About this title: Set amid the corrupt glamour and multiplying intrigues of Alexandria in the 1930s and 1940s, the novels of Durrell's "Alexandria Quartet" (of which this is the first) follow the shifting alliances - sexual, cultural and political - of a group of quite varied characters.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Pocket Books, Inc., New York
Date Published: 1961
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Nice soft cover, read once, slight shelf wear to cover, light aging. 259 p. 17 cm. Giant Cardinal edition GC-63.. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Pocket Books, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1961
Description: Fair. 16mo-over 5¾"-6¾" tall. Pages are tanned with one corner of one page creased. Cover flat with no creases. Spine is very lightly creased. Binding appears to have been re-glued. SYNOPSIS: The first novel of The Alexandria Quartet. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Putnam~childrens Hc
Date Published: February, 1987
ISBN-13:9780525470809ISBN:0525470808
Description: Very good. 4" mark on back cover where some tape was removed. 2 faint spine creases, light edge wear, clean pages. " From AudioFile [Editor's Note: The following is a combined review with BALTHAZAR, MOUNTOLIVE, and CLEA. ]--The four linked novels that comprise English author Lawrence Durrell's masterpiece, THE ALEXANDRIA QUARTET, are set in Alexandria, Egypt, around the. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Pocket Books, New York
Date Published: 1977
Description: Good + 12mo-over 6¾"-7¾" tall. The first novel of the "Alexandria Quartet. " Wraps are scuffed with edgewear, spine is unbent. Text is clean & unmarked, binding is tight. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Pocket Books, Inc., New York
Date Published: 1961
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Light crease length of book near spine. No Writing. No Highlighting. Very good binding. 259 p. 17 cm. Giant Cardinal edition GC-63.. 8th Printing-1965 read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: E. P. Dutton, New York
Date Published: 1961
Description: Very Good- No Jacket. Hard Cover. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" Light edgewear; spine discolored. FFEP missing. PO bookplate inside front board. FICTION. read more
Edition: 10th Printing
Binding: Perfect Bound Paper
Publisher: Pocket Books
Date Published: 1969
Description: Very Good + to Near Fine. No Jacket as Issued. Mass Market Paperback. 12mo-over 6¾"-7¾" tall. Extremely light shelf wear. First 2 end papers, front, are beginning to loosen but the remainder binding is very tight and pages very clean as if never opened. read more
"HEADLINE: You ought not just wander around Alexandria if you do not know what is up. And nobody knows what is up.
Alexandria is not a Mediterranean paradise. Parts if this Alexandria stink, as in flat out smell bad.
Parts of the city are incredibly dangerous. The man coming back to the car to find the corpse of his decapitated wife was interesting. The whole place is rife with plotting and intrigue. This Alexandria is thick with an atmosphere not entirely pleasant.
When we move out of the city and into the desert, we experience a palpable sense of relief.
There is not one character here whose personality is not seriously compromised. I suppose one could make an argument otherwise about Nessim, but I think one would lose that argument. It is this cast of very vivid characters that fascinates me. Pombal, Balthasar, Pursewarden, Scobie, Clea, et al. I suppose I ought to be repelled by most of them, but on balance I find them a captivating bunch. Human flotsam washed up in Alexandria.
This is the first of four novels that comprise the Alexandria Quartet. That is why they are called a quartet. There are four of them. All kinds of developments and revelations concerning the characters occur in the other three novels, Balthazar, Mountolive, and Cleo. However, Justine, the first one, is the one you will probably remember best because it will probably be the first thing you have read by Lawrence Durrell. I would not mind experiencing that first rush from Lawrence Durrell all over again myself."
"Justine is beautifully written, but it is not an easy read. Action takes a backseat to intellectual discussions and long poetic descriptions. I like it, but I think that's because I'm brainwashed as an English major to like difficult books.
The book is about obsession, lust, and relationships. The narrator is a frustrated schoolmaster, want-to-be-writer living as an expatriate in Alexandria, Eygpt a short time before the beginning of World War II. He becomes obsessed with Justine, a beautiful, rich and married Jewess, and they begin an affair. The problem is almost all of the characters are obsessed Justine in one way or another. Justine is neurotic and uses the others' to satiate her own demons. The narrator and Justine become worried that her husband is going to find them out.
It is one of those books the critics love to call "haunting.""
"Linda lent me a beautiful vintage set of Durrell's Alexandria Quartet. I had said something about loving DH Lawrence lately. She said they are similar. And it sounded so good; set in an exotic locale, an interesting time, a much-lauded writer, and a friend of Henry Miller to boot. How could I go wrong? I think I've been reading this thing for two weeks but I can't bring myself to finish it. It is a little story of uninteresting little people engaging in petty soap opera dramas because they are hopelessly bored. Seems to me that Durrell was trying to copy better writers of the time. But there was no passion, no spark."
"This is the best novel (well, four novels) that I've read in my life. I've read it a minimum of five times (and I rarely reread anything but poetry).
The language is subtle, complex, and aphoristic. Every few pages, there is another delightful sentence to underline and think about.
The era of the 30s in Alexandria may not have been anything like this novel portrays, but readers will wish it had been. The ambiance is other-worldly at the same time that the novels are of this world. The characters are fascinating and complex, just as I imagine real humans to be if we ever got to know each other as well as Durrell knows his characters."
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