Graham Greene wrote two separate sorts of novels. First, his potboilers, “entertainments” I believe he called them, popular and fast-paced. Then his serious work, the novels for which he was supposed to hope to receive a Nobel.
Our Man In Havana is an entertainment, and therefore I can heartily recommend it to you. For some reason serious fiction must always be desperately bleak, and no one took that adage more seriously than Greene. Lord Almighty his serious stuff is depressing. Great writing, sure, but I think I would have to say I am done with them.
This book is deft, sure, and swift; fun, yes, but with a snarling edge of danger for the characters. Greene does not treat his characters with kid gloves. The hero, Wormold, is as typically befuddled and feckless as a usual Greene hero, but turns that to cunning. His sweet innocent daughter knows far more about life than he, his secretary is blatantly smarter, but his enemies have no idea how to take him, and he uses that fact to great effect.
The story is set in Cuba, and one could take a master class from Greene on how to filter in just enough background detail, just enough characterization, just enough atmosphere. I can’t say it’s believable, but like much great comedy, it’s not supposed to be. Very dry humor, with a sharp edge. Not for everyone, and I didn’t at all care for the casual racism evident here and there, but even the ending was well worked out.
Happy Reading, Happy Writing,
P M F Johnson
Call of the Labyrinth, the next novel in my fantasy series, Saga of Sinnesemota, follows Rev and his fiancée Stara as they brave a deadly jungle to hunt the Labyrinth, a magical Artifact that may help reestablish an empire of peace in a world at war. You can find it, as well as Disk of Dragons and Trollen Rose, the first two novels in the series, on Amazon. See if you like them.
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