Masterpiece
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The thing about de Berniere's is he's a genious; there's no better way to put it. He manages to manipulate his reader into feeling anything he wants them to. At one point, you find yourself laughing along with the story, and at others, utterly horrified by the turn of events.
This trilogy is perhaps even better than Captain Corelli. In these books, de Bernieres creates a fictional South American country. Each of one the trilogy focuses on a different tragedy that has plagued the world: Military Attrocity, in Don Emmanuel; Gangsterism, in Senor Vivo; and finally religious upheavel in Cardinal Guzman. Though these events are serious, and at times extremely sinister, de Bernieres tells his story with such ease. These books are amusing, they are heart-wrenching, and they make you think.
If you like de Bernieres, you'll love these books.
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Works of sparkling brilliance
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Many are prone to comparing this series to Marquez but, where his books send me into a bored torpor, De Bernieres has managed to create a world of enormous humour, great humanity and heart in mouth suspense. I value a great story that keeps you gripped til the end and characters who live large in my heart and mind, if you do too these are the books for you. Fantastic and much better than Captain Corelli.
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An inspired knock-off of Gabriel Garcia Marquez
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Anyone who thinks this is great literature has clearly never read Marquez. It's just magic realism with a British sense of humour.
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Three books better than Captain Corelli.....................
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These excellent books should be read in the order in which they were written in order to be best appreciated. The first ( and by far best )'Don Emmanuel' gives us deep insights into the mind of the author - his depth of research, his passion , and his humour.The mood created reflects the culture of South America the vastness of the place, the remoteness of the terrain , the fiery tempraments of the women, the ancient unknown history of the continent - as dense and impenitrable as the mysterious jungles. "Cardinal" continues the general themes and mysticism, while the "Coca " books are hard hitting contemporary anti drug wars tomes being shorter but faster moving and a bit easier to digest ... The fiery sex scenes are not at all out of place (particularly if you're into uniforms...) The terrifying political murdering and rapist regimes portrayed will bring a chill as these bloody , bawdy , ardent romps captivate you from page 1. "DON" SHOULD HAVE WON EVERY BOOK PRIZE UNDER THE SUN Once caught up in the spell created by Louis de Berniers, PLEASE read everything else he's ever written. Read "Corelli..." when you have read everythng else ( and Bridget Jones's diary ). Corelli a nice cosy travelogue with a romantic conclusion, but this is Moussaka compared to the Cherizos and Tequilla of the earlier work........
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