Graham Greene: Our man in Havana (1962, Penguin Books)
219 pages
English language
Published Jan. 8, 1962 by Penguin Books.
With vivid, tight prose, a creative plot, memorable characters, exotic locales, and sharp dialogue, Graham Greene spins quite an “entertainment,” a classic comic noir that reads like film.
Imagine being alive as this book was released and being able to live vicariously in Havana through Greene’s words as Castro entered the city – casting out the crab lunching, daiquiri drinking, White suited, Hillman driving European wastrels in his path. No wonder it was such a success at the time.
Perhaps its longevity comes partly from how he got lucky with the zeitgeist, but surely much of it is because Too Few Novels do this sort of humour anymore. Just as too many goodreads reviewers remind one of the overly serious tweeter replying to the satirical tweet, so too many modern novels lack the witty prose evident throughout this entertainment.
Greene introduces his characters, and dispatches them, wisely – and crowns miniature bottles of whiskey at just the right moment of the game too.
I’d originally chosen five stars and left it at that - but it felt a …
Imagine being alive as this book was released and being able to live vicariously in Havana through Greene’s words as Castro entered the city – casting out the crab lunching, daiquiri drinking, White suited, Hillman driving European wastrels in his path. No wonder it was such a success at the time.
Perhaps its longevity comes partly from how he got lucky with the zeitgeist, but surely much of it is because Too Few Novels do this sort of humour anymore. Just as too many goodreads reviewers remind one of the overly serious tweeter replying to the satirical tweet, so too many modern novels lack the witty prose evident throughout this entertainment.
Greene introduces his characters, and dispatches them, wisely – and crowns miniature bottles of whiskey at just the right moment of the game too.
I’d originally chosen five stars and left it at that - but it felt a little like drawing an unknown construction and assuming everyone will see the vacuum cleaner.
For those of you more like The Chief, I hope I’ve scaled down the Drawings suitably. For those of you more like Beatrice. Be like Beatrice, Beatrice knows what’s happening.
Not too bad, a bit slapsticky at times and Wormolds antics had me chuckling at times. My main issue with the book is how vague the author was with Wormold and Beatrice's relationship, felt a bit lazy he just sorts of throws them together and you are expected to accept them.
First Graham Greene book for me and I enjoyed it, looking forward to reading more of his stuff.
Terrific story, second only to G.K. Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday in the scope and viciousness of its satire. I loved the pace and dynamism of the writing, and I really do think that it's time for a resurgence in these kinds of - as Christopher Hitchens calls them - 'whiskey novels'. Post-colonial, but still very British, stiff upper lip kinds of stories. They're right up my alley. But, my goodness, Greene was never a great comedy writer. The self-consciously 'funny' lines were just painful to read.
