In Alexandria in the years before the Second World War, an exiled Irish school teacher seeks to unravel his sexual obsession with two women: the tubercular cafe dancer, Melissa, and Justine, the alluring Jewish wife of a wealthy Coptic Christian. What emerges in his sessions with the psychiatrist Balthazar, however, is something far more complex - and unfathomably more sinister - than neurosis. Lawrence Durrell's kaleidoscopic narrative ushers us into a world in which no perception is reliable - and love itself is always an act of treachery.
Anonymous
Posted May 27, 2003
This, the 2nd book in the Alexandria Quartet, was definitely a more pleasurable read than the first, Justine. I was intrigued by the fact that it is a 'sibling,' rather than a sequel, since the timeframe is the same as the first book. It reveals new information about the characters--Justine, Nessim, Scobie, Pursewarden--and adds some new, startling events, as well. In order to fully appreciate this book, it is important to have already read Justine to get the narrator's first take on these bizarre characters and a sense of his mournful infatuation with Justine. The story is told much more objectively this time, and that's a good thing.
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Posted July 28, 2010
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Overview
In Alexandria in the years before the Second World War, an exiled Irish school teacher seeks to unravel his sexual obsession with two women: the tubercular cafe dancer, Melissa, and Justine, the alluring Jewish wife of a wealthy Coptic Christian. What emerges in his sessions with the psychiatrist Balthazar, however, is something far more ...