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Darwin8u's Reviews > Balthazar
Balthazar (The Alexandria Quartet, #2)
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"Our view of reality is conditioned by our position in space and time — not by our personalities as we like to think."
- Lawrence Durrell, Balthazar
In Durrell's second book of the Alexandria Quartet, Durrell has added another voice, another perspective to the events of the first novel. He is giving the story depth. He is destroying of the private Alexandria of Darley, and now expanding the story to include perspectives from Balthazar. Darley has sent Balthazar the manuscript for Book 1, and Book 2 now replays some of the same narrative (some things are missing, some new details are added, some facts are contradicted, new facts are discovered). Balthazar has dropped his loose-leafed Inter-Linear of Book 1 off to Darley, who is now raising Melissa (and Nassim's daughter) on a small Greek island (just West of Smyrna.* Chios?).
Again, I LOVED this second book. The language pulls me page after page. I had to stop myself from licking the page to get another scent or taste of Alexandria. The Carnival scene was intense and reminded me of a comination of Eyes-Wide-Shut and a William Burroughs trip. I also adored the desert/farm section with Nassim and his hair-lipped brother Narouz and their mother Leila).
Finally, I ravished every scene and every line from author Pursewarden (who seems to be modeled on a combination of Henry Miller and Wyndham Lewis)
* Modern-day Izmir
- Lawrence Durrell, Balthazar
In Durrell's second book of the Alexandria Quartet, Durrell has added another voice, another perspective to the events of the first novel. He is giving the story depth. He is destroying of the private Alexandria of Darley, and now expanding the story to include perspectives from Balthazar. Darley has sent Balthazar the manuscript for Book 1, and Book 2 now replays some of the same narrative (some things are missing, some new details are added, some facts are contradicted, new facts are discovered). Balthazar has dropped his loose-leafed Inter-Linear of Book 1 off to Darley, who is now raising Melissa (and Nassim's daughter) on a small Greek island (just West of Smyrna.* Chios?).
Again, I LOVED this second book. The language pulls me page after page. I had to stop myself from licking the page to get another scent or taste of Alexandria. The Carnival scene was intense and reminded me of a comination of Eyes-Wide-Shut and a William Burroughs trip. I also adored the desert/farm section with Nassim and his hair-lipped brother Narouz and their mother Leila).
Finally, I ravished every scene and every line from author Pursewarden (who seems to be modeled on a combination of Henry Miller and Wyndham Lewis)
* Modern-day Izmir
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Greg
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rated it 4 stars
Oct 11, 2020 12:41PM
Darwin, me to, loved it. Thought the device of having Balthazar read the unpublished first volume, then clarifying issues, but Balthazar's 'truths' are no more true than Darley. And that Carnival scene...my fingers grew hot and steam rolled from the pages. THAT"S a masterclass lesson on how to write sexual obsession because it's so true that what we yet have not seen is the most alluring part of it all.
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Greg wrote: "Darwin, me to, loved it. Thought the device of having Balthazar read the unpublished first volume, then clarifying issues, but Balthazar's 'truths' are no more true than Darley. And that Carnival s..."Absolutely. What a wonderful narrative technique.
You remind me of how much I loved the Alexandria Quartet. Straight after it I read another quartet, The Raj Quartet and, in a different way, loved that too.
