Μοναδικό και ανεπανάληπτο σαν την ψυχή του Αλέξη Ζορμπά. ( )

I fell in love with Kazantzakis long ago when I was in high school. Zorba is one of his most exuberant and hopeful novels, but laced with shadow nonetheless. Gorgeous, and so much more than the film, which did a tremendous and faithful rendering nonetheless. ( )

musty

Zorba is one of the great characters of literature - energetic, passionate and full of life. What a shame, then, that we only get to see him in the three hundred pages where he is acting like a complete arsehole. Again and again the narrator tells us how wonderful Zorba is, but there is absolutely no evidence in Zorba's actions or his words. He is impulsive, selfish and boorish. His contempt for peasants and workers is only surpassed by his contempt for women.

All of this is based on the first hundred pages of this novel before I put it down. I did skip ahead a bit to make sure the book doesn't suddenly change, and I read some reviews to check if I had missed something. It doesn't and I hadn't. ( )

This is another book I read years ago, and now cannot recall what it was like. ( )