Justine (The Alexandria Quartet, #1)

Justine (Alexandria Quartet #1)

4.0 of 5 stars 4.00  ·  rating details  ·  2,580 ratings  ·  272 reviews
The time is the eve of the World War II. The place is Alexandria, an Egyptian city that once housed the world's greatest library and whose inhabitants are dedicated to knowledge. But for the obsessed characters in this mesmerizing novel, their pursuits lead only to bedrooms in which each seeks to know—and possess—the other. Since its publication in 1957, Justine has inspir...more
Paperback, 256 pages
Published July 12th 1991 by Penguin Books (first published 1957)
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Steve aka Sckenda
Apr 23, 2013 Steve aka Sckenda rated it 5 of 5 stars
Recommended to Steve aka Sckenda by: Modern Library 100
“‘There are only three things to be done with a woman,’ said Clea once. ‘You can love her, suffer for her, or turn her into literature.’ I was experiencing a failure in all these domains of feeling.” (22)

How do I write a review of a hallucination? I smoked opium (metaphorically speaking) for 250 pages, and I don’t know how to explain to you why I gave this “experience” 5 stars. Justine is lyrical, evocative, sensual, colorful, and aromatic. Lawrence Durrell transported me to Alexandria, Egypt, o...more
Kelly
I woke too soon. Unfortunately, I think that’s the problem with this one. I feel like someone getting surgery who has gotten an insufficient dose of anesthesia, or someone who opens her eyes wide in the midst of a hypnotist act. I really wasn’t looking to make you look bad, and quite frankly I’d prefer it if you’d put me back to sleep, but here I am, nonetheless, looking at you. Durrell feels like he was put in charge of the puppet show before he was ready. This is a test product, not something...more
Chrissie
Concise Summary:
The book is difficult. Words such as immoral sophistry and highbrow drivel come to mind.

The last part induced me to raise the rating from one to two stars. In this part Lawrence Durrell switches from excessive philosophizing to a resolution to the "characters" egotistical behavior. Things actually happen; we see what these people have brought down on themselves. In fact there ARE some wonderful descriptions.

There is no humor.

I fail to believe that Lawrence Durrell delivers a bal...more
Angie
I absolutely adored this book. At the start I had to adjust to the flourish of the language used but once I started, I felt sucked into it with an amazing force by the beauty of the words.

The setting is very romantic, Egypt in the 1930's and the central character, although a teacher by profession, is part of a social circle of wealthy and creative individuals whose lives are intertwined. They seem to have all the time in the world to spend with each other contemplating life, love and creativity...more
K.D. Oliveros
Apr 09, 2010 K.D. Oliveros rated it 3 of 5 stars
Recommended to K.D. by: 501 Must Read Books; 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (20
Shelves: 1001-core, 501, series
Two couples: Justine and Nessim, Melissa and Balthazar. Then the narrator. The male narrator had an affair both with Justine and Melissa although he is a friend to Nessim and an acquaintance to Balthazar. Melissa fell in love with Nessim and told him that his wife, Justine was no longer faithful to him. Justine was raped and disappeared. His rapist was found dead. Towards the end of the story, Clea, an lesbian writer wrote to the narrator that Justine re-appeared in the hospital Clea was working...more
Dave
As you most likely know, this is the first book of Lawrence Durrell's acclaimed Alexandria Quartet. What is it about? Stupid question. Unless by "about" you mean, what does it feel like? It feels like a warm, ancient, beautiful, decaying, diverse, passionate, decadent city that seems to permeate the lives of its inhabitants, most of whom seem obsessed with sex. So it is a lot about sex and what it means, and how it relates to love and manipulation, and if any of this has any moral basis.

There i...more
Cheryl
The TLS said of JUSTINE, " If ever a work bore an instantly recognizable signature on every sentence, this is it." What is recognizable in Lawrence Durrell's work? There is the absence of a linear story line coupled with no concise prose. Progress is made by the reader understanding just a string of words rather than the usual comprehension of paragraphs, chapters, and the whole. Durrell does not reveal the plot chronologically, but rather how the mind processes memories with the most important...more
Matt
Having just thrown away Dave Eggers’ Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius I was in the market for a book that read like it was trying. Like it was making an effort. Like it was really bloody worn out from wanting to be read. And thanks to my friend Michael, who always lends me the highbrow books, I’ve discovered Lawrence Durrell. Durrell, whose brother Gerald was the author of My Family and Other Animals, which as a child I grew up watching on the BBC, is the author of the intimidating-soundi...more
Jaime
Mar 11, 2008 Jaime is currently reading it
after a tea-party with 3 fantastic women/artists
yesterday deep in the springs
the stunning darlene handed me this book.

i have yet to begin...
but opening to a page
for a taste

this is what i find:

'to have great beauty; to have enough money to construct an independent life; to have a skill - these are the factors that persuade the envious, the dispirited to regard her as undeservedly lucky. but why, ask her critics and observers, has she denied herself marriage?'

{yes}.

Paul Griffin
This novel is a masterclass on romantic love. Poetry, intrigue, romance. I love Justine more than I love any other human being (present girlfriend excluded). The story of ex-pats in Alexandria before and after the Great War. Justine is the first in a quartet. A breathless performance...
Dennis Meier
Eloquently written, Justine includes passages of haunting beauty that rivals Proust. For example, the description on page 27 of Justine standing on a balcony above a city of colored lights as the evening wind stirs from the confines of Asia is typical of the many lyrical turns of phrase found in the books.

Unfortunately, like Proust, the beautiful passages often say little and reveal little about life as most of us know it--by which I mean life as a working person knows it as opposed to the life...more
Priya
An excellent book! I came into this quartet not being sure what to expect (other than that it was "a classic" which may or may not mean anything), but I was really pleasantly surprised.

Justine is the story of an Englishman in Alexandria, Egypt, between the two world wars. He becomes friends with a Coptic businessman, Nessim, and eventually the lover of Nessim's wife, the beautiful, fascinating, but downright screwy Justine. This book basically is the narrator's memories of the affair, as well a...more
Joe
Feb 03, 2008 Joe rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: romantics, melancholics, drama-queens, etc...
Granted, Durrell's use of metaphor verges on poetry throughout the four books. He even notes this in a 'self-referential' way where he exclaims as the author 'fine writing!' Still, his 'investigation of modern love' in Alexandria, Egypt during WWII (as a backdrop only), is a work of genius. Propelling the entire work is the mad and fascinating Justine Hosnani and the many chararcters (three of whom are the titles of the other three novels in the quartet - Balthazar, Mountolive and Clea) who orbi...more
Unbridled
This book made me question my integrity as a reader. My concentration, it seems, is shot to some degree – however temporary or permanent remains to be seen. But for this book anyway I had pockets of trouble reading without losing my place. Durrell is a fabulous talent and impressed me from the start, sticking my nose into the neck, arm pit, and hair of Alexandria. He writes like a dream, but an opiate-soaked, English-viceroy dream, which means he meanders beautifully in long, lush sentences that...more
Mal
Durrell's poetic writing is evident throughout Justine. His words hypnotize and emit a tranquil vibe. I found myself utterly relaxed and absorbed in his beautiful prose. Characters are well developed and introduced in a intimate manner. The plot is solid and marries with the individual players. Justine is book I of The Alexandria Quartet, only the beginning of the series leading me to read all three books. The ending came all too soon leaving me craving for the sequel. Durrell is now one of my f...more
Mr.
In the lost city of Alexandria a group of ex-patriots fall into a life of mysticism and sensuality. The opening novel of Lawrence Durrell's Alexandria quartet is a highly polished and intriguing work which tends to create a life of its own as one gets into it. Although Durrell's prose is clearly out of style, the intricate design and rhythm of life he has created in this imaginary place is truly a great achievement. The object of fascination in this introductory work is Justine, the beautiful Je...more
Smcleish
Originally published on my blog here in May 2005.

The Alexandria Quartet, Durrell's most famous work, begins with this story of an obsessive affair, between the young poet who narrates the novel and society woman Justine. The novel is more about the setting of postwar Alexandria, though, and Justine herself is to some extent a symbol of the city, which makes the novel extremely atmospheric even without lengthy passages of description. The groundwork is laid here for themes which become more impor...more
Alan
Jan 06, 2013 Alan rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Lonely writers who dream of traveling abroad armed only with a typewriter and a single suitcase
Recommended to Alan by: Clayton W.; previous and subsequent work; and the Paradox Book Store in Wheeling, WV
At the beginning of Justine, Lawrence Durrell disclaims on behalf of his characters that they are "all inventions together with the personality of the narrator, and bear no resemblance to living persons. Only the city is real." And it is, or it becomes so... in Justine, which is but the first part of a tetralogy known as The Alexandria Quartet—four connected novels set in that Egyptian coastal city—Alexandria itself is built and overlaid, bit by bit, by sight, sound and smell, the sensual slide...more
Isabelle
This is the first volume of Durrell's Alexandria Quartet, in which we get acquainted with a group of people living in Alexandria, Egypt, at the very genesis of WWII.
One by one, the cast of characters appears, men and women, all complex, all elusive in their own right. The narrator, a struggling writer, is drifting around aimlessly, maybe in search of some sense of fulfillment, and then again maybe not. Through his eyes and also his heart, we get to meet the people the four novels are built on: J...more
Rob Woodard
First volume of Durrell's classic four part meditation on love, pain, politics ... and Alexandria, Egypt. I first read this book about fifteen years ago and I just finished it for about the 5th time. Simply one of the most amazing novels I've ever read.

Durrell creates a deeply tangled universe of deceit, desire, and human nature in general, amongst the wounded, self-absorbed, secretive burnouts in Alexandria on the eve of the second world war. It's also a fascinating meditation on cultural blen...more
Tony
This book is one beautiful, superbly crafted sentence, after another, after another. They read like aphorisms, beatitudes, making the reader pause to absorb each one, to weigh it for truth.

To-wit:

-- The lover mirrors himself like Narcissus in his own family; there is no exit from the predicament.

-- We use each other like axes to cut down the ones we really love.

-- We have been told so often that history is indifferent, but we always take its parsimony or plenty as somehow planned; we never reall
...more
Timo
I first read this at age 16, and it changed my life, you might say - but not exactly in the way you might expect. I read it a second time a few years later, along with other books by the same author, but since those days of my youth I haven't been able to get into it again.

I just purchased a hardback edition, fitting very nicely in my hands, and have started up again. This is an experiment. Now, perhaps, I will be able to appraise the book with adult rationality, and move beyond the story's lust...more
Randy
This book successfully blew my mind, although I managed to salvage a piece of my cerebrum as I never got a chance to finish it. The beginning of the book marks the best 50+ pages of reading I have ever conceived of, on par or better than the pink diamonds Henry Miller can cut with his pen. But it does get decidely difficult and abstract half-way in; then my copy was badly damaged in an accident involving beer. So I need to buy another copy. Anyone want to trade?
Jan
I struggled to finish this, but I was determined to hear it all the way to the end. And I actually enjoyed the last 20 minutes of it!
In the early 1960's, not long after the 4th volume of the Alexandria Quartet was published, I bought the whole set. But I culled all 4 books from my library long ago, because I could never force my way through them.
The initial appeal was the repeated mention of taboo topics that, in my early 20's, I had rarely if ever read or heard about. I remember attempting "Ju...more
Ben
A truly gorgeous novel told, not in chronological order, but rather in the order that the experiences became significant for our narrator. The interplay of the characters drives all, and we get to experience the unknowable Justine, the madness of Nessim, the cuckolded Melissa, the aloofness of Clea, and more, all of whom, though intelligent and introspective, revel in the contradiction as they assign their motives to the city of Alexandria, which to them is the central character in their lives....more
Lobstergirl
This will be a pleasing read for those who enjoy language more than plot. The writing is luscious and strange, the subject matter slightly decadent. It reminded me of A Rebours by Joris-Karl Huysmans, and sure enough, somewhere near the end a character is reading A Rebours. The unnamed narrator, a writer and teacher, is living in Alexandria, Egypt prior to World War II. He has affairs with a woman named Melissa and a married woman named Justine, and friendships with a homosexual, Balthazar, Just...more
Steve
HEADLINE: You ought not just wander around Alexandria if you do not know what is up. And nobody knows what is up.


Alexandria is not a Mediterranean paradise. Parts if this Alexandria stink, as in flat out smell bad.

Parts of the city are incredibly dangerous. The man coming back to the car to find the corpse of his decapitated wife was interesting. The whole place is rife with plotting and intrigue. This Alexandria is thick with an atmosphere not entirely pleasant.

When we move out of the city and...more
Ruth
"Durrell (1912 – 1990) brother to Gerald Durrell, was a press attaché to the British Embassies, first in Cairo and then Alexandria during World War II. It was in Alexandria that he met Eve (Yvette) Cohen, a Jewish Egyptian who was to become his model for the character Justine in this eponymous novel. Published in 1957 this is the first novel in the Alexandria Quartet which tell basically the same story but from different perspectives. ""... the city which used us as its flora - precipitated i...more
Peter Brooks
The Alexandrian quartet is more of an adventure than a read. The people and city reveal themselves not as simply characters in a story, but as four dimensional beings, viewed from completely different perspectives. I've read the quartet four times and I'm planning, soon, to read it again. I suppose that I'll start with Justine, but I've been wondering if it might be more enjoyable to read them in the reverse of the usual order.

Having said all this, Lawrence Durrell isn't for everybody (some even...more
Tatiana
Magnificent mythical city emerges through the pages of the first part of the Alexandria Quartet. As we follow Justine's, Nessim's, Melissa's as well as the protagonist's wanderings through the city, we stumble into an immaterial world, that floats and recedes, stirring our imagination like no other place in the world. However the plot, the triangular love affairs did not reach my (probably overambitious) expectations: reading a Modernist novel I expected to have the plot to match The Good Soldie...more
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World Travel thro...: * November 2012: Justine 4 4 Jan 02, 2013 11:58am  
رباعية الإسكندرية: جوستين
Justine (The Alexandria Quartet #1)
Justine (The Alexandria Quartet: Book One)
Justine (Paperback)
Justine (The Alexandria Quartet: Book One)

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Born in Jalandhar, British India, in 1912 to Indian-born British colonials, Lawrence Durrell was a critically hailed and beloved novelist, poet, humorist, and travel writer best known for the Alexandria Quartet novels, which were ranked by the Modern Library as among the greatest works of English literature in the twentieth century. A passionate and dedicated writer from an early age, Durrell’s pr...more
More about Lawrence Durrell...
The Alexandria Quartet Balthazar (The Alexandria Quartet, #2) Mountolive (The Alexandria Quartet, #3) Clea (The Alexandria Quartet, #4) Bitter Lemons of Cyprus

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