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Summary: Expressions of Love
Review: Here is my take on Justine, one of the four novels that make up "The Alexandria Quartet". I found it to be deeply moving. His poetic style is unmatched by any modern author.In Justine, by Lawrence Durell, L.G. Darley is faced with a dilemma common to most, if not all people: the expression of love. Torn between two women, Darley struggles to fill an inner void, yet both Justine and Melissa succeed in fulfilling only part of that need, each in their own unique way. However, Darley's problem is not so much a struggle between two women, as it is a struggle between two characteristics of love: his passion for Justine, his affection for Melissa. Lawrence Durell states that the subject of his novel is the investigation of modern love. If by modern love he meant the unwillingness to combine passion and affection, then Darley proved Durell right in more ways than one. Love itself contains contrasting reactions of joy and pain; foolishness and maturity. It is also a test of one's responsibility, a responsibility that Darley is not ready to develop. He makes no attempt to fuse these seemingly bipolar features of love into one, fully developed relationship. Darley is not prepared to commit to a mature alliance. He is not inclined to renounce his freedom. In short, whether for fear or obstinacy, or both, Darley avoids the responsibilities of adulthood. Thus, Darley embarks on his obsession with Justine and her multi-mirrored, mysterious personality. With Justine, Darley is able to perpetuate his immaturity. He is utterly attracted not only to her beauty, but also to her wealth. However, he soon becomes aware that, unlike Melissa, Justine has a complete lack of interest in his human weaknesses. In her he saw "a child of the city, which decrees that its women shall be the voluptuaries not of pleasure but of pain, doomed to hunt for what they least dare to find" (47). Her sole interest is in robbing from him only that which she will allow herself to take, and offer him only that which she feels is appropriate to give. Nothing more. " . . . no justifications" (86). "Where the carrion is" Justine herself quoted, "there the eagles will gather" (49). Above all, Darley learns that such relationships can be "destructive and hopeless" (198). Yet his constant attempt at dodging the responsibilities that come with his obvious love for Melissa, prevent him from entering a mature, "therapeutic alliance" with her. He is aware that every kiss shared with Justine will take him further away from Melissa and he does little, if anything, to prevent it. Why should he? Afterall, Melissa is a reflection of his destitution. She represents the "dead level of things" (23). They are "fellow-bankrupts" (23). There is nothing enigmatic about her to reveal, no excitement for him to discover. Instead, she has exposed her own vulnerability and weakness and he did not even have to pry them out of her. Her love ". . . is too confiding: it blinds her" Clea says (130). Yet, in his own seemingly insensitive way, Darley loves Melissa, though he cannot seem to explain these feelings to himself, much less to her. "There are only three things you can do with a woman," Clea says, "You can love her, suffer for her or turn her into literature" (22). In claiming to be a failure in all three areas, Darley admits his own lack of potential. However, although he avoids expressing his love to Melissa, his keen sensitivity of her gentle, melancholic, nature is sincere. Never is this more apparent than in the following passage: It was at this time that I was becoming aware of how much Melissa was suffering. But not a word of reproach ever escaped her lips, nor did she ever speak of Justine. But she had taken on a lacklustre, unloved colour - her very flesh; and paradoxically enough though I could hardly make love to her without an effort, yet I felt myself at this time to be more deeply in love with her than ever before (97). Nevertheless, Darley lets her slip from his hands and loses Justine as well. Perhaps it would have been impossible for Darley to love Melissa or Justine in any other way. Each woman represented the two sides of his character, which he was not ready to merge; however, this may have also been something over which Darley had limited control. Love is multi-faceted, and Melissa and Justine themselves could only express a fraction of its diversity. As a consequence, any attempt on Darley's part to fuse these disconnected expressions of love, with either woman, would have proved futile. It would take a woman who uniformly encompassed all these characteristics of love to help him mend the break. Only then would he learn to love more completely.
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Summary: The joys of encountering a true wordsmith!
Review: A tetralogy containing some of the finest usage of the English language in the Twentieth Century. No lover of literature should miss this wondrous reading experience.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Reading!
Review: The Alexandria Quartet I will read and re-read many times in my life. The 4 books make up a beautiful journey through the streets of Alexandria, Egypt. It's rare to read books with such depth of soul. I believe there is not a human emotion left untouched by Durrell in the Quartet.
Rating: 
Summary: Forgettable
Review: I just had to write in on this one because this novel exasperated me!On the surface this looks like a good novel-some stunning writing,lovely descriptive passages and of course it is technically assured-so why didn't I like it?It's taken me a while to answer this one and I think the answer lies somewhere in the fact that I don't really care about the characters.To boot there are some really forced characterisations (such as Narouz)and there are times when I feel Durrell is not in control of the material.The freaky people in the novel are just that -freaky and uninteresting ,unlike say in Proust where they lend incredible resonance to the plot.For all the touted technical delivery and supposedly exotic location this novel is ultimately very flat and empty.Forgettable.
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Summary: Your brain will never be the same.
Review: This is how an old friend convinced me to read Durrell's stupendous "The Alexandria Quartet": Picking up the book and flipping to a page at random, she let her finger settle on a line, which she then read out loud. And whatever the line was (I don't remember) I crumpled inside. And so she flipped to another page and read another line. And damn me if it wasn't better than the first! A desert island book if there ever was one.
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Summary: mountolive is the takeoff
Review: like everyone else, i read the quartet in order, but found that mountolive is the platform from which to take on the others. mountolive is rock solid and his journey so conventional that his record of events are home base for the others.
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Summary: Quick question...
Review: After having read the Quartet, I wonder to myself whether the books need to be read in any particular order. I read the books first to last, then last to first, reading Justine as the first one then reading it as the fourth one. I also tried several different OTHER orders. I found my best readings to be when Clea was read in either the second or third position. The books were best read in a rocking chair and--if and only if--Clea was read in the fourth position. Still when Justine is read on the beach in the fourth position--whether or not Clea is read in the the second, third or fourth positions--you just can't beat it. I'm still trying out several different locations and several different orders. Needless to say I love Durrell's work and I recommend trying out different reading locations and different orders. These books, more than any other quadrilogy that I have read, must be calibrated just so in order to extract as much insight as these books can offer.
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Summary: This Quartet Must Be Read.
Review: Durrell is a master with the word and the mind-- his creation of four separate books are united by love, deceit, and desperate measures, wrapped in sensual language and the exotic backdrop of Alexandria. His machinations take the reader by surprise, with multi-faceted characters that appear destined for one obsession, yet consumed by another. His vivid descriptions of expatriate life rival those of his contemporaries Evelyn Waugh or H.E. Bates. Engrossing.
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Summary: I agree - a 20th century masterpiece
Review: This is a stunning and brilliant literary achievement, which I'm happy to see is still in print. Its style corresponds to the Cubist movement of the times. Perhaps a literary approach inspired by Picasso. This is a treat not to be missed.
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Summary: The near-your-pillow-book
Review: I have read the Alexandria Quartet three times in the last ten years and, granted, I will in the next future: it is like wine; the more you zip it, the better it goes! And there is more about Durrell: The Avignon Quintet. Probably as superb as the first.
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