{"product_id":"balthazar-9780140153217","title":"Balthazar","description":"The dazzling second volume of \u003ci\u003eThe Alexandria Quartet\u003c\/i\u003e--an enthralling and deeply disturbing work of gorgeous surfaces and endless deceptions. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In Alexandra, in the years before the Second World War, an exiled Irish schoolteacher seeks to unravel his sexual obsession with two women: the tubercular caf  dancer, Melissa, and Justine, the alluring Jewish wife of a wealthy Coptic Christian. What emerges in his sessions with the psychiatrist Balthazar, however, is something far more complex--and unfathomably more sinister--than neurosis. Lawrence Durrell's kaleidoscopic narrative ushers us into a world in which no perception is reliable--and love itself is always an act of treachery. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"Durrell is one of the very best novelists of our time. . . . He has a sensuous, vigorous style that I have not found equaled by any other novelist today. . . . A spontaneous, resourceful new beauty that any sensitive reader will almost certainly love.\"--\u003ci\u003eThe New York Book Review\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"It is difficult to sum up \u003ci\u003eBalthazar\u003c\/i\u003e; it will not be contained. It spills or slips away like smoke. The sheer writing is superb. . . . A wonderful book, a book to read many times.\"--\u003ci\u003eThe Houston Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Penguin Publishing Group\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 07\/12\/1991\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780140153217\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 256\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.45lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 7.70h x 5.00w x 0.60d","brand":"Lawrence Durrell","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44413657809077,"sku":"9780140153217","price":18.7,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_5ff205d1-adc0-4b9d-aea1-7165573e1f70.jpg?v=1720538165","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/balthazar-9780140153217","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}