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3.45 AVERAGE
3.45 AVERAGE
Found the writing style choppy and hard to follow. Had hoped to learn a bit about Cyprus before a trip there but found the author super disparaging of the country and its people.
A fabulous book. The ending is bitter and sad, much like the lemons and the current situation in Cyprus. At some point the focus of the story shifts from daily life (the house, the villagers, the Tree of Idleness) to graver matters, and it becomes political although in a clever way. I didn't like it when Durrell tried to defend the role of the British on the island (as well as his Britishness?). However, he also acknowledged the lack of proactivity and tact of the Foreign Office when it was clear that a certain situation was brewing up. This book made me want to go to Cyprus. My next book on the subject is "A Journey to Cyprus" by Colin Thubron, who visited the island before 1974.
For someone who grew up in Cyprus, as a GreekCypriot, this book provided an interesting view of EOKA and the Cypriot struggle for freedom from the British Empire, entirely from "the other side"- from a British official's point of view.
Overall an easy read for those interested to understand what Cyprus and Cypriot life means, what the landscape, history and culture behold, as well as the spirit of a people oppressed for so many years under numerous rulers including the British.
Overall an easy read for those interested to understand what Cyprus and Cypriot life means, what the landscape, history and culture behold, as well as the spirit of a people oppressed for so many years under numerous rulers including the British.
challenging
informative
slow-paced
I can’t help feeling like this book being described as a travel narrative hurts the overall experience of reading the book. If it had been categorised as literary journalism, historical documentation or even memoir I think my expectations would have been better addressed and I could have gone into it able to appreciate the complexities the book puts forward.
"In an island of bitter lemons
Where the moon's cool fevers burn
From the dark globes of the fruit,
And the dry grass underfoot
Tortures memory and revises
Habits half a lifetime dead
Better leave the rest unsaid,
Beauty, darkness, vehemence
Let the old sea-nurses keep
Their memorials of sleep
And the Greek sea's curly head
Keep its calms like tears unshed
Keep its calms like tears unshed."
"This is not a political book," begins the author's preface. A provoking statement that merits pages of discussion, yet somehow pales away in relation to the descriptive prose that more than lives up to his reputation. The portrait he paints is filled with admiration, honour and regret--interweaving the landscape, the people, and the politics into a bouquet that is citric but never bitter.
Where the moon's cool fevers burn
From the dark globes of the fruit,
And the dry grass underfoot
Tortures memory and revises
Habits half a lifetime dead
Better leave the rest unsaid,
Beauty, darkness, vehemence
Let the old sea-nurses keep
Their memorials of sleep
And the Greek sea's curly head
Keep its calms like tears unshed
Keep its calms like tears unshed."
"This is not a political book," begins the author's preface. A provoking statement that merits pages of discussion, yet somehow pales away in relation to the descriptive prose that more than lives up to his reputation. The portrait he paints is filled with admiration, honour and regret--interweaving the landscape, the people, and the politics into a bouquet that is citric but never bitter.
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
This was beautifully written, and sympathetic to the cypriots struggle. However, Durrell was British during a time when colonialism was expected, and demonstrated those views during the book. So if you decide to read this you will get that viewpoint, which may not be favorable at this point. Unfortunately, books by Cypriots are not available at my library so I could not read them.
adventurous
funny
informative
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
emotional
informative
slow-paced
reflective
fast-paced
http://nhw.livejournal.com/643767.html[return][return]I bought this book for the Cyprus connection, but in fact its application is much more general and less specific. Durrell moved to Cyprus in 1953, and left after the outbreak of the EOKA campaign in 1956, and the book is a heartfelt chronicle of how the innocence of a beautiful country was destroyed by violence.[return][return]Up to now, I knew of Lawrence Durrell mainly from the odd mention in his brother Gerald's lovely books about collecting animals, which I was addicted to in my early teens. I did try reading the Alexandria Quartet once, but bounced off it. Maybe I should try again. (Gerald does turn up, complete with animals, for a couple of cameo appearances in Bitter Lemons, somewhat to Lawrence's embarrassment: he has curried favour with the neighbours by telling them that his brother died fighting for the Greek army in the second world war.)[return][return]I was struck after reading Bitter Lemons by the thought that one can imagine other such books being written about Northern Ireland in, say 1965-1972, or Bosnia in 1989-1993, but I don't think any other conflict has benefited from a first-hand witness of such literary talents who happened to be on the spot, actually working as the press spokesman for the occupying colonial power, before and during that very brief period of time when the shit really hit the fan.[return][return]Having said that, I couldn't recommend this book as essential reading about the Cyprus conflict today. It was published in 1957, while Archbishop Makarios was still in exile, and the Zurich and London Agreements were still two years in the future. It is very interesting on Cyprus itself, and on communal relations as they were at one point in time. He does mention that his assistant, Achilles Papadopoulos, has a smart and successful younger brother... no, presumably it is not the guy's real name.[return][return]The village of Bellapais and nearby town of Kyrenia, both beautifully and lyrically portrayed in the first half of the book, are both still beautiful but were ethnically cleansed in 1974; they are standard stops on the one-day-tour of Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus that many people do starting from the Green Line in Nicosia. To be honest Durrell's sweeping generalisations about the Cypriots and the Greeks are rather annoying, if typical of the attitudes of the time. If he had concentrated on the individual characters, or distanced himself a bit from the prejudices expressed, it would have been a more pleasant read.[return][return]The book hit its stride for me in the chapter "A Telling of Omens", when a visiting Greek friend warns Durrell (to the latter's deep scepticism) that there is trouble ahead. Durrell's initial doubts are turned around by, well, pretty much every Cypriot he talks to, and he finds himself in the position of trying to persuade his colleagues in the colonial administration to adopt a sensible policy - indeed to adopt any policy at all. [return][return]Of course, by the time Durrell does get his face-to-face meeting with the Colonial Secretary, it is too late and the cycle of violence is well and truly established. Also it is sadly clear that he was advocating only the replacement of the prejudices of the colonial administration by the prejudices of the traditional pro-Greek views of the British establishment (though, in fairness, a) this would have been an improvement and b) the resulting policy debate could even have led to further progress before it was too late). In addition his repeated assertion of the unquestionable right of Britain to rule Cyprus indefinitely seems very peculiar now, given that the island became independent only three years after the book was published. He condemns the British most, though does not spare the Cypriots or the Greek government of the day. I've heard Greeks blame their own government first and foremost. I don't know.[return][return]However, as a portrayal of how stupid and evil policies can destroy the peace of a society, despite the warnings of those who know and care about it, there can't be many better accounts than this.