Around the World in 80 Books discussion

Start discussion here for Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis.

I enjoyed very much. Zorba is fascined character that teaches the importance of enjoy every moment of this life. The ending is very emotion. Is a book that suprise me.

I've read halfway the book so far. I cannot go without mentioning that this book has an incredibly humiliating language towards women. Well, some might try to defend it as a portrayal of the characters' worldview but I'm not really sure if it adds so much to the story. Besides that, it's interesting to see the clash of different schools of thought through the book. And the descriptions of the Greek island Crete make me want to travel there after the pandemic :) But when it comes to the characters I found it somehow caricaturing, which makes me like this book less. I would definitely like to read more women and queer writers from around the world.

As a person who has read the author's other works (not all of them ,but some) Nikos is not a sexist. I must agree with you that it isn't needed , though.

This book has been sitting on my shelf for a long time. I saw the musical adaptation as a teenager and probably bought my copy then, but never read it. I'm not surprised that I never got into it because I found it very slow until the last third (and that's still being generous). I have an appreciation for the character of Zorba, though I also find his "philosophy" towards women to be jarring and distasteful. But the narrator is so dull and insufferable in contrast. I know that contrast is part of the point. Still, the sections between Zorba's appearances drag to the point that I wasn't sure if I'd get through it. While the last third made up for some of that, I don't anticipate taking it off my shelf again for a long time to come.