The Mani, at the tip of Greece's-and Europe's-southernmost promontory, is one of the most isolated regions of the world. Cut off from the rest of the country by the towering range of the Taygetus and hemmed in by the Aegean and Ionian seas, it is a land where the past is still very much a part of its people's daily lives. Patrick Leigh Fermor, who has been described as "a cross between Indiana Jones, James Bond, and Graham Greene," bridges the genres of adventure story, travel writing, and memoir to reveal an ancient world living alongside the twentieth century. Here, in the book that confirmed his reputation as one of the English language's finest writers of prose, Patrick Leigh Fermor carries the reader with him on his journeys among the Greeks of the mountains, exploring their history and time-honored lore. Mani is a companion volume to Patrick Leigh Fermor's celebrated Roumeli: Travels in Northern Greece.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Outstanding Trip Through a Fascinating Land:
I'll just defer to the other reviewers on this page since their views of this wonderful book agree with mine. Fermor is a treasure. I've read all of his books and enjoyed them.
Brilliant, heroic travel writing!:
What a marvelous book! And written by a true, heroic genius. Fermor, a still living legend, seems to have disdained self-promotion, but upon reading a few pages of this book, you realize you have encountered a rare individual. First, his writing. Encyclopedic, detailed, sensual, and imaginative. It exemplifies the finest characteristics of travel writing, and best of all, he explores a remote, largely unknown and distinct region of the world, the Mani. This area is a fine example of the fierce,... more info
Ah, Mani!:
This must be the quintessential summer read. While I was a bit put off at first by the exuberant luxury of the prose [at times I felt bludgeoned] and the rampant introduction of cultural terms I'd never heard before, it was also hard not to delight in a mind so cheerfully discursive. Do you need to be a Grecophile to enjoy an outing with Fermor and Mani? I should think not. But you'll need to bring your own map. Interestingly, it seems that the covers of Mani and Roumeli on the Amazon sites... more info
If you like showy writing:
Leigh Fermor has written one (actually,two) of the best travels books in English, "A Time of Gofts" and "Between the Woods and the Water." This is not quite up to them--a bit of the edge has gone off the subject matter--but if you like showy, razzle-dazzle writing from a master stylist and raconteur, this will do very nicely.
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