OBOC - Cyprus

Between Greece and Turkey I thought I will have Cyprus covered, but chanced on this book at the library and decided to "recognize" Cyprus as a sovereign nation that it is for OBOC :) Lawrence Durrell's travel narrative "Bitter Lemons" is a detailed account of his time spent in Cyprus between 1953 and 1956.

What starts off as a comical narrative documenting Durrell's experiences trying to settle down in Cyprus, finding a quite place and start writing, soon becomes serious as political tensions slowly escalate culminating in violence and forcing Durrell to leave Cyprus.

This is the time in history when the country went through "Enosis" (i.e joining Greece) and he resistance group EOKA was formed. When Durrell accepted a job as Press Advisor he witnessed how unprepared the colonial government was to deal with the changes. Violence is met with violence and there are some lessons here that apply for those governments that are trying to win hearts and minds on the one hand and dealing with "terrorists" or "resistance movements" on the other.

Unfortunately for Durrell things get to a point where he is forced to leave the island without even saying goodbye to his friends. The feelings that Cypriots have for the British is mixed and is best summarized by the taxi driver who drives Durrell to the airport. "Dighenis though he fights the British, really loves them. But he will have to go on killing them -- with regret, even with affection"


Although the first half of the book deals with the relationship between the Turkish minority and the Greek majority, there is not much discussion about the Turks and their feelings about enosis. Of course as we look back we now know that Enosis was abandoned and a complicated power sharing arrangement was worked out as Cyprus became an independent nation. Durrell of course had to leave much before that.

Despite the historical background and the humor, this book did not appeal to me as much as I hoped it would. So it was a difficult read for me and I am glad to be finally done with it and move to the other D's.