Reviews

Doctor Fischer of Geneva or The Bomb Party by Graham Greene

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warrenl's review against another edition

3.0

This novella reads more like a sketch for a Graham Greene novel than a Graham Greene novel. All the elements are there, but nothing is fleshed out. 140 pages provide barely enough space in which to scratch at the surface of what this book might have been, had it been written by a younger Greene. At the end, so many issues seemed unresolved. What about the Oedipal nature of the relationship between Jones and Anna-Luise? Why did Greene deprive Jones of a hand? It serves only fleetingly as a means of Fischer mocking Jones, and a superfluous source of self-consciousness for Jones when under the circumstances his age and station might have been enough. These and other things are never explored, as I might typically expect of Greene. The characters are hastily pinned together. We are never drawn into the depths of the greed and motivation of the Toads in accepting the humiliations of Fischer. Every now and then a sudden phrase or paragraph that echoes Greene's former power leaps of the page, but for the most part he phones this one in, and I'm left with a great sense of unfulfilment. I had a similar feeling reading "The Human Factor", his previous novel from two years before, and it starts to strike me that as Greene slipped into great old age, his quality was declining along with his quantity. Greene at his best is beyond my inarticulate ability to praise him. But by his late seventies, whilst still active, he was offering nothing to enlarge and enhance his remarkable canon. Greene is known to be an early hero of John le Carre's, but le Carre states somewhere his disappointment that Greene ended his career with a series of "low energy novellas". I think he hit the nail bang on the head there.

fitzin's review

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mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

bobbygw's review against another edition

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4.0

While this novella - my early Avon paperback edition reaches 142 pages, while I notice some other editions are @ 120, it's clearly not a novel - is deeply moral, it is also entertaining yet also deeply poignant, and never preachy in tone or sanctimonious. Written from the embittered, disillusioned, disheartened viewpoint of Mr Jones, the man who falls deeply in love with the enigmatic, sad but wonderful Anna-Luise, the only daughter of multi-millionaire, megalomaniac and entirely monstrous Doctor Fischer (rich because of a toothpaste formula), it has an easy, graceful style (as to be expected of Greene), and the tone of a fable (on greed, and questions of integrity and submission).

The opening line immediately draws you into what you know will be a compelling tale: "I think that I used to detest Doctor Fischer more than any other man I have known just as I loved his daughter more than any other woman."

It's a joy to read, and every single one of the characters is drawn so well and succinctly; one of his last works of fiction - published in 1980, he wrote only a few more thereafter - it reminded me of something Picasso apparently said once in an interview on French TV, when he was in his eighties: the interviewer asked him to draw something - anything - but quickly, without thought. A moment later, Picasso returns the piece of paper, with a wonderful little abstract line drawing. The interviewer looks admiringly, and then asks Picasso does he feel guilty that something he drew in mere moments could sell instantly for a large sum of money. Picasso replies simply, and immediately: not at all, what looks to you like mere seconds, has taken me 80+ years to do. How true.

This is a quirky work within Greene's oeuvre, as any devoted Greene fan will tell you (reminiscent in its uniqueness among his works, as The Ordeal of Gilbert Penfold is among Evelyn Waugh's) and rewards you far in excess of the little time it takes to read. Highly recommended.

kp_sobo's review

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dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

fhcel's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

peter_fischer's review against another edition

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4.0

My PhD supervisor gave me this book on the occasion of my graduation, as my last name is Fischer. I didn’t know Greene before that but I have since read almost everything by this brilliant writer. Hard to believe Graham Greene has never won the Nobel prize for literature. Without doubt he was one of the most important novelists of the 20th century.