Point Of Books Justine (Alexandria Quartet #1)

Title	:	Justine (Alexandria Quartet #1)
Author	:	Lawrence Durrell
Book Format	:	Paperback
Book Edition	:	First Edition
Pages	:	Pages: 253 pages
Published	:	July 12th 1991 by Penguin Books (first published 1957)
Categories	:	Fiction. Classics. Historical. Historical Fiction. Literature

Justine (Alexandria Quartet #1) Paperback | Pages: 253 pages

Description As Books Justine (Alexandria Quartet #1)

The time is the eve of the Second World War. The place is Alexandria, an Egyptian city that once housed the world's greatest library and whose inhabitants are still dedicated to knowledge. But for the obsessed and purblind characters in this mesmerizing first novel of the Alexandria Quartet, the pursuit of knowledge leads to no library, only to the bedrooms in which each seeks to know - and possess - the other. Since its publication in 1957, "Justine" has inspired an almost religious devotion among readers and critics. It is not so much a book as it is a self-contained universe, constructed by one of the most elegant and formidably intelligent minds in contemporary fiction.

Details Books In Pursuance Of Justine (Alexandria Quartet #1)

Original Title:	Justine
ISBN:	0140153195 (ISBN13: 9780140153194)
Edition Language:	English
Series:	Alexandria Quartet #1
Characters:	Justine Hosnani, Melissa Artemis, Nessim Hosnani, Clea Montis, Gaston Pombal, S. Balthazar, Josh Scobie, L.G. Darley, Paul Capodistria, Percy Pursewarden
Setting:	Alexandria(Egypt) (Pakistan) Egypt
Literary Awards:	Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger for Roman (1959)

Rating Of Books Justine (Alexandria Quartet #1)

Ratings: 3.89 From 6634 Users | 720 Reviews

Evaluation Of Books Justine (Alexandria Quartet #1)

I enjoy the exquisite language and the general atmosphere of Alexandria wich Durrell puts down in this first book of the Alexandria quartet. But for me, though it was the intention, it is not for the whole near 1000 pages full quartet. I have to confess it gets a bit dull for me.

"I see at last that none of us is properly to be judged for what happened in the past. It is the city which should be judged though we, its children, must pay the price."- Lawrence Durrell, Justine It feels like reading Henry Miller and John Fowels mixed with Anthony Powell and Paul Bowles, salted, smoked, and flavored with the sex and refuse of Alexandria. It was lush, brutal, beautiful, and horrible all at once. It made me want to go (while knowing Durrell captured a place and time that will

As you most likely know, this is the first book of Lawrence Durrell's acclaimed Alexandria Quartet. What is it about? Stupid question. Unless by "about" you mean, what does it feel like? It feels like a warm, ancient, beautiful, decaying, diverse, passionate, decadent city that seems to permeate the lives of its inhabitants, most of whom seem obsessed with sex. So it is a lot about sex and what it means, and how it relates to love and manipulation, and if any of this has any moral basis. There

Two couples: Justine and Nessim, Melissa and Balthazar. Then the narrator. The male narrator had an affair both with Justine and Melissa although he is a friend to Nessim and an acquaintance to Balthazar. Melissa fell in love with Nessim and told him that his wife, Justine was no longer faithful to him. Justine was raped and disappeared. His rapist was found dead. Towards the end of the story, Clea, an lesbian writer wrote to the narrator that Justine re-appeared in the hospital Clea was working

These are the moments which are not calculable, and cannot be assessed in words; they live on in the solution of memory, like wonderful creatures, unique of their own kind, dredged up from the floors of some unexplored ocean.Full review of sorts will ensue when the tetralogy is completed.

This book is one beautiful, superbly crafted sentence, after another, after another. They read like aphorisms, beatitudes, making the reader pause to absorb each one, to weigh it for truth.To-wit:-- The lover mirrors himself like Narcissus in his own family; there is no exit from the predicament.-- We use each other like axes to cut down the ones we really love.-- We have been told so often that history is indifferent, but we always take its parsimony or plenty as somehow planned; we never

Concise Summary:The book is difficult. Words such as immoral sophistry and highbrow drivel come to mind. The last part induced me to raise the rating from one to two stars. In this part Lawrence Durrell switches from excessive philosophizing to a resolution to the "characters" egotistical behavior. Things actually happen; we see what these people have brought down on themselves. In fact there ARE some wonderful descriptions.There is no humor.I fail to believe that Lawrence Durrell delivers a