Lawrence Durrell: Bitter Lemons

Bitter Lemons is an autobiographical work by Lawrence Durrell. He lived on the island of Cyprus for 3 years, and then left as the turmoil of the mid 1950s there ramped up. In 1959 the island was granted independence from the United Kingdom. But the book isn't about the political struggle, it's about people, Greeks and Turks and Cypriots; and Durrell is a master at describing people.

"No Greek can sit still without fidgeting, tapping a foot or a pencil, jerking a knee, or making popping noises with his tongue. The Turk has a monolithic poise, an air of reptilian concentration and silence. it is with just such an air that a chameleon can sit, hour after hour, upon a shrub, staring unwinkingly at the world, living apparently in that state of suspended judgement which can be summed up in the Arabic word kayf.I have seen Sabri loading logs, shouting at peasants, even running down a street; but never has he conveyed the slightest feeling of energy being expended. His actions and words had the smoothness of inevitability; they flowed from him like honey from a spoon."

His characters are old and young, comic and tragic and in this book he's working with a cast of at least ostensibly real people. One can never know if they truly are, but they are while it's leaves are open.