A review by john_bizzell
The Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell

challenging slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

It took me six weeks to wade through this nearly-thousand page tome. I feel quite euphoric for having finally finished it, but that's more about the achievement than the book itself. Whole swathes of the overblown prose swam before my eyes, yet certain scenes completely chrystalised and felt shockingly modern for something written 60+ years ago. I suppose it seemed to me that Durrell's devotion to his concept of looking at the same events from multiple perspectives over and over again outweighed getting to any real truth of who these characters are. Six weeks! Hundreds and hundreds of pages! And I still didn't really know or care about any of them. The ideas, setting, period and approach are very intriguing, yet all the words sort of lead me to... nothing.