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let's talk about Graham Greene

PostPosted: Tue Sep 15, 2015 1:34 am
by Honk For Dracula
When we are not sure, we are alive.

sounds like us

Re: let's talk about Graham Greene

PostPosted: Tue Sep 15, 2015 1:48 am
by lockheed
yes, let's talk about the guy who wrote 30 books

Re: let's talk about Graham Greene

PostPosted: Tue Sep 15, 2015 2:02 am
by inspectorhound
cool dude

got really into him in high school for whatever reason

Re: let's talk about Graham Greene

PostPosted: Tue Sep 15, 2015 2:18 am
by lockheed
lets smoke weed on his grave

Re: let's talk about Graham Greene

PostPosted: Tue Sep 15, 2015 2:19 am
by lockheed
wouldnt that be rad, maybe as rad as The Power and the Glory

Re: let's talk about Graham Greene

PostPosted: Tue Sep 15, 2015 2:28 am
by swan
hey everyone what's your fav graham greene book?

Re: let's talk about Graham Greene

PostPosted: Tue Sep 15, 2015 6:36 am
by Hal Jordan
Brighton Rock

Re: let's talk about Graham Greene

PostPosted: Tue Sep 15, 2015 7:24 am
by Eyeball Kid
Our Man in Havana or The Quiet American

Re: let's talk about Graham Greene

PostPosted: Tue Sep 15, 2015 7:31 am
by An Indulgent Mother
You polony.

Re: let's talk about Graham Greene

PostPosted: Tue Sep 15, 2015 7:59 am
by Hal Jordan
greene is the rare author whose work i might find totally boring in parts, yet i'm still reading along because of the prose alone. The Comedians is probably the best example of it. i'd constantly think how it was a slog to get through then before i knew it i was done faster than most books i read.

Our Man in Havana and The Quiet American are both great.

thread may inspire me to finally read Travels with My Aunt

Re: let's talk about Graham Greene

PostPosted: Tue Sep 15, 2015 8:14 am
by Luke
Hal Jordan wrote:Brighton Rock

Re: let's talk about Graham Greene

PostPosted: Tue Sep 15, 2015 9:41 am
by Eyeball Kid
Hal Jordan wrote:greene is the rare author whose work i might find totally boring in parts, yet i'm still reading along because of the prose alone. The Comedians is probably the best example of it. i'd constantly think how it was a slog to get through then before i knew it i was done faster than most books i read.

I mentioned this the last time Greene was brought up here but of the approximately 10 books of his I've read, the only one I did not care for was Orient Express. This had less to do with the prose and more that too often he relied on ugly stereotypes—the scheming Jew, the vicious lesbian, etc. The novel is still not that bad if you're willing to make allowances for it being written in a less enlightened time.

Re: let's talk about Graham Greene

PostPosted: Tue May 15, 2018 10:46 pm
by big zorb
i am reading the quiet american, my first greene novel (somehow).

Re: let's talk about Graham Greene

PostPosted: Tue May 15, 2018 10:59 pm
by Eyeball Kid
This thread was from when I briefly experimented with not italicizing book titles. What a time capsule.

Re: let's talk about Graham Greene

PostPosted: Tue May 15, 2018 11:04 pm
by it’s frank
the heart of the matter
the end of the affair
the power and the glory
brighton rock
the quiet american

thats all ive read though
thinking of picking up travels with my aunt

Re: let's talk about Graham Greene

PostPosted: Tue May 15, 2018 11:04 pm
by ripersnifle
Eyeball Kid wrote:This thread was from when I briefly experimented with not italicizing book titles. What a time capsule.
i always enjoy you italicizing titles EK.

Re: let's talk about Graham Greene

PostPosted: Wed May 16, 2018 1:03 am
by vivian darko
the quiet american is cool but i prefer both the end of the affair and the power and the glory.

every criticism leveled at the end of the affair is true and it's kind of an annoying book but it just bulldozes my resistance i dunno. it's probably my favorite of his.

Re: let's talk about Graham Greene

PostPosted: Wed May 16, 2018 1:14 am
by Quixotic
i really enjoyed our man in havana

i just finished the quiet american and both liked and disliked it. the writing was great but i thought the worldview it was espousing was a bit shitty imo (but maybe i misread that?)

Re: let's talk about Graham Greene

PostPosted: Wed May 16, 2018 1:23 am
by sadville
the power and the glory is so rad

also the quiet american, the heart of the matter, the end of the affair

typical post it looks like

Re: let's talk about Graham Greene

PostPosted: Wed May 16, 2018 7:39 am
by Seamus
he's an author who wrote a lot of good books but never managed to write a great one

Re: let's talk about Graham Greene

PostPosted: Wed May 16, 2018 9:38 am
by office plant
sadville wrote:the power and the glory is so rad

also the quiet american, the heart of the matter, the end of the affair

typical post it looks like


yeah

i never read power and the glory, looks like i have to

Re: let's talk about Graham Greene

PostPosted: Wed May 16, 2018 10:25 am
by Hal Jordan
Quixotic wrote:i really enjoyed our man in havana

i just finished the quiet american and both liked and disliked it. the writing was great but i thought the worldview it was espousing was a bit shitty imo (but maybe i misread that?)

It is an allegory for the US entering vietnam. I need to reread. I picked up a notated version a few years back, might give that one a shot.

Re: let's talk about Graham Greene

PostPosted: Wed May 16, 2018 10:25 am
by Hal Jordan
This thread did inspire me to read travels with my aunt. Pretty good!

Re: let's talk about Graham Greene

PostPosted: Wed May 16, 2018 10:41 am
by wong
Sent abs Brighton Rock as part of my Secret Santa gift.

Re: let's talk about Graham Greene

PostPosted: Wed May 16, 2018 11:06 am
by jewels
his short story, "the destructors" really stuck with me. I have no idea what to make of it.

Re: let's talk about Graham Greene

PostPosted: Wed May 16, 2018 11:34 am
by sadville
it also stuck with donnie darko

Re: let's talk about Graham Greene

PostPosted: Wed May 16, 2018 11:22 pm
by Quixotic
Hal Jordan wrote:
Quixotic wrote:i really enjoyed our man in havana

i just finished the quiet american and both liked and disliked it. the writing was great but i thought the worldview it was espousing was a bit shitty imo (but maybe i misread that?)

It is an allegory for the US entering vietnam. I need to reread. I picked up a notated version a few years back, might give that one a shot.


right, and i think the metaphor could equally apply for 'naive' US intervention abroad in general, but my sense was that greene favoured the cynical, dispassionate british imperial ideology which is just as horrible. like, "we've been around the block, we know what we're doing in [country]"

Re: let's talk about Graham Greene

PostPosted: Wed May 16, 2018 11:24 pm
by vivian darko
the ending of that book has the englishman murder the american out of jealousy and rationalize it as for the greater good.Toggle Spoiler i don't think greene is on his side, though he was conservative iirc.

Re: let's talk about Graham Greene

PostPosted: Wed May 16, 2018 11:52 pm
by Quixotic
vivian darko wrote:the ending of that book has the englishman murder the american out of jealousy and rationalize it as for the greater good.Toggle Spoiler i don't think greene is on his side, though he was conservative iirc.


yeah you're right. i guess my read was that greene came off as the exact sort of person who still favoured intervention and the natural dominance of the west over the east?

Re: let's talk about Graham Greene

PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2018 3:28 am
by office plant
Quixotic wrote:
vivian darko wrote:the ending of that book has the englishman murder the american out of jealousy and rationalize it as for the greater good.Toggle Spoiler i don't think greene is on his side, though he was conservative iirc.


yeah you're right. i guess my read was that greene came off as the exact sort of person who still favoured intervention and the natural dominance of the west over the east?


maybe I have to read it again but idk how you can get this out of quiet american