Questions for readers

Lockdown: Day 18

Well, there isn't much else to do at the moment. I'll go out for a walk in a bit, ensuring my mandatory mask is on my face. It's okay, you look like a pariah if you don't wear one. I also need to do the ironing and the floors and generally clean up - this while preparing my application for Varuna, which is due in three days. Ah well.

Lockdown is boring. I'm doubtful we'll be out of lockdown the day after my birthday - It's not going to happen.

Anyway, here's this weeks questions, provided by Bev at Sunday Stealing.


Pick a book you have read and answer the following questions:

The book I've chosen is Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres.

1.  Why did you pick the book?

It is my most favourite book in the world. I've read it six of seven times. Love it.

2.  What did you think about the book?

It's everything I love in the book - clever, funny, heartfelt, full of great characters and it gives a really interesting view of history. It's also set on a Greek Island in World War II - and I love books about this time.

3.  What do you know about the author?

I've met Louis de Bernieres. Met him at the Melbourne Writer's Festival a few years ago. I went all fangirl. He's written about ten books, but Captain Corelli's Mandolin is his most famous. He's middle aged, balding, English and has a couple of sisters. He also likes to work with magic realism - well he did in his early works.

4.  What’s the most memorable scene?

There are many favourite scenes in the book, but I love the scene with the earthquake where years later Corelli discovers the body of Carlos, who saved him from a firing squad. It's incredibly poignant.

5.  How did the book make you feel?

I get so much out of this book. The joy of love, the futility of war, the stupidity of people in general and the terror than man can afflict on his fellow man. The book makes you run the gammut of emotions.

6.  How do you feel about the way the story was told?

The story uses close third person, so you get a birdseye view io Cephalonia and the island - it's very cool. I love the assumptions the narrator makes aobut many of the characters. It can be very subtle. There are great descriptions through the book.

7.  Which parts of the book stood out to you?

I love the start of the book which sets up everything. The book really takes off once we meet Corelli around page 150, but it's the set up of island life which makes this book. You really start to care for all of the characters.

8.  Which specific parts of the protagonist can you relate to?

There is a lot of me which relates to the very pragmatic, slighlty hot headed Pelagia. She's wonderful. Corelli grows on you from the minute you meet him. His lust for life under horrific circumstances is admirable. He's funny too.

9.  Which character did you relate to the most?

Again, Pelagia.

10. Share a line or passage from the book.

“In those days Great Britain was less wealthy than it is now, but it was also less complacent, and considerably less useless. It had a sense of humanitarian responsibility and a myth of its own importance that was quixotically true and universally accepted merely because it believed in it, and said so in a voice loud enough for foreigners to understand. It had not yet acquired the schoolboy habit of waiting for months for permission from Washington before it clambered out of its post-imperial bed, put on its boots, made a sugary cup of tea, and ventured through the door.”

11. What did you think about the ending?

The ending was very sad, but necessary. Pelagia and Antonio do find each other in the end, but in some ways, its 30 years too late. He didn't have the guts to go up and see her because there was a child. What he didn't know hurt him. The could have been very happy for decades. It's bittersweet.

12. Is the story plot driven or character driven?

It's a bit of both. It's mainly character drvien, but you need the story to bring everything together.

13. If the book was made into a movie, what changes or decisions would you hope for?

The book has been made into a movie, but I have not seen it and I will never see it - horrible, horrible casting. If I was to cast it now, oh my - I'd cast this with English actors. Gary Oldman as the Doctor.  Maybe Eddie Redmayne as Corelli. Tom Hardy as Mandras and maybe Florence Pugh as Pelagia. It needs a cracking cast - and it would be better tackled by the English brigade.

14. How did the book change you?

This book is partly responsible for making me travel to Greece. I've been back a few to times. I love the place.

15. If the book is part of a series, how does it stand on its own?

The book is standalone. It's still the best thing De Bernieres has written, though I do like his other stuff.


Today's song: