The Heart of the Matter

A dark book with a tragic end, but nevertheless a good read. The topics that the book tackles are quite dark as well. The central theme is how the central character is trapped in his fate and that is presented very convincingly. The book is set in colonial Africa and that situation is clearly and atmospherically described. There is a hint of 'the white man's burden' with the repeated description of the primitive conditions the colonial civil servants were living in and the book is very centred on their lives, with the locals people barely getting a mention. What is interesting in a modern perspective is that Greene very clearly both discusses racial prejudice in individuals and describes the institutional racism of the colonial system showing that even individuals who are not prejudiced in the beginning are trapped in the system and can end up taking on board its attitudes.

It's been a good long while since I've achieved such perfect sympathy for a character as I have with Scobie - so much so that I almost completely lost my capacity for joy for three days. I worry what it says about my interior life that I believe it to be impossible for me to so thoroughly connect with a novel in which levity and happiness is a likely outcome. It must be time for a comic palate cleanser or two.

Graham Greene. Damn.

This book is great from the core and up. The structure is marvellous, the writing is, stylistically, by a master, and I didn't want to miss a paragraph. It's a horrid tale of rôles, love, hierarchies (including God), friendship and treachery. I loved it.

This book is great from the core and up. The structure is marvellous, the writing is, stylistically, by a master, and I didn't want to miss a paragraph. It's a horrid tale of rôles, love, hierarchies (including God), friendship and treachery. I loved it.

What could have been a great novel. Unfortunately the catholic themes overtook it in the end.