After reading The Last Temptation of Christ, Zorba the Greek was a disappointment. In spite of the splendid description and expressive language, the whole structure of the novel seems to be weak and lacking in proportion, more than half of it being nothing but the description of the doting relation between the narrator and the highly blown up main character Alexis Zorba. All other characters including the narrator turn out to be nondescript and diminutive in comparison with Zorba. Only images that come to mind among the hoist of numerous characters are that of the widow and Dame Hortense. The narrator's contemplation about Budha and writing a book on him do not really add anything substantial to the plot of the novel.
The accidental meeting between narrator and the protagonist in a cafe in a Greek island and their journey to another island Crete in order to set up a lignite mine and their fateful involvement with the affairs of the village centering around a widow and an old cabaret dancer whose hut they rent and stay, the escpades of Zorba, their attempt to by the woodland belonging to a monastery and the failed attempt to transport wood by setting up an overhead rail system, murder of the widow owing to her refusal to marry the rich man's son leading to his suicide, death of the old landlady and parting ways between Basil the narrator and Alexi Zorba and his marriage and settling in Romania and death due to old age form the plot of the novel.
1/12/2018
The accidental meeting between narrator and the protagonist in a cafe in a Greek island and their journey to another island Crete in order to set up a lignite mine and their fateful involvement with the affairs of the village centering around a widow and an old cabaret dancer whose hut they rent and stay, the escpades of Zorba, their attempt to by the woodland belonging to a monastery and the failed attempt to transport wood by setting up an overhead rail system, murder of the widow owing to her refusal to marry the rich man's son leading to his suicide, death of the old landlady and parting ways between Basil the narrator and Alexi Zorba and his marriage and settling in Romania and death due to old age form the plot of the novel.
1/12/2018
