This was a RL book group read. I really struggled with this book. I found the writing to be florid, and the story lacking in focus. It was written back in the 50s and has an old fashioned style, which always causes me trouble.

I also thought Zorba was a lazy, lying, thief and would run off at the first sign of difficulty. The Narrator was vague, diffident and the story was rather undefined. I developed a bad attitude about the book very quickly.

I really disliked Zorba’s attitude to life. He acted as though he was a child in a man’s body, he wanted all the pleasures and opportunities but none of the responsibilities. He thought nothing of using others for his pleasures, especially women. The idea that he had many marriages and families but thought nothing of deserting them, was repellent.

The Narrator is never named, and it is unclear what he is doing or why. He often seems as though he is required to do something and yet he never comes out and says it. I am unclear how he supports himself. He talks about having some money to open the coal mine in Crete. Yet he eventually leaves and seems to drift around, with no explanation of how he survives. Is he rich and slumming in Crete, does he do some kind of work, or is he the one who is the sponger ?

He has these intense relationships with other men that were also perplexing. He exchanges letters and is in love with this one and that one. So why are they separated ? I suspect that the ‘love’ is not necessarily sexual or romantic, but how the Greeks express strong friendship (?).

I found the book to be rather boring until about the middle. I was not interested in Crete, though the descriptions of nature were beautiful. When the mine collapsed, I was sad that it didn’t end the book. I had just about worked myself into quitting (I am a completist).

Suddenly everything changed. I thought I didn’t care for the characters or the story, and wasn’t interested in Crete. Huh, that didn’t sound right (the part about Crete – love to travel by book and in real life). I had put the book down, but it had started to whisper to me.

I kept thinking of the evocative descriptions and the narrative. It had gotten under my skin. I took another look at the story so far and realized that Zorba had faults, but he was loyal, hard working, and a true friend to the Narrator. He also had moments of kindness and valor that showed he could rise to the occasion. He changed in my mind from worthless to someone like one of those big dogs that mean well, but destroy everything (wasted Narrator’s money on a woman; his creation was a disaster; he turned the monk’s mind to arson).

I also got to know the Narrator more and through his musings, he became more interesting to me – though not any clearer as to his goals and methods.

Finally the longer they were there the more the villagers were exposed. You got to see their hardness, and insularity, the suspicion, and hatred of those who were outsiders or different. The horrible disrespect they had when Boboulina died, and the murder of the young widow showed how different they were from Zorba and the Narrator. The casual violence of their lives showed when the monk tried to roast the monastery with the monks in it.

I was sad when they parted, and was glad to have news from Zorba and the Narrator after their time in Crete. It was sad when Zorba died. Again with the Narrator it was unclear what he was doing and why - in the real world. Philosophically he spent the book trying to be what he wasn’t: a man of action. He was a man of thought and words, and felt it was not a worthy mode of living. He wanted to be a man of action, but never figured out how to be, even with Zorba to show him the way. It wasn’t in his nature.

Zorba was a force of nature and lived each minute to the fullest. He didn’t plan or calculate he just experienced. Sometimes he was kind and thought of others, and sometimes he thought only of himself and his enjoyment.

While both ideas of life have value, I think being all one type is not really a recipe for happiness or a full life. The Narrator never thought he was good enough, and Zorba was too restless to settle and enjoy a stable life (until the end).

So in the end I enjoyed it and it will stay with me for a while. I had seen parts of the movie but couldn’t stand to watch much of it. Perhaps after enjoying the book, I will change my mind. The great thing about reading is it opens your mind and changes attitudes if you let it. I almost didn’t, but was able to in the end. Besides the story, I will always think fondly of Zorba for that.

. ( )

Zorba is a man who has lived fully. He has been a soldier, a miner, an itinerant musician... He is a man who knows all the tricks and has travelled the world; he has taken advantage of others and has also loved; in his sixties he says to be driven by an inner Zorba who claims to be thirty and, often, behaves as if he were fifteen ... This huge character is offered a job as foreman in a mine, and the story focuses on this episode of his life and on his relationship with his employer, a timid, intellectual young man who has only lived, vicariously, through books and whose world view is shaken by Zorba's stories and way of life. In this book the exuberant Zorba, is contrasted with the mystical, restrained narrator, a dreamer with no practical skills who is looking for a direction in his life. The mine is located in Crete, and the place were they live is depicted as very traditional, hard, and brutal. There are many disturbing scenes, such as the killing of a young woman because she has rejected the advances of a suitor, or the plundering of a house by the people of the village which begins when its owner is agonizing. Occasionally, there are also scenes that show the joy of life and which celebrate pleasure and happiness. Zorba the Greek is a complex book, like its main character, which contains many objectionable ideas and attitudes, but which is full of life and a very Dionysian joy. ( )

The original "On the Road", but better written.

The latest volume in my slow journey Around the World for a Good Book. It’s hard to figure what country to attribute it to. The author was born in Crete, lived in Greece and then lived numerous other places. The story takes place in Crete but is about a Greek. I think this is a good thing that shows the internationality of the book reading venture.

The story is hard to follow, what there is of it. A nameless narrator appears to be a reformed communist going into a mining venture to become a caring capitalist. After saying farewell to a dear friend leaving for the revolution in Russia, the narrator meets the free spirit Zorba, who agrees to work on the mine project. The novel after this is mostly conversations and philosophical debates: socialism vs. capitalism, Christianity vs. hedonism, book learning vs. the experience of life. There’s also a lot of stuff about a widow killed by villagers, something involving monks, and an old woman Zorba loves that I never really followed too well. All in all it seems secondary to the Boss learning from Zorba to live his life to the full.

“In the corner was an icon representing the Virgin pressing her cheek against her son’s, her big eyes full of tears.

‘Do you know why she’s crying, boss?’

‘No.’

‘Because she can see what’s going on. If I was a painter of icons, I’d draw the Virgin without eyes, ears or nose. Because I’d be sorry for her.’” – p. 201 ( )

Haven't read yet--in stacks.