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drskaninchen's review against another edition
4.0
Maurice Castle is a member of the secret service during the cold war. He can best be destribed as the total opposite of James Bond. Maurice is to the roots of his hair a domestic house-husband. He wants nothing more than to be at home with his African wife Sarah and his adoptive son. Unfortunatly, Maurice is in very big trouble.
When I started the book, I found the tone of it to be cold and distant. After reading a few dozen pages, however, I had realised Graham Greene had done it again: he made me fall in love with his characters. While Graham Greene is known for his great plots, his real power as a writer the creation of great characters, who you can not but love and care for.
When I started the book, I found the tone of it to be cold and distant. After reading a few dozen pages, however, I had realised Graham Greene had done it again: he made me fall in love with his characters. While Graham Greene is known for his great plots, his real power as a writer the creation of great characters, who you can not but love and care for.
guillego's review against another edition
4.0
A good story, easy to follow, takes you under the skin of the main characters to understand their motivation, their anxiety, their hopes.
junji_ito_hoe's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
coneyboro's review against another edition
4.0
A tender tale full of moral ambiguities written in the 1970's against the background of the Cold War and the defection of spies Burgess, Philby and McLean as well as apartheid in South Africa. The lives of bureaucrat Castle, his wife Sarah and young son are threatened when it emerges that there is a leak of information within the secret service.
Nobody comes out of this well, but my sympathies are totally with Castle and his young family.
Nobody comes out of this well, but my sympathies are totally with Castle and his young family.
eriynali's review against another edition
5.0
THAT ENDING!! Graham Greene pulls no punches.
felt very connected to the story through some random coincidences:
for example:
finished Forester's Maurice and started directly on this book, where the main character's also named Maurice. On the day I finished this book I discovered composer Mauricio Kagel... What a coincidence, right?
Also, while I was reading it, on daylight savings time, it happened to be daylight savings time in the book too. Then the season changed to November and rainy, with me.
felt very connected to the story through some random coincidences:
for example:
finished Forester's Maurice and started directly on this book, where the main character's also named Maurice. On the day I finished this book I discovered composer Mauricio Kagel... What a coincidence, right?
Also, while I was reading it, on daylight savings time, it happened to be daylight savings time in the book too. Then the season changed to November and rainy, with me.
middleone95's review against another edition
5.0
This writing is absolute perfection. I know that Greene specialises in the “boring” and i’ve never been able to pinpoint what was so great about this kind of writing but this is exactly the type of prose that makes you look up from the book and think “i’ve felt exactly like that”.
essjay1's review against another edition
4.0
This book is a page turner due entirely to Greene’s engaging writing style rather than any fast paced action scenes. In contrast to the romance & thrill of Fleming’s James Bond, Greene’s spies are a much more prosaic lot, pencil pushers rather than field agents - no one is dashing about with poison darts concealed in their fountain pens. His characters speak to the loneliness and conformity required for so many in the service, and of course their families. Greenes boss was Kim Philby, so as with many of his books, there are elements of truth in the setting and processes he describes.
anarcho_zymurgist's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Despite extraordinary circumstances, the novel's plot retains a sense of authenticity, and is to my mind the best example of Greene's ability to write internal conflict. The pessimistic, almost unresolved ending caps it off beautifully.