I remember watching this movie on tv as a kid. From my mind, it was Obi Wan Kenobi walking around Cuba and just talking to people. I didn’t like it. Thirty years later, I really liked the book. This one of Graham Greene’s “Entertainments” which are usually crime novels or spy novels. This one is more or less a spy novel, or more specifically it wasn’t supposed to be a spy novel until it became one. Wormold is a vacuum cleaner salesman in Cuba before […]
If I’m a bitch and a fake, is there nobody who will love a bitch and a fake?
What a lovely book. A woman named Sarah (seemingly!) abruptly ends her affair with a writer named Bendrix. Bendrix bumps into Sarah’s distraught husband some time later, who reveals that Sarah seems to be having an affair. Jealous that she might have a new lover, Bendrix takes it upon himself to hire a private investigator “for Henry.” The investigator gets his hands on Sarah’s journal and Bendrix discovers what’s really gone on. This book was of particular interest to me because of my great grandmother. […]
Not quite burnt out on Graham Greene…but he’s on notice.
Back in 2010, I took a Joseph Conrad/Graham Greene seminar as part of my MA degree. I quickly learned to love both authors, but especially Greene’s craft. My personal favorites are Brighton Rock and The End of the Affair (I still don’t get the looooooove for The Power and the Glory. Someone explain to me, plz?). A Burnt-Out Case was on our list, but as it turns out, our semester turned out to be shorter than our reading list (and we read a book a […]
You made me fall for you, heart and soul
Starting off the year with a consideration of love, hate, jealousy, faith, and disbelief. What’s more, Colin Firth did the audiobook, which was lovely! I’ve read two other Greenes – Heart of the Matter and The Quiet American – both of which were excellent. This was also excellent…but I’m sorry to say, it wore thin by the end. (Spoilers ahead.) Maurice Bendrix had an affair with Sarah Miles, who is married to Henry. After Sarah abruptly ends their affair, Bendrix is consumed by hatred, love, jealousy, etc–and this […]
Religion Is Hard to Kill
This was another MFA required read, and sadly, I wasn’t really impressed by it. I’ve noticed a trend in books of this time period (Graham Greene was writing in the 20s, 30s, and early 40s) disappointing me, and I have a feeling it’s partially because I don’t understand the social temperature of that time, nor the social issues being tackled in books of that era. So this low star-rating is quite possibly not the book’s fault. I know several people, (including my professor, who did […]
The Actually-Very-Loud American
I took a graduate seminar in Graham Greene when I was getting my MA, and so I’ve read a LOT of Graham Greene. My project for that class was examining Greene’s relationship with film and cinema. One of the books I was interested in reading (but ultimately lacked the time to explore) was The Quiet American, which was made into a film in the mid-to-late 1990s. I finally got around to reading it, thanks to an audiobook request I put in through my library. Thomas […]