Book Review: "Justine" by Lawrence Durrell

Now, you all know how I love reading a random book by someone I've never heard of at least once a week. Well, I kind of cheated this week because I had already heard of this guy before even though I haven't actually read anything by him before. To be honest, I was completely on the fence about this book when it came to the writing style vs. what the book was actually about. There were both pros and cons to this text and that is why, dear reader, I could not possibly give it full marks even though it was a somewhat enjoyable read. I have to say, there are some faults of writing to be analysed.

The first advantage of this text is the image of 1930s Alexandria, Egypt. The language surrounding the land and the diverse range of people and product is absolutely encapsulating. It has a sense of poetry to it that really drives the reader to read even if there wasn't a story because of the languid, yet motivated language surrounding the great and historical city with its mixture of ancient and modernising. This novel's atmosphere felt a lot like the atmosphere of a Henry Miller novel, especially The Colossus of Maroussi. However, I did find that the setting overshadowed the characters and with a character driven narrative that has an eponymous protagonist, I would not expect this nor did I think it was a wise decision though it was well written. Though its purpose is somewhat questionable, I cannot fault the descriptions themselves.

Be that as it may, there is a problem when it comes to the characters. They are pretty flat. Justine is especially the problem because of her seeming wistfulness. It's almost a character fault that she is so depressively whimsical - almost like the ghost of herself rather than an actual character. Her motivations seem to expel a sense of consequence and yet, when consequence arises there is an almost ethereal response filled with unrealistic and often jarring dialogue that mismatches the character that has already been created. I felt myself being dragged out of the narrative every time she opened her mouth. You could argue that the author did this on purpose, but there would be very little reason as to why the character is so badly written.

Another thing I didn't particularly enjoy about this book is the introspective philosophy that seems to appear almost uninvited. I can understand doing it a little bit here and there, like it is at the beginning of the book - it is managable. And yet, as we reach the halfway mark, we get a narrative that flies off the rails and becomes more about pretentious existential philosophies of human realities rather than any real storytelling skill, character development or even description of land at all. It just seems like the author finally decided that he liked the sound of his pretentiousness more than the actual text being developed into something more narrative-worthy. It is a fault of writing.

There are other things I liked and other things I did not like but I think that these few are enough to help you make up your own mind. I would definitely recommend you read it for yourself because even though I loved the deep and thorough descriptions (as I always love deep and thorough description), I fail to see how this plays into the narrative and how the characters can appear likable to us. I understand the book's legacy as a part of a quartet respected by many and I will be seeking out the remaining three books to read them. I just hope they are something more than this first one.