Book Review - Captain Corelli's Mandolin

My summer holiday book this was a book I have been meaning to read for many years, having heard many rave reviews from both magazines and friends. Captain Correlli's Mandolin was the book recommended and, as suggested, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. There are parts of the book I did not particularly enjoyed, and also parts where I thought the author, Louis De Bernieres, could have done better. Nevertheless, Captain Correlli's Mandolin is certainly a 'must-read' for anyone who enjoys a nail-biting and believable plot.
One of the primary reasons why I enjoyed this book is the intertwining of both a personal storyline and a historical narrative. The personal aspect of the book is told through the wonderful variety of characters, the long-suffering Pelagia, secretive Carlo, enigmatic Mandras, who all have a part in the narrative. De Bernieres uses these characters and their stories to develop the plethora of ideas he is analysing and confronting.
For example, Mandras' story is harrowing account, full of injustice and horror, and how war affects even the best of us, turning men into monsters. This challenging idea, not just of how deeply war affects people, but also how so few are either villain or hero, and are often capable of atrocity and humanity. However, De Bernieres also uses the story of Mandras as a corner-stone of the plot, as well as being an interesting story from a purely literary standpoint.
Furthermore, this area of the book is used by De Bernieres to examine the historical events of the time in Greece, particularly the civil war, and rivalry with Communists and Monarchists. From academic historical perspective, this narrative is not instructive, as De Bernieres, although accurate in abroad sense with regard to history, has undoubtedly taken some historical licence and developed his own twists and turns. Nevertheless, the history that can be gained from a lay-man's perspective is profound. In addition, De Bernieres is effective at communicating not just the historical tangibles, such as numbers of deaths, buildings destroyed etc., but more importantly the emotions and passions that are created by war, and also the suffering and privations.
De Bernieres is so talented at conveying emotions because his ability to adapt his writing style, specifically the language he uses, to different situations within the plot is unparalleled. For example, when the plot is focused on the superfluous and educated Dr Iannis De Bernieres's choice of words become much more eloquent, not just in the speech of Dr Iannis, but in the narrative also. However, when the plot is focused on characters whose mannerisms are much coarser, the language and descriptions change to reflect the milieu. Whether this is an unconscious change, or whether De Bernieres intentionally adapts his writing style, it is impossible to say for certain. However, it is certain that this change in style is very effective and sits comfortably with the situation in the plot.
De Bernieres's story is also wonderfully varied and unexpected, particullarly the conclusion. The ending of the whole book is a wonderful mix of emotions, both happiness and sadness, and throughout the novel De Bernieres contrasts humour, horror etc. with wonderful effect. The side chapters of Mussolini's rants are wonderfully comic, yet also have a darker side as they show how vain and arrogant he was. By doing this, De Bernieres creates a very interesting mix of emotion and feelings in the reader.
However, if there is anything that can be criticised in De Bernieres novel it would be the swiftness and almost cursory way in which the passage of time from 1950 to the present day is dealt with. I felt that there was a lot left out of the storyline that De Bernieres could have focused on, and not swept through at a very fast pace. Consequently, the reader arrives at the stage of Pelagia's old-age without feeling that there was an intermediate stage of her life. Furthermore, Corelli, a central character, simply falls off the stage. In the early and middle phases of the book the story was told from many different viewpoints. However, as Pelagia enters old age we no longer receive such a variety of viewpoints. This is partly due to the fact that many of the characters are no longer relevant. However, i felt that the story would have been enriched if we had had an account of Corelli's experiences as well as Pelagia's.
Nevertheless, this criticism is slight and insignificant, for the book remains a brilliant read, full of emotion, controversy and excitement, which grips the reader and hold you spellbound, and unable to put the book down.