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3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
The Island of Corfu has a long and sometimes bloody history. For the past 2000 years, it has absorbed elements of its culture from the surroundings and then made them its own. The Durrells are now linked with the island after Lawrence persuaded his mother to move there with his siblings prior to World War II.
You don’t get much of Durrell in this book, rather you get a series of profiles and vignettes about the people and the island written in a diary form. He weaves together a history of the people and the place as well as an insider’s perspective of life on the island. My favourite chapter was the one titled Landscape with Olive Trees, this tells how the people live and we get to meet the Count and man who still observes the pagan practices that the Orthodox Church has still not banished from the island.
It is the sweetest of the island waters, because it tastes of nothing but the warm afternoon, the breath of the cicadas, the idle winds crisping at little corners of the inert sea, which stretches away towards Africa, death-blue and timeless.
This is a beautifully written book about the wonderful island of Corfu. I was fortunate enough to be on the island whilst reading this too. A lot has changed since Durrell was there and wrote these words, but a lot has stayed the same too. The people are still warm and welcoming, the landscape is still sun-drenched and the silvery leaves of the olive trees still shimmer in the wind and the sea glistens in the sun. I haven’t read any of his fiction books yet, only a couple of his non-fiction and this is really good. If you are unable to visit this place for whatever reason, let this book take you there in an instant.
You don’t get much of Durrell in this book, rather you get a series of profiles and vignettes about the people and the island written in a diary form. He weaves together a history of the people and the place as well as an insider’s perspective of life on the island. My favourite chapter was the one titled Landscape with Olive Trees, this tells how the people live and we get to meet the Count and man who still observes the pagan practices that the Orthodox Church has still not banished from the island.
It is the sweetest of the island waters, because it tastes of nothing but the warm afternoon, the breath of the cicadas, the idle winds crisping at little corners of the inert sea, which stretches away towards Africa, death-blue and timeless.
This is a beautifully written book about the wonderful island of Corfu. I was fortunate enough to be on the island whilst reading this too. A lot has changed since Durrell was there and wrote these words, but a lot has stayed the same too. The people are still warm and welcoming, the landscape is still sun-drenched and the silvery leaves of the olive trees still shimmer in the wind and the sea glistens in the sun. I haven’t read any of his fiction books yet, only a couple of his non-fiction and this is really good. If you are unable to visit this place for whatever reason, let this book take you there in an instant.
challenging
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
This wasn’t meant to be a travelogue or complete history of Corfu. Durrell was fairly young, early in his career as a writer, and I think he was finding himself. As with Shakespeare’s marooned Prospero who taught himself magic from a book, Durrell much of the time was looking inward, and he writes about the many influences of the island on himself. We see its beauty through his eyes, and the observations, experiences, and philosophies of his friends create a wondrous palette of sights, sounds, smells, flavors, customs, and ideas. Having stayed at the “inn” next to the White House at Kalami Bay, and having visited Paleokastritsa, the Ropa Valley, and Corfu Town, I could savor and identify each place he wrote of. In fact, I’ll bet that “Count D” was of the Theotoky Winery in the Ropa Valley.
In one sense I found it rather indulgent. There is no doubt that the life in Corfu is intelligently and skilfully observed. The language and vocabulary are exquisite.
For me it was the epilogue after the ravages of war that made sense of the whole book. A sadness for times lost and never to be re-found. It had the same intense pain as Cider with Rosie.
For me it was the epilogue after the ravages of war that made sense of the whole book. A sadness for times lost and never to be re-found. It had the same intense pain as Cider with Rosie.
funny
informative
lighthearted
fast-paced
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Little spoiler: the book is titled after Prospero, the protagonist of Shakespeare's The Tempest, which is rumored to be set in Corfu (see here).
I've just finished reading this book after Bitter Lemons of Cyprus and Reflections On A Marine Venus. This means I was reading Lawrence Durrell's accounts of his time in Greece backward, both in time and space, as he first lived in Corfu, then Rhodes, and finally Cyprus.
I have come to appreciate him as a writer overall, but this book made me suffer more than the other two given the daydreaming descriptions he offers. I felt like they were overwhelming at times, as they distracted me from the underlying account of his time there. And I suppose that's exactly how he meant to write it, eg using the chronological account as a background for his descriptions.
However, when those descriptions were over, sometimes even abruptly, the name of the people involved in the story resurfaced, and I found myself wanting to go back to the page where he first introduced them. It's like watching the beginning of a movie, then sleeping for 20 years straight, and resume watching the movie only to discover - to nobody's surprise - that you don't remember anything.
So, stylewise, Lawrence Durrell is not my cup of tea, and this is why I am giving it 4 stars. Despite this, Lawrence's style is an attractive cup and made me envious of that simple life he was living, all centered on experiences rather than things. While reading I remember wishing so intensely that I could go back in time to the mid-1930s to live that type of life myself.
The epilogue is heavy. It casts a dark shadow on the wonderful personal experiences Lawrence recounts, although I think that shadow must have been there all along, knowing at the back of my mind that a war was coming. It even made me think that, initially, Lawrence must have had a hard time accepting Egypt, where he wrote this book, especially when compared to Greece, just because the earlier was a safe haven while the latter a conscious decision.
This book leaves me sad, much the same way as Bitter Lemons of Cyprus did, but hopeful that I can visit Corfu one day and, why not, pay a visit to the White House in Kalami, now a restaurant-museum facing Albanian shores.
Enjoy your readings, everyone.
I've just finished reading this book after Bitter Lemons of Cyprus and Reflections On A Marine Venus. This means I was reading Lawrence Durrell's accounts of his time in Greece backward, both in time and space, as he first lived in Corfu, then Rhodes, and finally Cyprus.
I have come to appreciate him as a writer overall, but this book made me suffer more than the other two given the daydreaming descriptions he offers. I felt like they were overwhelming at times, as they distracted me from the underlying account of his time there. And I suppose that's exactly how he meant to write it, eg using the chronological account as a background for his descriptions.
However, when those descriptions were over, sometimes even abruptly, the name of the people involved in the story resurfaced, and I found myself wanting to go back to the page where he first introduced them. It's like watching the beginning of a movie, then sleeping for 20 years straight, and resume watching the movie only to discover - to nobody's surprise - that you don't remember anything.
So, stylewise, Lawrence Durrell is not my cup of tea, and this is why I am giving it 4 stars. Despite this, Lawrence's style is an attractive cup and made me envious of that simple life he was living, all centered on experiences rather than things. While reading I remember wishing so intensely that I could go back in time to the mid-1930s to live that type of life myself.
The epilogue is heavy. It casts a dark shadow on the wonderful personal experiences Lawrence recounts, although I think that shadow must have been there all along, knowing at the back of my mind that a war was coming. It even made me think that, initially, Lawrence must have had a hard time accepting Egypt, where he wrote this book, especially when compared to Greece, just because the earlier was a safe haven while the latter a conscious decision.
This book leaves me sad, much the same way as Bitter Lemons of Cyprus did, but hopeful that I can visit Corfu one day and, why not, pay a visit to the White House in Kalami, now a restaurant-museum facing Albanian shores.
Enjoy your readings, everyone.
funny
informative
relaxing
slow-paced
Not my usual type of reading but I found this fascinating. This read has been inspired by watching the 2005 My Family and Other Animals and The Durrells tv series. I enjoyed Durrell’s observations of the islands and the people he encountered, although I think I would have enjoyed a few more mentions of the family. Not entirely sure if the appendix of Lear’s letters added anything for me though.
a wondeful, very visual journey into the world of mediterranean. the writer's love for the island can be felt in every page. The book paints a set of very aesthetic pictures like intellectuals meeting by the sea to discuss life and philosophy or eccentric islanders, and is filled with historical context and funny details showing the beauty amidst it all.
Durrell's prose is pure magic. Vivid yet subtle, it flirts with the Baroque without ever breaking the spell it casts on the reader.
This is seductive travel writing at its finest.
Particularly well done is the balance between descriptive prose and historical detail in order to bring the island to life out of a colourful past and into an uncertain present. The final note is a bitter sweet one, layered with nostalgia...
This is seductive travel writing at its finest.
Particularly well done is the balance between descriptive prose and historical detail in order to bring the island to life out of a colourful past and into an uncertain present. The final note is a bitter sweet one, layered with nostalgia...