Steeped in Science, Submersed in Story

Very enjoyable portrait of an engaging 60-something man, from the viewpoint of his younger traveling companion. Zorba does everything with passion: he makes love, he eats, he dances, he works, he plays his santuri with intensity.

The narrator reminds me very strongly of the narrator from [b:The Towers of Trebizond|192954|The Towers of Trebizond |Rose Macaulay|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1386748970s/192954.jpg|335078]. I guess the book is from a similar time period. In Zorba, we are never sure of the narrator's name. Zorba just calls him boss. In Trebizond, we know the narrator's name, Laurie, but are never quite sure whether Laurie is male or female. In both cases, the narrator is an observer, an artist (writer or actual visual artist) at the edges of the story. The main character of the story is actually an older eccentric person, going where fortune may take them. The narrating voices are quite similar, but that's probably an unrelated coincidence.

In any case, this is a great read about a great character. Some characteristics of the culture on Crete come through, some of them charming and some of them horrifying, but the focus is relentlessly Zorba.