Captain Corelli's Mandolin

I went into this one with low expectations... and probably remain sitting on the fence. Some people love it, others seem to detest it. For me - neither.
(Bit spoilery from here on, but it is based on History, so hopefully most people know a bit about this).
For the first part of the story, set realistically in Cephalonia, the largest of the Ionian Islands off Greece in 1941, tells of the Italian and German occupation. It is a relatively peaceful time - the Italians are peaceful and respectful of the Greeks, who are reluctantly led to like some of the soldiers. The main Italian characters are likeable and quite well padded out.
After Italy surrenders to the Allies, the Germans take over and start enforcing a more strict and violent control. The Italians resist the German reinforcements, and are slaughtered by the more powerful Germans with more powerful weaponry.
And finally the Americans arrive to mop up the Germans and bring freedom to Cephalonia, only for the Greeks to commence a civil war in which the Partisans followed the example of the Germans with violence and punishments of the already downtrodden people.

At this point in the novel, all of the characters had been well formed and their stories woven with the facts. But it is here that the novel speeds up - the core character family goes through some changes, a generation is added, then another. It is here that many of the readers become dissatisfied with the story, and I can appreciate why - it really does make a change.

At the end there are loose ends tied up, and while it is not a happily ever after ending, and potentially can be seen as a story of wasted opportunities, at least it wasn't a saccharine Hollywood ending.

There were some very well written parts - particularly the tormented war scenes. Some of the events were really sad, and the author didn't dumb down the gutless violence of slaughter and cruelty. I probably enjoyed this book more than I initially expected.

I haven't seen the film - and probably won't go looking for it. I am not a huge Nic Cage fan, and I can't really see Penelope Cruz in the character I built in my mind.

3.5 stars, rounded down.

Whew, and that is the last of my catchup reviews from my holiday... return to normal service now, and due to ‘working from home' and high immersion with my family, that has turned out to be less-reading-than-normal, rather than the more-reading-than-normal that I anticipated!