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Summary: The deepest valleys and highest peaks of man's soul...
Review: I pick up this book every now and then and reread some of my favorite parts...it's like being with old friends. It is so immersive that by the end, Zorba and his boss feel like they are your best friends, and then suddenly and cruelly, they are ripped away from you. I never reread the last chapter...it's too agonizingly painful.Zorba and his boss tell some earthshattering tales throughout the book. My favorites include: 1) The state Jesus found Zeus in when he usurped the throne of God. 2) Zorba's grandfather's tale of how God created woman(Eve) after the Devil snatched Adam's rib from his hand. 3) Zorba's explanation of why he loves to hear Madame Hortense's parrot scream the name "Canavarro!" 4) Zorba's tale of his assassination of a Bulgar priest who killed Greeks at night and came back at dawn to conduct morning mass. 5) The monk's tale of the chapel named, "Our Lady of Revenge" 6) The boss's story of how he tried to help a butterfly emerge from it's cocoon These are just a few gems...there are countless more in this sacred work of literature. Make no mistake...this is a book for free men(that love and lust after women)...for men who haven't been embalmed by this or that belief. If you are a staunch feminist,christian,jew,hindu,buddhist, taoist, shintoist, muslim,atheist,nihilist,capitalist, socialist, communist,or nationalist you will be offended. But if you are a free man who loves(and hates) women, this book will be sacred to you.
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Summary: !cool book!
Review: I have just finished an independent study project on one of the significant themes of this book: the concepts of reason and passion. It was a most torturous research process. But i really enjoyed the book. It was very interesting, although at times the flowery language left me clueless and confused. I really love the book, because maybe it spoke to the depths of my heart. Personally, i feel that i am very much like ZOrba, or at least, i try to be like him: to live life to the fullest. Basically, my point of view is that reason and passion are inseparable. There is an element of each in everybody. And both reason and passion should be balanced out. Too much of either easily marks the route one takes in life: boring <-> too much a handful. Well, i encourage anybody who likes challenges and enjoys a thinking book to go right ahead and purchase this book. To some, it may be boring. But do not reject this offer before first previewing it. Cheers~!
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Summary: Mixed feelings
Review: The story of the friendship of two men, and the different ways they experience life. One through, living, through real and personal experiences. The other through observations, reading and writing. I still don¡¦t know how I feel about the book. I have mixed feelings about it. I¡¦m very impressed that this book, written years ago, contains ideas and thoughts which are so advanced, or should I say timeless, which continues to apply to today¡¦s world. However, I admit that I have to struggle with the book,the language, though beautiful, can be quite difficult to follow and there are many ideas which I do not agree to, in the modern world, of course, they will be looked upon with distaste, particular how women were viewed at that time.
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Summary: Translation Trouble
Review: Really, this is a wonderful novel. The only reason why I give it three stars is that the translation is awful. Clearly the translator either cannot appreciate the wonderful langauge of the author, or he has no appreciation for the possbilities of English prose, or both. A new translation is sorely needed for this title.
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Summary: Wonderfully Ab--ZORBA-ed!!
Review: This is one of my most favorite and treasured books. It is an incredible read. It is beautifully written with honest, flowing dialogue. This is the book that made me a fan of Nikos Kazantzakis. It was my first read by him some four years ago and it stays with me still today. I reccommend this book to everyone, especially to actors, writers, and philosophers. I think that it is a very interesting adventure and study for poeple believers in all we all are capable of everything, emotionally, spiritually. But we just express it differently.
I find this book to be both simple and profound. Entertaining as well as thoughtful. Zorba is one of the most compelling characters that has ever come to life through through the pages of a novel. This book brings to life the spirit and drama of life and humanity. Kazantzakis writes like no other. A deepfully, thoughtful, spiritual and simple writer. If you have already read this Kazantzakis gem I recommend that you delve into The last Temptation of Christ which I find to be another of Kazantzakis' great Gems.
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Summary: vida espiritual
Review: Zorba, el griego Nicos Kazantzakis La vida espiritual llevada a un extremo es hasta cierto punto irreal y a veces nos acerca tanto a lo divino que nos aleja de nuestros semejantes. Es necesario a veces ser más mundanos para llegar más cerca de la espiritualidad verdadera, pues los extremos se tocan y quien ha dicho que la gracia de los dioses no participa del placer de la carne. La vida de Zorba es la vida de desenfreno saludable que descubre un hombre que ha estado más cerca de lo espiritual que los demás. Zorba es un canto a lo mundano, pero un canto de libertad al cual su acompañante minero debe despertar y dejarse llevar. La obra es hermosísima, tiene visos de budismo que aflora en ella, y su filosofía es muy tierna. El autor fue también conocido como traductor de obras de importancia y muchas personas lo conocen porque se han realizado de sus obras películas importantes tanto de la misma obra Zorba el griego, como también de La Última Tentación de Cristo. Luis Méndez
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Summary: A True Exploration Of Life
Review: I read the Arabic translation of this book, and I love it. I don't want to recite the novel here but rather would like to share what I grasped from it. It's a true exploration of life in multiple perspectives, through Zorba, the narrator, and the other characters. Regardless of the fact whether they are right or wrong but rather how they perceive, experienced, and live life, and the peace they feel with themselves due to their understanding in the domain of their thinking. For example the monk who shared his views of life and was waiting to know how the narrator feels about them. I believe that Kazantzaki wants the reader to draw his own conclusions about the meaning of life not through the actions and believes of Zorba alone but rather through a spectrum of beliefs. I felt that clearly in chapter 20 when Zorba himself explained that he have more to learn of life. Whenever he get lost clearing things up in his mind he mumbles, then he erases and start seeing things again for the first time. Zorba like any regular person lives in contradictions, and the writer clearly doesn't want to portray him as a perfect human. The reader of this book should try to go beyond the little things and get to the wisdom. A truly great book that explores the answers to the big questions of "What life really is?" "How you want to live it?"
The writing of Kazantzaki is spectacular, breathtaking, and truly marvelous. This a true master piece that philosophically teaches us to live life to the fullest by thinking simply, observing timelessly and dancing to the tones of nature endlessly.
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Summary: A great book
Review: Well I read this book because i`ve seen the movie and it seemed interesting...it`s a great book and i really enjoyed it...
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Summary: A More Critical Perspective
Review: I find myself in the minority opinion with regards to this classic of world literature, I found it neither a compelling portrait of a friendship nor an instructive primer on getting the most from life, and certainly not as one reviewer put it "a secular Bible for living." Being 1/4 Greek, I figured I owed it to myself to read one of Kazantzakis' works, but this almost plotless work, which aims to contrast two philosophies of living through Boss and Zorba failed to touch me in the way so many other readers seem affected. Women in particular may find this book offensive. The three women I know who've tried to read the book have all abandoned it halfway through because they found Zorba so distasteful a character. The narrating "Boss" is a bookish Englishman who impulsively hires the older Zorba to be his chef, traveling companion, and foreman in a offhanded coal mining venture on Crete. The Macedonian Zorba bursts with life, and is a total hedonist, denying himself no pleasures when they are available, and scorning the existence of a God who would punish him for enjoying life. On the other hand the Boss prefers to experience life through observing the experiences of others such as Zorba. There is something of the voyeur about him, and his past friendships bear hints of homosexuality within them, The mining venture is clearly meant to represent the Boss' desire to tangibly connect with the physical world (as opposed to the world of books, where he feels comfortable), but notably, it is Zorba who really engaged with the mining operation-mirroring his connection to the physical senses and possibilities of life. For a book which at times seems to be a Socratic dialogue on whether to live a free-spirited life or an introspective one, the debate is too one-sided to be truly provoking. Yes, the elderly Zorba does have a lust for life anyone would wish for (one can almost imagine the "Carpe Diem" tattooed across his broad chest), but his actions leave something to be desired. He admits to having killed and tortured Muslim men in the past (something he is ashamed of), and of abandoning his family. In the course of the book he incites an angry young man to try and burn down a monastery so that none of the monks could escape. He uses the Boss' money to finance a brief spree with a young woman, even though it would bring ruin to the mining operation. Most notable of course is his misogyny. For Zorba, women exist for momentary carnal appreciation and pleasure, and outside of that, solely as subjects for scorn ("women are stupid" and "women are greedy" are two sentiments that are often repeated). His attitude toward women may be rooted in time and culture, but that does not make it any more palatable. Indeed, before one gets all giddy about Zorba as model for living, one should consider that much of his pleasure comes at the cost of using other people. The Boss may not lead the most exciting life, but neither does he leave a swath of destruction and broken hearts behind him either.
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Summary: Life Affirming and a Big WAAAHOOOOO!!!!!!
Review: Zorba, the ever loveable Greek, one cannot help but love and wish they themselves more closely resembled. At least i do. Nikos Kazantzakis, strongly influenced by Friedrich Nietzsche--parallels are all over in the text--wrote this novel all about living in the moment and finding happiness in the present. The main character finds himself troubled and confused, strongly "puritan" and "western" in his moral code. And, upon encountering Zorba the Greek, a spontaneous, life-affirming passionate man, learns to love life and find happiness. Zorba is a complete womanizer, loves his food, song, and drink. Zorba believes he is destined for "hell" not for any sin--not for killing, or swindling, lying, or cheating--but Zorba believes he is bound for the eternal flame because one night earlier in his life, a woman waited for him in her bed and he did not go. Some of my favorite quotes in all of literature lie in this novel. Zorba teaches the main character, and the reader along with him, to live life in the moment and never to pass up a moment. The book is a great, infectiously life affirming tale. The book will not only entertain you through its pages, but change how you see the world. I've been more spontaneous ever since.
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