"Mountolive (published 1958) is, first of all, a masterful play on expectations. The Alexandria Quartet relies upon the crossed recollections of unreliable narrators for its form and in this the third volume Durrell deceptively switched to the traditional storytelling mode of a third-person narration – transforming it into an odd continuation of the experimental form. ... What begins as an affair between Mountolive and Leila soon expands to become a primarily political story, or rather the story of how political ideology put insurmountable strain upon relationships of all sorts, driving apart friends, lovers and brothers as the book progresses. Mountolive is also the most cinematic and spacious of the three 'sibling' novels. It breaks away from Darley’s constrictive voice and is a deeply refreshing and revitalizing example of changing horses in midstream. ..."
Pseudo-Intellectual Reviews
W - Mountolive
NY Times: Intrigue Is the Way of Life
Revisiting Lawrence Durrell’s The Alexandria Quartet — Paul M. Curtis
2011 December: The Alexandria Quartet - Lawrence Durrell, 2013 September: Villa that inspired Lawrence Durrell faces demolition, as Egypt allows heritage to crumble, 2014 August: Prospero’s Cell (1945), 2015 April: Bitter Lemons (1953–1956), 2015 May: Caesar's Vast Ghost: Aspects of Provence, 2016 July: Reflections on a Marine Venus (1953), 2016 September: The Greek Islands, 2016 October: Justine (1957), 2017 February: Balthazar (1958)
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