Bitter Lemons of Cyprus

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He speaks Greek and that makes him a more welcome figure in the tiny village he chooses to settle in. In Cyprus during the nationalist violence - a move to become part of Greece - he ended up leaving the island after becoming a target of assassination attempts as political upheaval continued in his wake.

Bitter Lemons of Cyprus: Life on a Mediterranean Island Bitter Lemons of Cyprus: Life on a Mediterranean Island

Why, well as i have said above, I have a great love of anything Greek, as I think did Lawrence Durrell, and so I found the stupidity of mainly the British Government, unbelievably sad in that it negatively affected so many lives over the next 3 years, 20 years, 40 years, and some would say even to today in Cyprus. While the book starts out a light-hearted memoir not unlike Under the Tuscan sun--expat moves in and begins renovating a house surrounded by local colorful characters--the book eventually turns a bit darker. And in 1953, when Durrell moves to Cyprus, the local demands for Enosis, or union with Greece, are becoming increasingly strident.

I didn’t see that at all, I was given a picture of a man who sympathised with, who loved spending time with and wished he could have done more to help the Cypriot people who were his friends, whether peasant of bar tender, carpenter or government worker. His love for the Cypriot people is clear, but he firmly views them as a rural, somewhat childlike people who are far happier under British rule than they would be under union with an increasingly dynamic and urban Greek nation. How could one not be, after reading his brother's delightful report on his family Negotiations begin between Sabri and the feisty owner of the property and they are protracted and heated. A description of his time spent in Cyprus during "Enosis", Greek Cypriots demand for union with mainland Greece, this made fascinating reading.

Bitter Lemons of Cyprus : Life on a Mediterranean Island

Thus, I heartily recommend this very descriptive account, which is really mostly memoir, of Lawrence Durell’s experience before and during the 1950s Cypriot uprising. Oh, I had studied history and I knew there had been wars between them, but I didn't know the length or depth of their antipathy. Surprisingly, I have since visited both Greece and Turkey and was struck with how similar their cultures are on the surface.Durrell, 1952-56 arasında adada geçirdiği günleri, kurduğu ilişkileri, Enosis meselesinin doğuşunu her zamanki gibi kelimelerle dans ederek anlatıyor. Not union with Greece, but rather the union of the whole of Cyprus with the new Europe, the early undercurrent of whose formation was in reality the force that stirred the crisis of ’55.

Bitter Lemons - Wikipedia

Within a setting of richly idiosyncratic characters is the intense Justine, wife to the wealthy business man Nessim, whose emotional and sexual wildness fuels a high-charged atmosphere.For all my enjoyment of this very fine read I suspect that like another author I admire, Patrick Leigh Fermor, I may not be in agreement with a few of his views.