 FACETS OF A MAN, 2003-03-31
This is the first ever book i have read by greene, i must admit that in the past i thought his writing would be much in the vain of ian fleming or tom clancy, you know what i mean espionage, spies, martinis, mysterious european ladies and dodgy russian agents popping up everywhere.
but i must admit for such a cold writer he is rather superb in the way he utilises the scenery in the book, for me it appeared as though the only valid character in the book was fowler and all of the events and people around him appeared as aspects of himself reflected in dim green mirrors. phuong, pyle, The', dominguez and the french journalists.
i can understand how this may sound odd but fowler seemed quite pathetic in his attempts at playing daddy to the childishly destructive pyle, the drivelling monologue that runs through the book as fowler somehow excorcises his contempt of his european, american and asian counterparts seem almost as impotent rants. the ranting of fowler almost seems like a misplaced rage toward some real person, i felt that the scorn fowler holds for others was too clearly expressed for it not to have been fictional, and clearly the expression of a very disgruntled writer expressing some kind of childish gloat on real persons veiled in fiction.
of course greene the realist refuses to acknowledge this and opens the book with a note clearing up any reference to personal demons or reality and claims the work as an evenings read.
i enjoyed it thoroughly and as easy as it is to read it as a political diatribe condemning american aggression one must remember that it is only fiction and the concerns of greene were probably a little more veiled then the obvious united states bashing that people think of when "the quiet american" is mentioned.
Incredibly prescient, 2003-10-07
Greene's Quiet American is a naive young man who believes in his own inherent goodness and his country's innocence; after all, unlike the French the USA isn't a colonialist power, is it?So he sets about helping the Vietnamese find a third way between French colonialism and communism. It takes the already jaded Fowler to see that such idealism is not only misplaced, but cannot possibly coexist with the notion that the ends will justify the means. Writing in the 1950s, as France struggled to hold Indo-China (or leave with dignity) Greene's is a contemporary story. Yet it reads as if the author's already been through the Vietnam War and witnessed the Quiet American's greatest folly.
Classic Greene novel reissued as film-tie-in..., 2002-11-24
This is an edition of Graham Greene's classic 1955 novel released to coincide with the cinematic release of The Quiet American- that has been sitting on the Hollywood back-burner due to 9/11 (director Phillip Noyce has released a subsequent film since, Rabbit Proof Fence). Hopefully the film will be a success and lead people back to the source text and banish the mess of the late 1950's version by Joseph Mankiewicz. This is a short, concise novel that contains many classic elements of 'Greeneland'- a 1st person narrator in exile (this time Indo-China), extra-marriage affairs, Catholicism- how we can live with a morality beneath God etc. This book predicts the Vietnam War, the 'Third Force' here sounding not unlike American Foreign Policy of late/of tomorrow- all wonderfully delivered in a haze of opium and regret... The Quiet American is a classic novel that deserves to be read and re-read by many; one of the greatest works of the 20th century and the novel that I felt Brighton Rock should have been!
 A curtain raiser to American involvement in Vietnam, 2008-12-04
How ironical that one of the characters in Graham Greene's tale of turmoil in post-war Indo-China should state that the old colonial powers of England and France `couldn't expect to win the confidence of the Asiatics. That was where America came in with clean hands'. Twenty years later they (the Americans) certainly did not leave with clean hands. In fact, they were already becoming embroiled in Vietnam at this early stage while the French were floundering and blundering.
The quiet American of the title is Alden Pyle, a young idealist who has come to Indo-China with the intent of promoting Democracy via an undefined `Third Force' using whatever means are available to him. He is already dead at the start of the novel. His story is told by Fowler, a cynical, world-weary English journalist who is intrigued by the ideals and motives of Pyle but their relationship is complicated by love for the same girl.
This is typical Graham Greene, related at a languid tropical pace. He manages superbly to convey the paradoxical allure of a country racked by violence and confusion yet at the same time intoxicatingly warm and human. I personally find Greene's novels a bit patchy but this may be one of his better works.
Greene- the Realist., 2002-09-12
As a fan of Greene I couldn't wait to pick this book up. I often find this leads to disappointment, but not in this case.
This book embodies Greene's theme of man's blindness, his stumbling through life rather strolling down a chosen path. Fowler, the Foreign correspondent, who wallows through life and the American, Pyle, who is led by his naive allegance to democracy. Pyle's determination to spread the gospel of democracy to Indo-Chine bombards the ordinary Fowler with the extraordinary. In fact this highlights the true realism of Greene's writing and message of the novel: what does a Vietnamese peasant care of politics? His daily struggle is for a bowl of rice whether democratic or communist.
The colonial setting of Indo-Chine is potrayed with ease by Greene, not to mention the imagery.
All in all, this a spectacular read bringing home the absurdity, harshness and reality of the troubles in Vietnam.
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