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Zorba the Greek Paperback – January 1, 2001

4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 1,468 ratings

An Englishman discovers that he has come into a small inheritance in Crete and sets out to claim it. When he arrives, he meets Alexis Zorba, a middle-aged Greek with a zest for life. As their relationship develops, the Englishman is persuaded to change his outlook on life
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Faber & Faber Ltd (January 1, 2001)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 335 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0571203132
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0571203130
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.37 x 0.98 x 7.01 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 1,468 ratings

About the author

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Nikos Kazantzakis
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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
1,468 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the story profound and inspiring, with a life-affirming narrative that brings the story to life. They praise the writing quality, beautiful language, and poetic translation. Readers appreciate the rich character development and universal human traits. The humor and celebration of life are appreciated, along with the author's spirited and playful tone.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

29 customers mention "Spirituality"29 positive0 negative

Customers find the book profound and inspiring. They say it's a great story about the human experience and Greek culture. The book provides a background and enriches the reading experience.

"...It is richly spiritual throughout...." Read more

"...that deserves deep attention, a sense of humor and a willingness to deal with everything life (and death) can throw at you...." Read more

"...richer, with good descriptions of a zen-like, live in the moment, free spirit with a good heart and a full soul. I enjoyed the book a lot." Read more

"This book contains a very human episode. It’s nothing to boast of but it describes a universal human trait...." Read more

29 customers mention "Storyline"24 positive5 negative

Customers enjoy the storyline. They find it captivating, life-affirming, and fascinating. The book explores themes of life and choices in an engaging manner. Readers appreciate the depth of the writing and find it a magical experience that is relevant today as it was when first published.

"...This is a read that deserves deep attention, a sense of humor and a willingness to deal with everything life (and death) can throw at you...." Read more

"...but the book is richer, with good descriptions of a zen-like, live in the moment, free spirit with a good heart and a full soul...." Read more

"...' novel isn't naive, it somehow recaptures some of the elemental beauty of storytelling which appears lost on much of the Anglo-American tradition..." Read more

"...Was a moving story and gave me courage to start traveling more and enjoying life." Read more

27 customers mention "Writing quality"19 positive8 negative

Customers appreciate the book's writing quality. They find it well-written, with a beautiful use of language. The author creates an unforgettable character and develops her through the spoken word. Readers also mention that the book has good descriptions of a Zen-like life in the moment.

"...It really conveys a sense of Crete and its people. As for the novel itself, it is one of the greatest works I've ever read...." Read more

"...Zorba is all heart, passion, and heat. Niko is thoughtful, logical, linear and reserved...." Read more

"...I don't dispute Holden Caulfield in Salinger's novel to be a unreliable narrator, but Holden did say something very insightful about the reading..." Read more

"...I watched the film again...but the book is richer, with good descriptions of a zen-like, live in the moment, free spirit with a good heart and a..." Read more

13 customers mention "Character development"13 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the character development. They find the story engaging and the characters well-developed. The book also reveals universal human traits.

"Kazentzakis is a master of character and archetype...." Read more

"...It’s nothing to boast of but it describes a universal human trait...." Read more

"...Kazantzakis provides plot, characters, and Buddhist ruminations. Indeed, Zorba the Greek was written when existentialism was in full bloom...." Read more

"...Zorba is an unforgettable character, a great literary creation. His spirit is contagious and revealing of our own cowardness and pettiness...." Read more

12 customers mention "Humor"12 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the book's humor and free spirit. They find it a celebration of life amidst sadness and joy, with a good heart and full soul. The characters are described as sympathetic and likeable.

"...This is a read that deserves deep attention, a sense of humor and a willingness to deal with everything life (and death) can throw at you...." Read more

"...descriptions of a zen-like, live in the moment, free spirit with a good heart and a full soul. I enjoyed the book a lot." Read more

"...(and Zorba, unlike Wolf Larson, is extremely sympathetic and likeable in many ways)...." Read more

"...Zorba is noble and suffering and exalting in his joy...." Read more

8 customers mention "Spiritedness"6 positive2 negative

Customers enjoy the book's spirited and playful tone. They say it encourages them to live life with a zestful spirit and celebrate life, even in the face of sadness and joy. The story is described as a timeless look at the human spirit.

"...Zorba is spirited and playful, yet the story rambles and meanders at times. The character Zorba reminds me of a Greek version of Neal Cassidy...." Read more

"...Live, love (a lot), and dance!" Read more

"...Zorba lacks charm; in fact, he's a thug. And the book is rife with misogyny. And calling Zorba "the Greek" is offensive...." Read more

"...It simply makes you want to go out there and live life with Zorba-like zest!" Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on November 24, 2024
    I had read a previous translation from the 1960s, but this new translation by Peter Bien -- which I've now read twice -- is spectacular and a massive improvement. It really conveys a sense of Crete and its people. As for the novel itself, it is one of the greatest works I've ever read. It is richly spiritual throughout. Unlike in the movie, where Zorba joins forces with a repressed Englishman, in the original novel, it is a brilliant Greek intellectual struggling to throw off his obsession with rationality and with Buddhism who is contrasted with Alexis Zorba. If you care about life-affirming spirit in this tragic world and deep appreciation of what Nietzsche called "the little things of everyday life," then, in spite of Zorba's archaic attitudes towards females, this magnificent work is not to be missed. To read it is to be moved by it and to never forget it.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2024
    Kazentzakis is a master of character and archetype. Like "The Last Temptation of Christ" Zoba is populated with archetypal powerful characters- all engaged in life fully. Zorba is all heart, passion, and heat. Niko is thoughtful, logical, linear and reserved. Their challenge is to open a lignite mine on the island of Crete- and to learn what they can from each other. This is a read that deserves deep attention, a sense of humor and a willingness to deal with everything life (and death) can throw at you. Best quote from Zorba "God and the devil boss... God and the devil. They always travel together."
    4 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2014
    I remember seeing the film based on this book, way back in the 60's, black and white, but had not read the book, which is much more philosophical even than the "live now" and LIVE, not just exist, philosophy that Zorba puts forth in the book. It was fun to read, and then I watched the film again...but the book is richer, with good descriptions of a zen-like, live in the moment, free spirit with a good heart and a full soul. I enjoyed the book a lot.
    6 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on November 5, 2024
    This book contains a very human episode. It’s nothing to boast of but it describes a universal human trait. Toward the end the villagers are awaiting the death of the town harlot so that they can rush her house and take her possessions. Literature as an observation of life.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2014
    Zorba is “The Most Interesting Man in the World” advertising campaign for Dos Equis beer reached back to Zorba for casting. He is a man’s man - muscular, musical, musing (but not too much) and a Lothario curls into a ball and snoozes at a moment’s notice. Rudyard Kipling’s “If” must have been echoing in Kazantzakis’ when creating his title character. Zorba certainly kept his head about him when others were losing theirs.

    I approached this book from two wildly uninformed angles. The first was from either having seen, or believed I had seen, the Anthony Quinn version of Zorba the Greek in the 1960s movie. A swarthy, swashbuckling Mediterranean was what I remembered. In high school I struggled through another Nikos Kazantzakis novel but remembered it as “great literature”.

    No matter how I came to it, Zorba is a wonderful, wonderful read with a story and characters which etch themselves into your soul. The narrator sets out on a journey to resurrect a mine on the island of Crete. Early on he picks up a companion- the older and far more experienced Zorba - to help run the mine. Sancho Panza step aside (check the reference).

    Zorba invades the narrator’s physical and psychological space. In their first meeting Zorba suggests he can work at anything - after all he has arms, legs and a head. Oh, and he can also smell minerals in the earth. And, a good thing since the narrator is headed to Crete to hire a crew to mine lignite.

    Zorba disrupts the narrator’s obsession with books. The spoken word, not just the written word, allow the writer/narrator to develop. Zorba’s lusts - food, work, sex - are as contagious as they can possibly be. The narrator doesn’t transform to become Zorba, he adapts to become a better, fuller version of himself.

    Kazantzakis provides plot, characters, and Buddhist ruminations. Indeed, Zorba the Greek was written when existentialism was in full bloom. (The author came in second by one vote in Nobel Prize voting to Albert Camus in 1957). Most existential writing is anxious, verging on desperation and ennui. Zorba the Greek is life - some triumphs, more tragedies with a constant movement forward. Change happens.
    29 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on July 12, 2023
    One of the rare times when the movie comes close to eclipsing the book (and perhaps does). This, like Jack London's The Sea Wolf, sets to dramatize the conflict between Platonic idealism--here represented in a peculiar mid-20th century fascination with Eastern mysticism--and Epicurean materialism (represented, of course, by Zorba). Unlike London, the battle between the two is a bit more evenly handled here (and Zorba, unlike Wolf Larson, is extremely sympathetic and likeable in many ways). Even so, we end up with a similarly unsatisfying false dichotomy of human "extremes" with rather predictably unsatisfying outcomes. The portrait painted of traditional Greek culture here--Cretan in particular--is remorseless and damning in many ways. In that sense, both characters standing classically (sort of) athwart the Orthodox tradition are redeemed but largely ineffectually so--much as Plato, Epicurus (not to mention Zeno, Aristotle, etc.) are treated in Greek intellectual and cultural life even now.
    3 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Ozgur Atilla
    5.0 out of 5 stars In time as expected
    Reviewed in Germany on July 20, 2024
    Delivered in time
  • Peter
    5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable Holiday Read
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 14, 2023
    I enjoyed reading this and probably should have done so years ago. Not sure if would find a publisher these days without some significant changes for some modern sensibilities but as a piece of its times and and Zorba being a creature of his time and place a very good read!
  • Rodrigo Alves Vieira
    5.0 out of 5 stars Livro muito especial que me passou ideias positivas
    Reviewed in Brazil on May 9, 2019
    Esse livro tem no seu personagem central uma pessoa autêntica, estoica que vive a vida de maneira um tanto excêntrica e até rústica. Muito bom pra quem procura uma estória leve, mas não por isso rasa. Tem muita coisa no comportamento do Zorba que poderia deixar a todos nós nos sentindo mais realizados na vida.
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    Rodrigo Alves Vieira
    5.0 out of 5 stars Livro muito especial que me passou ideias positivas
    Reviewed in Brazil on May 9, 2019
    Esse livro tem no seu personagem central uma pessoa autêntica, estoica que vive a vida de maneira um tanto excêntrica e até rústica. Muito bom pra quem procura uma estória leve, mas não por isso rasa. Tem muita coisa no comportamento do Zorba que poderia deixar a todos nós nos sentindo mais realizados na vida.
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  • Aashish Singla
    5.0 out of 5 stars A book that will transform you
    Reviewed in India on August 1, 2020
    Sometimes one is able to do much beyond ... as exemplified by this special book by an almost unknown but brilliant author. It shows way as how to live joyfully and abundantly. How to life your life intensely. Forget about God; just be alive, be abundantly alive. Zorba is a character that leaves lasting impressions on you. No wonder Osho coined a term on him - Zorba the buddha. A read that must not be missed.
  • Daniel
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in Canada on July 18, 2017
    Loved it