Balthazar, is the second volume of Durrell's The Alexandria Quartet, set in Alexandria, Egypt, during the 1940s. The events of each lush and sensuo...
read full description
reviews
May 22, 2011
David
rated it: 
After Justine, I didn't necessarily want to read on in this series, but, even though this book is a retelling more than it is an expansion of that original, troublesome plot, I found it much more engaging.
The title character, Balthazar, is responding to the errors of the original book with his own take, and so Durrell embraces the memoirist's topic--the sponginess of truth. The main character--Darley, I think (name mentioned once)--has escaped Alexandria and is recounting his misjud More...
The title character, Balthazar, is responding to the errors of the original book with his own take, and so Durrell embraces the memoirist's topic--the sponginess of truth. The main character--Darley, I think (name mentioned once)--has escaped Alexandria and is recounting his misjud More...
May 02, 2011
Judy
rated it: 
This is the second volume of Lawrence Durrell's "Alexandria Quartet." He calls it not a sequel to Justine but a sibling. Balthazar was the mystic philosopher in Justine who brought many of the characters together in regular meetings for study of the Cabal and other writings.
In this version of the story, most of which is a letter from Balthazar to the writer of both novels, new light is shed on the relationships between the characters. I found it more readable and enga More...
Sep 08, 2011
Alex
rated it: 
Simply the saddest, most beautiful re-telling of the events covered in Justine, yet with a richness that enhances the previous book and surpasses it.
It's full of charm and musings on love, loss, life and the familiar yet painful uncovering of news that you didn't want to hear. All the while it adds a depth and complexity to the overall narrative (of the Quartet) that builds an excitement about the coming two volumes.
Now I've finished the second book of the Quartet on my seco More...
It's full of charm and musings on love, loss, life and the familiar yet painful uncovering of news that you didn't want to hear. All the while it adds a depth and complexity to the overall narrative (of the Quartet) that builds an excitement about the coming two volumes.
Now I've finished the second book of the Quartet on my seco More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Aug 13, 2011
Ben
rated it:
I imagine my interpretation of this book will change drastically after finishing Mountolive, just like my opinion of Justine has changed this last week after finishing Balthazar. In this second book, the narrator receives notes from Balthazar critiquing his interpretation of the characters, and giving his own views by expanding on some events that we already know, and adding new events that we didn’t. The characters, which were already very rich and deep from the first novel, become even more
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Oct 09, 2011
Isabelle
rated it:
This is volume II of Durrell's "Alexandria Quartet"!
In "Balthazar", the same story as the story told in "Justin", is revisited from another point of view, through another's eyes, even if the narrator is unchanged. New details are revealed that warp the story to such an extent that another reality emerges.
It is an exercise in doubt, memories, emotions recollected through various prisms. It is subtle, captivating and so clever.
Of course, this very premi More...
In "Balthazar", the same story as the story told in "Justin", is revisited from another point of view, through another's eyes, even if the narrator is unchanged. New details are revealed that warp the story to such an extent that another reality emerges.
It is an exercise in doubt, memories, emotions recollected through various prisms. It is subtle, captivating and so clever.
Of course, this very premi More...
Jun 08, 2010
Kelly
rated it:
The second novel in Durrell's Alexandria Quartet, "Balthazar" is very much in the same vein as its predecessor, "Justine": rollicking eloquence, elusive plot, and characters viewed dimly through layers of mystery. The writing is excellent and rich with emotion. Sometimes, however, the deliberately enigmatic nature of the story results in confusion; I simply didn't always know what was going on or which characters were being discussed. For such a short novel it can be a bit
More...
Jul 17, 2010
Angie
rated it:
I just finished this a couple of days ago and am still thinking about it now. The story progresses from more viewpoints of the people closely involved with the main characters. The language is ever more lush and rich and the scene setting is vivid and hugely imaginative (I almost felt like I was there (and not in a tent in Windermere!)). It being the 2nd book, I was straight in there with no introductions necessary - only a developing impression now of the central characters and their flaws, sec
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Jan 24, 2011
Dick
rated it:
First published in 1958. This book is, as was Justine, written in 4 parts, and in the first person. However, since a lot of it is what the narrator (TN) is reading on his manuscript, the notes having been written by Balthazar (BLTZR), much of it is not TN’s viewpoints, but rather BLTZR’s. Like JUSTINE, this book is unnecessarily difficult to follow. There is too much figurative speech which, although it is admirable in a way, gets in the way of describing the story and the narrator’s feelin
More...
Mar 23, 2010
carl
rated it: 
The first two volumes Justine and Balthazar cover the philosophical pondering of love, as the narrator falls for Justine, and Justine loves? All the philosophy turns out to be describing 'real' activities in the third of the series Mountolive, which is where we finally learn the narrator's name, though he is no longer narrating, and more of the action, such as it is takes place.
The Alexandria Quartet is written in an 'artsy' manner, one that I couldn't quite get int More...
Jul 27, 2011
Moureco
rated it:
A história contada em Justine é (parcialmente) recontada em Baltasar, segundo volume do Quarteto de Alexandria. Existe uma coincidência de espaço e alguma, mas não total, coincidência de tempo. Outra perspectiva, os mesmos acontecimentos com (quase todos) os mesmos personagens. A vida como ela é, os amores como eles buscam ser, visto e contados por outros olhos e outra voz. O 2º volume é didicado por Durrell à mãe: 'estas memórias de uma cidade inesquecível'. A Alexandria do romance deve-o ter s
More...
Dec 30, 2009
Nate
rated it:
Durrell occupies a strange position at the fulcrum of modernity. His style is often baroque and prone to exoticism (at first, he evokes 19th century British colonial literature above all else), but this volume, the second of his best known Alexandria Quatet, reveals more modern preoccupations besides. A perceptive character observes modern art's debt to theoretical physics, and so it is: the novel's tangle of disinterested and capricious love affairs (modern and age-old) shift and squirm in (qua
More...
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Nov 09, 2010
Christopher
rated it:
I did not intend to review any of the Alexandria Quartet until I had finished them all. Durrell makes it clear in the first novel _Justine_ that the series cannot be comprehended as a whole until it has been read in its entirety. However, I wanted to share some thoughts now that I'm halfway through. These are fascinating and interesting books in which, much like Proust's _In Search of Lost Time_, the people the narrator knows shift in meaning and affect as he considers them in different situat
More...
Jul 21, 2010
Kristin
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Feb 01, 2008
Dave
rated it:
The second book in Lawrence Durrell"s famed Alexandria Quartet. The dust jacket states that this can be read independently of the first book, Justine. Not so. It seems that the un-named narrator of the first book (with the coincidental initials of L.D.) didn't get the details quite right, or at least his obsession with Justine obscured his objectivity. So Balthazar, eminent doctor and Cabalistic guru, steps in to provide his notes on the first book, thus allowing the still un-named narrat
More...
Sep 02, 2008
Priya
rated it:
Balthazar is the second book in the Quartet. After I finished Justine, I surprised myself by going out to immediately buy the rest of the Quartet.
Balthazar has the same narrator as Justine, the same hapless Englishman who had an affair with a beautiful but damaged woman in Egypt between the two world wars. Now the narrator lives on a Greek island a few years later, and his "memoirs" of the affair had been published. Balthazar, a friend of his from those days, sends him a l More...
Balthazar has the same narrator as Justine, the same hapless Englishman who had an affair with a beautiful but damaged woman in Egypt between the two world wars. Now the narrator lives on a Greek island a few years later, and his "memoirs" of the affair had been published. Balthazar, a friend of his from those days, sends him a l More...
Dec 04, 2009
Julia
rated it:
Second of four in the Alexandria Quartet; review of the Quartet forthcoming. In the meantime, another favorite quote:
"Fact is unstable by its very nature. Narouz once said to me that he loved the desert because there 'the wind blew out one's footsteps like candle-flames.' So it seems to me does reality. How then can we hunt for the truth?"
"Fact is unstable by its very nature. Narouz once said to me that he loved the desert because there 'the wind blew out one's footsteps like candle-flames.' So it seems to me does reality. How then can we hunt for the truth?"
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Dec 12, 2010
Matthew
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Apr 11, 2010
aya
rated it:
Just as beautiful and wise as Justine. An incredibly interesting way to write a novel--commentary on commentary of Justine (the book) is a difficult structure, especially difficult to make is continually compelling and clear. Durrell does this, though, and creates a thoughtful companion, rather than sequel, to Justine.
Dec 16, 2009
Claysim
rated it:
This is the second book in the Alexandria Quartet. Here we Durrell takes the story and events that you have seen in the first novel and turns them a different direction, allowing you to see other factors at work in the events of the first novel and begin to realize the layers of intrigue and personalities at work. Balthazar, our new narrator, is a peripheral friend of the Justine's protagonist. He leads a Gnostic study group that some of the characters belong to, and is the "confessor"
More...
Oct 25, 2009
Hilary
rated it:
the rest of this series is a set of intertwining stories set in pre war Alexandria. The city is seductive and the characters intreguing, with the exception of the some time narrator who is the least likeable. Still pompous in parts, but mostly beautifully written and a romping good tale.
Jul 06, 2010
Rob
rated it:
Second volume of Durrell's great quartet. It's not quite as good as Justine, the first volume, but that probably say more about the quality of that book than anything negative about this one. A very good and important book that continues the Alexandria saga nicely.
Feb 27, 2011
Angelo
rated it:
Title in portuguese: Baltasar – Lawrence Durrell
(trad_Daniel Gonçalves )
Ulisseia ed., 1970
Lisboa
- Book to reread for pure pleasure.
- The second book of the Alexandrian' quartet.
notes.
Balthazar by Lawrence Durrell (1960)
(trad_Daniel Gonçalves )
Ulisseia ed., 1970
Lisboa
- Book to reread for pure pleasure.
- The second book of the Alexandrian' quartet.
notes.
Balthazar by Lawrence Durrell (1960)
Feb 07, 2012
Charlotte
rated it:
I am continuing. This one was A LOT easier to understand than the first one, and oddly hypnotic in its descriptions. Loved: the brothers riding through the desert, Percy Pursewarden's ridiculous name, the fact that Clea often says things to the narrator (in her letters to him) like, "Why are you harping about X. Cut it out." That's a paraphrase. I am reading these in 1956 paperback editions that my mom gave me, but that have my dad's name in the flyleaf. They are falling apart, and hav
More...
May 21, 2009
Sezin
rated it:
The second installment in Durrell's magnificent "Alexandria Quartet." Phenomenal. It basically undoes everything the narrator wrote in the first book and is a testament to how people perceive the realities around them. Totally brilliant.
Jan 31, 2011
Sophie
rated it:
I really enjoyed this. Wonderful language, engaging characters and situations and above all a fabulous portrait of Alexandria. This is the second book in the Alexandria Quartet and retells the story in the first one, Justine, with different information and insights. Can't wait to read the other two.
Oct 06, 2008
Mr.
rated it:
'Balthazar' picks up where Durrell left off in 'Justine' not chronologically, but from a different perspective. The doctor Balthazar has paid a visit to the narrator of Justine, and gives him a text called the Great Intilinear, which details what has already unfolded in the previous novel. The fact that Lawrence Durrell was trying to explore the idea of relativity in the Alexandria Quartet is almost completely inconsequential to what makes it any good. What remains interesting in this text is hi
More...
Jul 28, 2011
Neal
rated it:
Extremely well written in terms of imagery. I'm not sure if it's the problem or brilliance of this book that it isn't fluid. It mentions events surrounding Justine without really treading on old ground.
Jan 11, 2012
Ted
rated it:
I liked the first two volumes of the Alexandria quartet very much, and for two reasons. The characters are to me extremely interesting, and the setting of Alexandria is both exotic and romantic.
Jul 12, 2010
David (Dafydd)
rated it:
I first read this book, together with the other three comprising the Alexandria Quartet, in my early twenties and was smitten instantly. It is one of the few books I re-read from time to time.
Jun 22, 2010
Ken
rated it:
The second installment of the Alexandria Quartet. Very well done. Referenced in the movie Stranger Than Fiction. Also very well done.
