Justine

Scene from the 1969 movie of Justine

We read the first of Lawrence Durrell's Alexandria Quartet this month as we sat and talked for the very last time at Terry and Debbie's present home.  Let me just say that I am indebted to Ed for looking for some redeeming features to support my love for the book.  Absolutely no one liked Justine...some  plodded through to the end while, and I mention no names, others read just a few pages.  Oh how lonely it is to be the only one who loved the book at our book club.  I can only say that my ego is still intact based on the fact that it is considered a classic.  I think it was Terry who checked with Amazon and could not believe that someone had reread the novel for the fourth time.

For me, and I do speak alone, I thought it was a piece of history in the ever changing understanding of the different kinds of love we experience in our lives.  I love when Durrell says at the start: “There are only three things to be done with a woman. You can love her, suffer for her, or turn her into literature.”  The same could be applied to life in general, I think.  

Next month we are at Mindy's at 7 PM for a discussion of the Fig Eater by Jody Shields on April 25th.