A review by konigsburg
The Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell

3.0

More than a bit ponderous and over-written, it’s a love story to pre-war and wartime Alexandria, Egypt: evocative, atmospheric to the point where the city is another character. The characters themselves are not much more than cardboard cutouts, and some of what happens reads more like a 1940s version of Tales of the City. Still, the third book of the Quartet, Mountolive, stands out for its better characterization and plot - and the set pieces are indeed wonderful - the duck hunt, the party with the dominos, the indelible Scobie. But it’s less brilliance than you’d want in exchange for nearly 900 pages.