my mind was the thought that Louis was being very patronising and even possibly racist in his characterisations of South American people.

I also agree with other reviewers that the scenes of sexual violence can be shockingly graphic. Louis seems to rather enjoy writing these as much as the sickly sweet ones.

I don't think I will read the middle book and if anybody is undecided I would recommend they read Gabriel Garcia Marquez instead. At least he's South American.

Human geography, 17 May 2002
First the good things. I think that De Bernieres spent a lot of time in Latin America, and this is a horribly plausible description of life in that part of the world, where they certainly know how to have a good knees-up, but where random and extreme violence can strike you down at any moment, whether you deserve it or not. The book also contains a great description of how an ordinary mediocre person can turn into a torturing monster. I hadn't understood this before, but think I do now.

Now the things I didn't like - mainly the style. He imitates the magic realism of a lot of Latin American writing, but lays it on a bit too thick. The repetition of people's entire names is normal in Spanish but in English it sounds like a new character is being introduced all the time, which struck me as an irritating verbal tic. You can tell the passages he wrote when he had a thesaurus next to him, and the ones where he couldn't be bothered (the style of "Capt Corelli" is more consistent in that regard). Another irritation is the constant repetition of little phrases that obviously please the author (if I ever hear the phrase "strawberries and hay" again, I don't know what I'll do - though that may be from one of the later books in the trilogy, I forget).

De Bernieres has been compared to Dickens, and I think that's fair in some ways. They both have a fantastic eye for the superficialities of place and people, but don't offer much in the way of insight - characterisation is not of interest to them; and they both lapse into icky sentimentality quite often. But de Bernieres' writing doesn't have the same unstoppable sledgehammer poetry.

I wouldn't recommend the rest of the trilogy, which essentially reworks the same themes - I had terrible difficulty getting through the other two books. This one is worth reading though.

A Great Wartime Love Story!, 16 Sep 2008
This book is a fantastic read that starts toward the end of World War 2 and covers generations.
The tale tells of a young Greek girl and an eccentric Italian Captain finding love during the Italian "occupation" of the Greek island of Cephallonia, although the Italian army hardly treats it as such due to disenchantment with having to fight for reasons & ideals they do not share with their leaders.
The author creates extremely tangible scenes, people & feelings that you're left feeling like you really knew the characters & places.
There are a few strange plot-holes but this in no way detracts from the overall story and I was actually quite gutted that it had to end!
A really good read that everyone will enjoy & appreciate I think.

masterpiece, 03 Sep 2008
I'll keep this short - plenty of the reviewers here are clearly budding authors!


Absolutely brilliant, should be on GCSE reading list. I havnt read as good a book in many years.


Dont be put off by the film which downgraded the book into a chick-flick.

A moving but flawed novel - well worth reading, 28 Feb 2008
There are lots of things to like about this book - I won't list them all because so many other people have, but the things that stand out are Captain Corelli's character (how could they have have cast depressive Nicholas Cage in the film? Roberto Benigni - of 'Life is Beautiful' - was the only possible choice), Pelagia's lovable shrewishness, the humour, unsentimentality, quirkiness and excellent war passages, conveying the horror and brutality of combat and the destructiveness of prejudice and hatred. Problems are De Berniere's self-indulgence, cleverness and tendency to take intrusive authorial stands on political situations, which would be better presented through the characters, leaving us to make up our own minds. The biggest failure of this book is the last 60 pages or so, in which a frantic dash through the history of the island so he can include the earthquake means that Corelli and Pelagia cannot meet up again until they are toothless OAPs. Apart from the frustration of being told in bald summaries the fate of people like the doctor, with whom we have been intimately involved,anyone who has ever lived on a Greek island will know that it is impossible for someone (especially a foreigner) to sneak onto it and creep around unseen. For me the confused beginning and the drawn out ending marred what was a wonderful and moving read, but I would highly recommend it nevertheless. But avoid the film at all costs!

Epic, 31 Dec 2007
This, in my opinion,is one of the greatest stories I have ever read.
Captain Corelli's Mandolin is set during WWII on the Greek island of Cephallonia. It deals with, among many other things, German and Italian invasion, the war as foght between Greece and Italy, communism, facism, homosexuality, honor, betrayal and above all else, Love.

The themes are so wide that I guarantee anyone will find smething they love about this book. I read it as a heartbreaking love story set against the backdrop of a tragic war. I passed it on to my boyfriend as one of my favourite books and he loved it as a political satire on Mussolini and WWII with a pesky love story thrown in.

I cry and laugh every time I read this book. It is truly astonishing. A few people have found it very hard to get through but as the love story does not begin until about half way through the book if you were recommended this book as a romance I can see why you would get fed up. You need to look at this book as an account of War through the eyes of the common man and the futility of invasion. There is a beautiful love story here but this book is so much more than that.

Please persevere with this remarkable book and you may just be blown away.

Breathtaking, 12 Dec 2007
Every so often you read a book that leaves you stunned; this is one of them. Please ,please don't let the first part put you off, persevere and you will be well rewarded with this magnificent tome. This book is all things; hilarious, sad, joyful, frightening and more, it is by far one of the best books I have ever read. If you saw the film first you are in for a treat for the book is 100 times better and has a different ending albeit sadder. If you go to kefelonia you will notice everyone reading this book, but you can curl up on the sofa and enjoy this just the same, make sure you've nothing urgent to do though because once started you will be unable to put it down. Enjoy!

Very impressive and beautifully written, 05 Apr 2008
I am originally from Izmir, Karsiyaka, and I was really surprised to find some events that happened in Turkish-Greek war that my grandmother had been telling us about, in this book.

For example, the Turkish soldiers taking revenge from Greeks in Izmir because of what they had seen in Anatolia. When Turkish army entered Karsiyaka, my grandmother saw a Turkish soldier, and asked him to spare her Greek neighbours (they were close friends). The Turkish soldier replied back: "do you know what we have seen in Anatolia?!".

Similarly, the story about setting part of Izmir on fire because of snipers killing Turkish soldiers from houses in Christian neighbourhoods.

It is a real pity that these events took place, and I really hope we can learn some lessons and never let that happen again.

For that reason alone, I would recommend everyone to read this book!


Needs some serious editing, 04 Oct 2007
I loved Captain Corelli's Mandolin when I read it as a teenager over 10 years ago, and was expecting something along the same vein here- I was disappointed however. It's not all bad, but you really have to struggle to stay interested in the characters, and the plot is so disjointed and interspersed with pages and pages of virtually unreadable history. In fact it feels as though it is a history lesson with a story thrown in as an afterthought.


Mixed feelings, 18 Jul 2007
Well, as the title of my review says, I had mixed feelings about this book. Let me say this much, if it weren't for the historical inaccuracies, I would have given this novel five stars. It's beautifully written, an engaging web of stories that just feels so right and true - it *feels like* a wonderfully accurate recreation of events: part poetry, part history lesson, part folk story.

But it is for this very reason that I disliked this novel as well. Although it gives every appearance of having been very carefully and painstakingly researched, the author seems to have fallen for the shameful lies and propaganda put forward by the Turkish government to this day, in which they pretend that atrocities that they committed were in fact committed against them. He appears to have taken all of his research directly from the Turkish government, and completely ignores accounts of events from France, Germany, the US (etc etc etc) - from civilians and politicians and newspapers, not to mention accounts from actual survivors of the Armenian Genocide, who were forced to leave the country between 1915 and 1923. He presents the Turkish government's justifications for their atrocities as if they are fact - when the records of every other government and respected historian in the world states the exact opposite. I read Mr de Bernieres' descriptions of Greek and Armenian "atrocities" and "revenge" with a mixture of anger, sadness and despair. When such a talented novellist has the power to transmit this distorted version of history to a public consciousness that has largely forgotten the Armenian Genocide, it seems likely that the Turkish government will succeed in their efforts to white wash the events completely from history.

note: Turkey still has laws against "insulting Turkishness", and regularly prosecutes Turkish novellists and journalists who try to enlighten their countrymen as to what really happened during WW1. Many of these writers have been assassinated or threatened by nationalists. In this sort of environment, who should you trust - the Turkish government's version of events, or those of respected historians worldwide?

Just too long!, 30 May 2007
I really enjoyed the descriptions of the villagers and their stories, but was very bored by the history lessons. The story is very gripping in places, but 300 pages would have been enough.

Sometimes, less is more, 27 Apr 2007
Louis de Bernieres can write marvellously, of that there is no doubt. He can touch the heart and he can bring tears to the eyes; he can conjure up the deepest of emotions with the lightest of touches. I hugely enjoyed the Latin American trilogy that preceded "Captain Corelli's Mandolin", and Corelli itself deserved all the critical acclaim it received. Yet despite my anticipation (I have visited Fethiye and walked around the sad ruins of the deserted village close by) I found this latest Turkish offering a little less than a delight. Yes, there are individual chapters that have the de Bernieres magic; yes, there are passages that live up to the best in his previous work; and yes, it is in places erudite, witty, and touching. But put together as a whole there is one overriding flaw, and that is that "Birds Without Wings" is quite simply far too diffuse. While the historical diversions may be edifying, the endless asides make for a tale that can all too easily just become becalmed.

The central character is not a single individual -- rather, it is the village of Eskibahce, and with it the assortment of all too human characters who find their lives transformed forever by tragedy on a global scale, innocents caught up in a maelstrom. De Bernieres' description of the lives of Rustem Bey, Iskander the Potter, Philothei and Mehmetcik (to name but four) is affectionate and detailed. But the problem is how to present the enormity of all that is happening to and beyond this crowd of engaging individuals whilst at the same time keeping the story coherent and focused. It is not a problem that the author solves satisfactorily.

I did learn more than I ever expected to learn about Mustafa Kemal Attaturk; but while all this may be very educational there are in fact 22 chapters on Mustafa Kemal himself, and certainly by the time of chapter 81 the last thing I wanted was a ten page treatise on the death of King Alexander of Greece. There is a time and place for didactic chapters like this, and p481 of a 625 page novel is not one of them. The pace is interrupted and held up like this time and time again: just when things might be building up a head of steam, the story goes off the boil. By chapter 85, to give another example, I really only wanted to finish the book in order to say that I got to the end of it, and then out of nowhere I was embroiled in a superfluous chapter about a drowning Greek -- beautifully written, don't get me wrong: but please, not there, not at this point. If it had not been for the fact that the end was in sight, this would have had me chucking the book at the wall.

Given how much I have enjoyed his other works, it pains me to say -- and I feel disloyal in doing so -- that the long breath I sighed at the end of "Birds Without Wings" was occasioned rather more by relief at finishing it than regret at leaving it. Sometimes less is more, and rather less here would have had me enjoying it a lot more.

diappointing, 01 Nov 2008
I have always loved Loius de Berniers` books, as witty, human, original, serious and funny at the same time, in short wonderful to read. But, alas, at last he seems to have reached what one politely calls midlife crisis and all his imagination seems to have slipped down to where this crisis normally takes place. We have to listen - just as the male character of the book - to endless gory and rather boring tales of Roza`s, a yugoslav former prostitute's, mostly sexual adventures, while the fortiish (not really so old) Chris gets more and more aroused and horny about her. The two like each other and love each other a bit, but the man, Chris, is so repressed that nothing happens except at the end where he gets stone drunk and spoils it all. One cannot really sympathize with either character.
Please, wonderful Louis de Berniers, keep writing your great stories and don't get into the cliché trap of middle aged men's single mindedness.

Definetly worth a read..., 15 Aug 2008
I think the way the story is written is done very well and the book is worth reading. Gets you hooked near the end and a sign of a good book is when you get an emmotional attachment and this is what it does. You get into the characters and can picture the scenes vivdly. short review i know but you get the jist, just buy it !

Who said hackneyed claptrap cruising on his famous name? ..., 11 Aug 2008
... because whoever it was, you had it right on the money. Louis de Berniers is a fabulously gifted writer, but he just wasn't trying for this dreadful effort.

No story or plot in itself, one would hope for a richness of character, but there is none, just a couple of one dimensional stereotypes and a load of wikipedia factoids about Tito's Yugoslavia and sleazy soho nightclubs. The scene setting - harking back to the bad old days of seventies Britian by linking in to news stories of the day - is terribly corny.

It gets one star simply because Amazon won't let me give it less. Come on Louis, I know the editors get on your back for output, but this crap really is devaluing your other excellent work by association.

Simple slice, 28 May 2008
Louis De Bernieres has carved out a complex story using really only two main characters who flash back using their own narration to their own contrasting lives. To me, though, it did not seem like a "proper novel" just like a one person play is more of a "performance" than a play. As the narrators by their own admission were making up some of their narration it left me feeling as if the read was all for nothing. Having said that, there were some powerful, moving and dramatic narrated scenes so I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the plight of immigrant young people in London, the 70s/80s and the selfishness/thoughtlessness of passive unhappily married middle-aged men.

The power of a good story, 26 May 2008
Chris, is a travelling salesman aged 40 in an unhappy marriage when he meets Roza, a young woman from Yugoslavia, in Archway, North London. She is standing at the side of the road when he approaches her believing her to be a prostitute, although, as he makes clear, he is not a man who has ever approached a prostitute before.

The year is 1979, Mrs Thatcher is about to take power in England and Marshall Tito will soon die in Yugoslavia. The tragic fragmentation of Yugoslavia is still some way off.

The story is told in the first person by the two characters - Chris and Roza, and in retrospect by the older Chris.

Chris becomes fascinated by Roza. She invites him to visit her as a friend and he comes back several times, in love and in lust as she tells him the events of her life since she was a little girl, the proud daughter of a second world-war partisan fighter.

There is a marked contrast between the passionate and open Roza and the anaemic, closed-down Chris; the vitality and violence of her life compared to the sheltered docility of the life that he has led. Over time and over coffee in the basement of a run-down house where nobody goes by their real name, his repressed lust turns to fascination and then love as he listens to the stories from her life. She at last has found someone who will listen to an account of the heights of joy along with the depths of degradation and humiliation she has experienced. They both work through the mistakes made and wrong paths taken before ending up here.

The painful embarrassment and sad misunderstanding of the ending when Chris the repressed Englishman gets drunk and expresses his feelings at last, leave a strong sense of loss that remains with the reader long after the last word has been read.

At odds, 24 Aug 2005
I guess I'm gonna get crucified here but I did not particularly enjoy this book. I read Corelli from this author first of all, and it was my sheer enjoyment of that book that lead me to buy two more of his books immediately. I wish I'd bought only one (or better, borrowed it). I found this book (and Senor Vivo) over-written and contrived. Sure, I understood the black humour and the biting satire - but it was kinda like being browbeaten with it - in the tactless style of a typical Hollywood movie, rather than being seductively left to draw my own conclusions, like many a French movie. Yes I laughed out loud at some passages. But, whereas the exquisite prose in Corelli simply wafted me from page to page, irresistibly, I found The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts hard going, and it was only applied discipline that made me finish it.

Neisseria's notable triumph!, 06 Oct 2004
In this opening salvo of a trilogy on Colombian society and politics, de Bernieres demonstrates his outstanding abilities. His descriptive powers are vivid, often chilling, in conveying what humans are capable of perpetrating on one another. He produces characters that prance over the pages in a tantalising dance, challenging you to predict their next outrage or fallacy. The story is intricately woven through a loom of surprises, tragedies, and disasters. There are light moments, but they leave you wondering what depth of misfortune is likely to follow. Lest this analysis leave you feeling the book is depressing, take heart. The author portrays solemn realism, but swifts and butterflies of hope and satisfaction will reward the reader, even if their passage seems evanescent.

The "war" is more than simply the manifestations of one man's loins. Don Emmanuel is but one soldier in a wider context. De Bernieres is here campaigning for a broader sense of justice than this semi-imaginary society has been experiencing. What is the justice in a village gathering to defend a local, perhaps the last, virgin from salacious soldiers, only to have a grenade slaughtering the inhabitants. The army, supposedly called up to defend the nation, proves its most rapacious element. How to halt their depredations becomes the focus of this intricately woven tale. In one deliciously described sally, the village uses a local, well, "experienced", young women to visit the army's camp with her charms - and infections, such as neisseria [google it!].

This thinly disguised tale of modern Columbia's stresses depicts a society topped by an oligarchy of vested interests. "Right" and "Left" are but easily swopped labels by elements that have no essential differences. The "natural rulers" are buttressed by a compliant church, which is far more concerned with its own interests than that of the resident peasantry. This agrarian foundation of the country, who have little enough for themselves, occupy remote villages while underpinning the urban society. They are ready victims, easily manipulated or simply ignored. Their attackers are many and defenders few - yet it is typical of de Bernieres' sense of irony that among their champions stands an Army General.

That de Bernieres has copped many awards is adequate testimony to his prowess. He entertains and informs with equal verve. A dash of fantasy added to this story brings home the fact that "religion" is a term requiring expanded definition. The new definition would encompass human feelings more intimately than our present models. Death, never welcome, becomes something less than absolute in this author's hands. If the images he depicts are but our memories of lost loved ones, perhaps we should spend more time celebrating them. These and other questions permeate this book while prompting us to confront and judge our own values. If that's de Bernieres' intent, he's succeeded admirably. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

A dark satire on S American literature and history, 13 Feb 2004
Something that offends no one cannot have achieved greatness. Greatness is not popular. Captain Correlli is popular. I am not surprised that several Captain Correlli readers have not enjoyed this book. Three Tenors listeners are often not going to enjoy a complete opera. Don Emmanuel is not popular, it is a great work of literature. This is where the author found his voice, and like all first times the fresh voice is freshest here, the new ideas are newest here.

This book is also very funny and compelling. If you have read Marquez and/or Vargas Llosa, and loved them, you will be in sympathy with the author's satirical take on magical realism and the horrors of life in South America. But without that background, the satire may be lost on you. The humour is very dark, and one cannot help but feel that if translated into Spanish it would probably be burnt in the streets from Bogota to Buenos Aires. That's the kind of humour I like, but I'm definitely not carrying it in my luggage.

enjoyable but patronising, 20 Jan 2004
Like many readers of de Bernieres I first read Captain Correlli's Mandolin, set on Cephalonia. The author has been accused by many inhabitants of that island of patronising them, changing historical facts and belittling their beliefs. This earlier trilogy of books (of which I confess I have only read this one and the last) is set in a fictional country and, had he set it in a real one, I'm sure he would have received exactly the same reaction from inhabitants there.

Don't get me wrong, he is a very good writer and I did become very involved with the story and characters (particularly the frozen soldiers and plagues of giant cats), but always at the back of my mind was the thought that Louis was being very patronising and even possibly racist in his characterisations of South American people.

I also agree with other reviewers that the scenes of sexual violence can be shockingly graphic. Louis seems to rather enjoy writing these as much as the sickly sweet ones.

I don't think I will read the middle book and if anybody is undecided I would recommend they read Gabriel Garcia Marquez instead. At least he's South American.

Human geography, 17 May 2002
First the good things. I think that De Bernieres spent a lot of time in Latin America, and this is a horribly plausible description of life in that part of the world, where they certainly know how to have a good knees-up, but where random and extreme violence can strike you down at any moment, whether you deserve it or not. The book also contains a great description of how an ordinary mediocre person can turn into a torturing monster. I hadn't understood this before, but think I do now.

Now the things I didn't like - mainly the style. He imitates the magic realism of a lot of Latin American writing, but lays it on a bit too thick. The repetition of people's entire names is normal in Spanish but in English it sounds like a new character is being introduced all the time, which struck me as an irritating verbal tic. You can tell the passages he wrote when he had a thesaurus next to him, and the ones where he couldn't be bothered (the style of "Capt Corelli" is more consistent in that regard). Another irritation is the constant repetition of little phrases that obviously please the author (if I ever hear the phrase "strawberries and hay" again, I don't know what I'll do - though that may be from one of the later books in the trilogy, I forget).

De Bernieres has been compared to Dickens, and I think that's fair in some ways. They both have a fantastic eye for the superficialities of place and people, but don't offer much in the way of insight - characterisation is not of interest to them; and they both lapse into icky sentimentality quite often. But de Bernieres' writing doesn't have the same unstoppable sledgehammer poetry.

I wouldn't recommend the rest of the trilogy, which essentially reworks the same themes - I had terrible difficulty getting through the other two books. This one is worth reading though.

A Wonderful Book, Amusing and Profound, 16 Aug 2007
This book achieves so much, at least matching the achievement of the second part ('Nether Parts') of the trilogy. Why it's not better known than 'Captain Corelli' I don't know, unless it's to do with the teasing nature of the titles chosen for the trilogy. This is a veritable feast of humanity and spirituality, poking fun at all of the self-important things of life, such as religion and politics, while at the same time provoking lasting thoughts about the human and spiritual need for such institutions. Magic and the impossible are easily assimilated, without apology, into the detailed plot. Don't be put off by the complex range of characters and places with unfamiliar South American names - even a little effort here pays enormous dividends! This is a truly enriching book!

Genius, 20 Aug 2006
I sometimes wonder if De Bernieres is mad or a true genius... and I think that genius wins out. This is the third in a trilogy but it can definitely be read without having read the other two.

The humour in this novel is so subtle but hilarious all the same and the triumph of the people involved against all the odds makes you believe that even the most hopeless situation can be resolved in your favour.

The only health warning I'd issue is with the large number of characters. If you don't have an hour or two spare to get into it when you start the book it can be quite difficult to remember who everyone is and where they are later on. But, if you read a large chunk at the beginning it's no issue!

Everything you could ever ask for, 20 May 2003
The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman has everything you could possibly want from a book. It's full of miracles and tragedies, magic and reality, humour and solemnity, romance and conflicts. Louis de Bernieres is an extremely talented writer and for those of you who have only read Captain Corelli's, be prepared to be blown away...

Independant beliefs, 25 Feb 2003
I've read "The War of Don Emmanuels Nether Parts" aeons ago, but once I started to read this book all the memorable characters came flooding to my memory. This book is based around life in a village, which doesn't quite seem to obey the rules of normal space and time. Life is easy, spiritual and above all, the inhabitants enjoy a good time.

However, Cardinal Guzman decides to launch a mission to re-introduce christianity, but things quickly get out of hand. There are touches of violence and brutality in this book, but they are tempered with loads of humour and the acts of the heros.

this is a big-time recommended read.

A charmingly entoxicating medley of human nonsense and magic, 20 Mar 2002
De Bernieres has designed a motley cast of improbable animals, humans and demons, and fashioned it into a delightful story of good defeating evil. Never have I laughed so much at an essentially clever book. The Troublesome Offspring is Asterix the Gaul without the need for pictures. Wise, provocative and naughty, it is a book that you will never forget. Read it.

Louis de Bernières is a masterful writer, which is to say his command of the various crafts of writing--creating character, innovative description, telling a whopping good story--weaves a spell and sucks you into the magic. From the moment Dionisio Vivo and Ramón "Cochinillo" Dario attend to the cravate corpse deposited in his garden by the coca lords, you become ensconced in the world of Ipasueño, its passions, ironies and political intrigues, and cease to be aware of the hand of Bernières behind the scenes.

Dionisio, a professor of philosophy, writes a series of letters, published in the prestigious journal La Prensa, castigating the coca trade, and from there the story spins furiously in many directions and subplots. There's the love affair of the century between Dionisio and Anica Moreno, Lazaro's tragic dance with leprosy, and--to the great pleasure of fans of Bernières's previous novel, The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts--further interactions with the magical jaguars and human inhabitants of Cochadebajo de los Gatos. Events take their course in the way of a grand tragicomedy, with the devastation that's expected followed by the irrepressible joy of life that's never expected and Bernières's tongue-in-cheek touch throughout.

It's a delightfully mesmerising book. Set in a mythical South American country that's a composite of real South American history and Bernières's fertile imagination, and therefore a perfect companion to take on a south-of-the-border vacation--the book is awash in the realities and flavour of South America and the lunacies of Bernières's genius. --Stephanie Gold

A Great Wartime Love Story!, 16 Sep 2008
This book is a fantastic read that starts toward the end of World War 2 and covers generations.
The tale tells of a young Greek girl and an eccentric Italian Captain finding love during the Italian "occupation" of the Greek island of Cephallonia, although the Italian army hardly treats it as such due to disenchantment with having to fight for reasons & ideals they do not share with their leaders.
The author creates extremely tangible scenes, people & feelings that you're left feeling like you really knew the characters & places.
There are a few strange plot-holes but this in no way detracts from the overall story and I was actually quite gutted that it had to end!
A really good read that everyone will enjoy & appreciate I think.

masterpiece, 03 Sep 2008
I'll keep this short - plenty of the reviewers here are clearly budding authors!


Absolutely brilliant, should be on GCSE reading list. I havnt read as good a book in many years.


Dont be put off by the film which downgraded the book into a chick-flick.

A moving but flawed novel - well worth reading, 28 Feb 2008
There are lots of things to like about this book - I won't list them all because so many other people have, but the things that stand out are Captain Corelli's character (how could they have have cast depressive Nicholas Cage in the film? Roberto Benigni - of 'Life is Beautiful' - was the only possible choice), Pelagia's lovable shrewishness, the humour, unsentimentality, quirkiness and excellent war passages, conveying the horror and brutality of combat and the destructiveness of prejudice and hatred. Problems are De Berniere's self-indulgence, cleverness and tendency to take intrusive authorial stands on political situations, which would be better presented through the characters, leaving us to make up our own minds. The biggest failure of this book is the last 60 pages or so, in which a frantic dash through the history of the island so he can include the earthquake means that Corelli and Pelagia cannot meet up again until they are toothless OAPs. Apart from the frustration of being told in bald summaries the fate of people like the doctor, with whom we have been intimately involved,anyone who has ever lived on a Greek island will know that it is impossible for someone (especially a foreigner) to sneak onto it and creep around unseen. For me the confused beginning and the drawn out ending marred what was a wonderful and moving read, but I would highly recommend it nevertheless. But avoid the film at all costs!

Epic, 31 Dec 2007
This, in my opinion,is one of the greatest stories I have ever read.
Captain Corelli's Mandolin is set during WWII on the Greek island of Cephallonia. It deals with, among many other things, German and Italian invasion, the war as foght between Greece and Italy, communism, facism, homosexuality, honor, betrayal and above all else, Love.

The themes are so wide that I guarantee anyone will find smething they love about this book. I read it as a heartbreaking love story set against the backdrop of a tragic war. I passed it on to my boyfriend as one of my favourite books and he loved it as a political satire on Mussolini and WWII with a pesky love story thrown in.

I cry and laugh every time I read this book. It is truly astonishing. A few people have found it very hard to get through but as the love story does not begin until about half way through the book if you were recommended this book as a romance I can see why you would get fed up. You need to look at this book as an account of War through the eyes of the common man and the futility of invasion. There is a beautiful love story here but this book is so much more than that.

Please persevere with this remarkable book and you may just be blown away.

Breathtaking, 12 Dec 2007
Every so often you read a book that leaves you stunned; this is one of them. Please ,please don't let the first part put you off, persevere and you will be well rewarded with this magnificent tome. This book is all things; hilarious, sad, joyful, frightening and more, it is by far one of the best books I have ever read. If you saw the film first you are in for a treat for the book is 100 times better and has a different ending albeit sadder. If you go to kefelonia you will notice everyone reading this book, but you can curl up on the sofa and enjoy this just the same, make sure you've nothing urgent to do though because once started you will be unable to put it down. Enjoy!

Very impressive and beautifully written, 05 Apr 2008
I am originally from Izmir, Karsiyaka, and I was really surprised to find some events that happened in Turkish-Greek war that my grandmother had been telling us about, in this book.

For example, the Turkish soldiers taking revenge from Greeks in Izmir because of what they had seen in Anatolia. When Turkish army entered Karsiyaka, my grandmother saw a Turkish soldier, and asked him to spare her Greek neighbours (they were close friends). The Turkish soldier replied back: "do you know what we have seen in Anatolia?!".

Similarly, the story about setting part of Izmir on fire because of snipers killing Turkish soldiers from houses in Christian neighbourhoods.

It is a real pity that these events took place, and I really hope we can learn some lessons and never let that happen again.

For that reason alone, I would recommend everyone to read this book!


Needs some serious editing, 04 Oct 2007
I loved Captain Corelli's Mandolin when I read it as a teenager over 10 years ago, and was expecting something along the same vein here- I was disappointed however. It's not all bad, but you really have to struggle to stay interested in the characters, and the plot is so disjointed and interspersed with pages and pages of virtually unreadable history. In fact it feels as though it is a history lesson with a story thrown in as an afterthought.


Mixed feelings, 18 Jul 2007
Well, as the title of my review says, I had mixed feelings about this book. Let me say this much, if it weren't for the historical inaccuracies, I would have given this novel five stars. It's beautifully written, an engaging web of stories that just feels so right and true - it *feels like* a wonderfully accurate recreation of events: part poetry, part history lesson, part folk story.

But it is for this very reason that I disliked this novel as well. Although it gives every appearance of having been very carefully and painstakingly researched, the author seems to have fallen for the shameful lies and propaganda put forward by the Turkish government to this day, in which they pretend that atrocities that they committed were in fact committed against them. He appears to have taken all of his research directly from the Turkish government, and completely ignores accounts of events from France, Germany, the US (etc etc etc) - from civilians and politicians and newspapers, not to mention accounts from actual survivors of the Armenian Genocide, who were forced to leave the country between 1915 and 1923. He presents the Turkish government's justifications for their atrocities as if they are fact - when the records of every other government and respected historian in the world states the exact opposite. I read Mr de Bernieres' descriptions of Greek and Armenian "atrocities" and "revenge" with a mixture of anger, sadness and despair. When such a talented novellist has the power to transmit this distorted version of history to a public consciousness that has largely forgotten the Armenian Genocide, it seems likely that the Turkish government will succeed in their efforts to white wash the events completely from history.

note: Turkey still has laws against "insulting Turkishness", and regularly prosecutes Turkish novellists and journalists who try to enlighten their countrymen as to what really happened during WW1. Many of these writers have been assassinated or threatened by nationalists. In this sort of environment, who should you trust - the Turkish government's version of events, or those of respected historians worldwide?

Just too long!, 30 May 2007
I really enjoyed the descriptions of the villagers and their stories, but was very bored by the history lessons. The story is very gripping in places, but 300 pages would have been enough.

Sometimes, less is more, 27 Apr 2007
Louis de Bernieres can write marvellously, of that there is no doubt. He can touch the heart and he can bring tears to the eyes; he can conjure up the deepest of emotions with the lightest of touches. I hugely enjoyed the Latin American trilogy that preceded "Captain Corelli's Mandolin", and Corelli itself deserved all the critical acclaim it received. Yet despite my anticipation (I have visited Fethiye and walked around the sad ruins of the deserted village close by) I found this latest Turkish offering a little less than a delight. Yes, there are individual chapters that have the de Bernieres magic; yes, there are passages that live up to the best in his previous work; and yes, it is in places erudite, witty, and touching. But put together as a whole there is one overriding flaw, and that is that "Birds Without Wings" is quite simply far too diffuse. While the historical diversions may be edifying, the endless asides make for a tale that can all too easily just become becalmed.

The central character is not a single individual -- rather, it is the village of Eskibahce, and with it the assortment of all too human characters who find their lives transformed forever by tragedy on a global scale, innocents caught up in a maelstrom. De Bernieres' description of the lives of Rustem Bey, Iskander the Potter, Philothei and Mehmetcik (to name but four) is affectionate and detailed. But the problem is how to present the enormity of all that is happening to and beyond this crowd of engaging individuals whilst at the same time keeping the story coherent and focused. It is not a problem that the author solves satisfactorily.

I did learn more than I ever expected to learn about Mustafa Kemal Attaturk; but while all this may be very educational there are in fact 22 chapters on Mustafa Kemal himself, and certainly by the time of chapter 81 the last thing I wanted was a ten page treatise on the death of King Alexander of Greece. There is a time and place for didactic chapters like this, and p481 of a 625 page novel is not one of them. The pace is interrupted and held up like this time and time again: just when things might be building up a head of steam, the story goes off the boil. By chapter 85, to give another example, I really only wanted to finish the book in order to say that I got to the end of it, and then out of nowhere I was embroiled in a superfluous chapter about a drowning Greek -- beautifully written, don't get me wrong: but pleas