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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
Edit: Raised my rating to five stars because three days later I'm still so sad and can't stop thinking about it.
If your spy novel doesn't feature lonely and anxious awkward middle-aged men is it even a spy novel? Probably not.
From the very beginning this story went places I didn't expect (had no idea racism and the apartheid - and the fear of it -was going to be such a huge factor in the narrative) and the I found the ending profoundly affecting.
If your spy novel doesn't feature lonely and anxious awkward middle-aged men is it even a spy novel? Probably not.
From the very beginning this story went places I didn't expect (had no idea racism and the apartheid - and the fear of it -was going to be such a huge factor in the narrative) and the I found the ending profoundly affecting.
Spoiler
Not sure why a lonely, anxious, ambiguous book with a lonely, anxious, ambiguous ending left me so sad and shook.
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
tense
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
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.
A good story, easy to follow, takes you under the skin of the main characters to understand their motivation, their anxiety, their hopes.
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
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.
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.