The quiet American

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Graham Greene, Graham Greene: The quiet American (1978, Chivers)

304 pages

English language

Published Aug. 6, 1978 by Chivers.

ISBN:
978-0-85997-344-1
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4 stars (32 reviews)

One of Graham Greene's best works. The story is set at the time of the French war against the Viet Cong and tells the story of liberal British journalist Thomas Fowler, his mistress Phuong, and their relationship with American idealist Pyle. The latter is an earnest young man indocrinated with geo-political theory and whose attempts to shape the world to American ideals ends in his own personal tragedy and drastically alters the lives of the other two participants. Written before the US involvement in Vietnam this is a strangely prophetic work and seriously encapsulates the British viewpoint towards that conflict. A beautifully written book and highly recommended.

46 editions

Review of 'The quiet American.' on 'Import'

4 stars

Greene tells a drmatic story in one of his most famous novels, but what is particularly amazing about this book is how prescient it was. Written in the early 1950s, The Quiet American seems to predict with surprising accuracy the future of US intervention in Vietnam long before they were actively involved in the conflict there. It also carefully deals with colonialism, racial stereotyping and post-war politics while telling a tense story (in part-metaphor) of war, love and loss (albeit still occasionally a victim to the prejudices of the time when it was written).

The narrator, a journalist, is trying not to be engagé, to be a neutral observer as the war goes on around him. He constantly reminds those around him (particularly the brash American Pyle) that the people of the country that they are in are suffering, and that they have their own motivations and desires, despite …

Review of 'The quiet American.' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Rich storytelling

On the surface, Greene’s The Quiet American tells the story of Mr. Fowler’s and Mr. Pyle’s struggle to win the affection and love of Phuong—a young, beautiful Vietnamese woman. However, Greene also explores the complexities of Vietnamese politics during the First Indochina War and foreshadows much of what went wrong with the much later American intervention in the country.

Fowler is a British journalist dispatched to Vietnam to cover the First Indochina War. A natural cynic, Fowler believes that the French (and American) efforts to prop up a democratic government or anti-communist “Third Force” in Indochina is mistaken and cannot stand the test of time. Pyle is an American civilian attached to the “Economic Mission” (although he is suspected to be a CIA Asset working to establish a third force with General The) who believes in the rhetoric of nation-building, the domino theory, and perceives the Vietnamese as …

Review of 'The Quiet American' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Typical Graham Greene set in the early CIA involvement in Vietnam, during the French period.

No heroes, just more and less contemptible anti-heroes consumed with fulfilling their own needs and compulsions through and at the expense of those around them.

I shouldn't read Greene, but perhaps Kennedy and Johnson should have.

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