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Zorba the Greek

Nikos Kazantzakis

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Jul 29, 2014 Laura rated it really liked it · review of another edition

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While experiencing happiness, we have difficulty in being conscious of it. Only when the happiness is past and we look back on it do we suddenly realize - sometimes with astonishment - how happy we had been.”

This book is astonishing. But it sure isn’t for everyone. Kazantzakis has made a work of stunning genius. Simple. Funny. And true as Zorba. I first tried reading this book junior year in Highschool and didn’t like it at all. Now 5 years later it’s the most worn out book I own. It even has s While experiencing happiness, we have difficulty in being conscious of it. Only when the happiness is past and we look back on it do we suddenly realize - sometimes with astonishment - how happy we had been.”

This book is astonishing. But it sure isn’t for everyone. Kazantzakis has made a work of stunning genius. Simple. Funny. And true as Zorba. I first tried reading this book junior year in Highschool and didn’t like it at all. Now 5 years later it’s the most worn out book I own. It even has stains and I’m usually a person who keeps her books tidy and clean. But with this book I couldn’t care less. My copy is full of marked spaces and thoughts I had while reading.

It's about life. How does one live it. How does one deal with the vicissitudes of it. The tragedies, the failures. Does one stand on the sidelines of life and never jump in? Does one fear getting married or fear having children or fear doing any activity that could fail or come to naught? Zorba tells us what to do. And in the end, when the whole bloody mess comes falling down around us, and all our plans and schemes are for naught, what do you do? Dance. Dance as hard and as wild as you can. Spit and fume and sing and smash your heels into the dirt. And laugh at it all. The absurdity of worry and wondering. The joy of just "being" and "doing".

This book is a philosophy and a trip back into time. When the mechanistic and material world had not such a hold on our Western minds. When things were simple. If a beautiful woman wants you, you go to her. You go to her. You! Go..... to her! It is an insult to life and the gods not to.

It’s a book that stays with you, that teaches you. And I can’t wait to watch the movie. Last but not least I want to give you 10 things the book has taught me:

1. Experience awe daily.
2. Youth is mental, age is physical.
3. Reason can be as stifling as fear.
4. Welcome hardship.
5. Living only happens in the present.
6. Freedom is man’s natural state.
7. Nature nourishes the soul.
8. Inaction is a waste of life.
9. Happiness live in simplicity.
10. It’s never to late for change.
...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Apr 19, 2013 Amanda marked it as old-want-to-read-list

Shelves: stana

May 11, 2013 Stacey rated it liked it

Nov 08, 2013 Robert Langdon marked it as to-read

Jan 04, 2014 Nes marked it as to-read

Feb 08, 2015 Angharad rated it it was ok

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