Esprit De Corps

Rating:
Summary: Great light comic entertainment
Review: I came across an old paperback edition of Stiff Upper Lip and Esprit de Corps--they were not what I had expected of Durrell, but I was so happy to find them. Today, both of these collections would no doubt be considered terribly politically incorrect, but I loved them. Acerbic wit, nicely drawn characters, or rather cariacatures. Perfect light entertainment a few years ago, now somewhat poignant given the conflicts and atrocities in the region during the last few years.

Rating:
Summary: Hilarious
Review: This slim volume carries nine of Durrell's brilliantly funny sketches about diplomatic life in Communist Yugoslavia. From the "Ghost Train", a terrifying socialist-inspired train ride from Belgrade to Zagreb through "Call of the Sea", a side-splitting account of a diplomatic party on a wayward raft floating down the Danube, Durrell's accounts can easily be about life in a modern day American or European embassy. The eccentric characters ring true in any age. The prose is as dryly humorous as a New Yorker cartoon. This is Durrell at his comic best.

Rating:
Summary: Hilarious
Review: This slim volume carries nine of Durrell's brilliantly funny sketches about diplomatic life in Communist Yugoslavia. From the "Ghost Train", a terrifying socialist-inspired train ride from Belgrade to Zagreb through "Call of the Sea", a side-splitting account of a diplomatic party on a wayward raft floating down the Danube, Durrell's accounts can easily be about life in a modern day American or European embassy. The eccentric characters ring true in any age. The prose is as dryly humorous as a New Yorker cartoon. This is Durrell at his comic best.