A review by silvej01
Mountolive by Lawrence Durrell

5.0

Without taking away any of the excellence of the first two books of The Alexandria Quartet, this third one is better still. While the focus returns primarily to the same locale and time frame (with revealing personal histories provided), the book expands the story, just as Balthazar expanded on Justine, and greatly deepens and enriches our understanding of the decaying multi-cultural 1930s Alexandria and the motivations of Durrell's broad array of characters. Among other things, it adds a political dimension to what has largely been a focus on the nature of the love and Eros in all its varieties, and to a lesser extent, the spiritual, aesthetic, and intellectual life of its inhabitants. Again, and maybe even more so, the corroding, culturally complex, and at times squalid and decadent city of 1930s Alexandria is itself a central character in the book.