BITTER LEMONS

by Lawrence Durrell ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

Bitter Lemons, although it hasn't the splendor and excitement of Durrell's novel justice, is nonetheless a fine addition to the small number of the author's works available in the United States. An ""English travel book"" of high quality, it combines learning, sharp observation, a sense of the comic and the tragic, a feeling for the history and the total atmosphere of a place, to give a fascinating picture of Cyprus in the two years leading to the Cypriot revolt against British rule. At its best when Durrell is a visitor and householder- seeing the country, absorbed in its people, exchanging bits of history with such visitors as Rose Macaulay and John Lehmann, collecting everything from folklore to flowers- it also provides an unusual and solid background against which to view the turmoil of revolution. It is the ""current events"" part that is most routine, but there is so much poetry in the writing throughout and there are so many hilarious scenes and wonderful characters that the book is never dull.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: 1604190043

Page Count: -

Publisher: Dutton

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1958

Categories: NONFICTION