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3.25 AVERAGE
3.25 AVERAGE
medium-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
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is the first book by an author I revere, so I was anxious to read it. It was not what I expected, although Greene's exquisite craftsmanship is all there. (Greene attempted to revise the book for a later edition, but he failed and so gave it up.) The main character is an anti-hero, Andrews, who self-admittedly doesn't have what it takes to be a hero. The antagonist is his friend who is trying to kill him for a betrayal. It is almost as if Greene set out to turn conventional fiction on it's ear, and perhaps he was. There is a simplicity to the triumvirate of characters and certain plot points that betray the first novel status, but all the themes he will later develop are here: struggling with God, bonding to others, the power of landscape, what is self, and a relationship with death. Andrews was hard for me to take. He was such a wimp with the hope of redemption determinedly thrust away by him. Most of the book consists of his inner dialogs and debates. One of the three characters, Elizabeth, I found the most fascinating but Greene doesn't dive into her so she is seen only as a foil for Andrews. The ending was not what I expected. It seemed almost lifted from The Tale of Two Cities. I admittedly don't understand the last page and I'm not sure I like it. I'll be pondering this for a while, which I often do with Greene.
A 3.5, rounded down for the sense that its conclusion was exciting but unearned. There's a lot that Greene is doing to foreshadow his future themes but it could lose 50 pages and not lose much. Pleasant, if rambly.
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What to expect with The Man Within:
- trademark Greene irony (not at the level of Tenth Man, but still)
- a predominantly character-driven narrative that sparks your interest with sporadic sudden plot points
- trace the motifs of names and sleep/rest
Greene's prose is written to be read aloud, as you are wrapped in blankets and sat with a cup of tea. As your breath pushes along the steam rising from your mug. As you pause at his phrasing to stare contemplative out a window.
- trademark Greene irony (not at the level of Tenth Man, but still)
- a predominantly character-driven narrative that sparks your interest with sporadic sudden plot points
- trace the motifs of names and sleep/rest
Greene's prose is written to be read aloud, as you are wrapped in blankets and sat with a cup of tea. As your breath pushes along the steam rising from your mug. As you pause at his phrasing to stare contemplative out a window.
Greene’s first novel shows the promise that would be fulfilled later in his career, but is not in the top tier of his work. It feels very much like an early Daphne du Maurier novel (even though she was writing a couple years after this). In fact, the basic plot and setting (an historical novel of smugglers) reminded me a little of [b:Jamaica Inn|18869967|Jamaica Inn|Daphne du Maurier|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1386605082s/18869967.jpg|430524]. Greene relies more on psychological tension than a gothic atmospheric setting, and although the book moves at a brisk pace, he’s not quite as successful in pulling off the brooding aspect, relying much more on sentiment than Du Maurier’s work.
My biggest complaint is that so much of the novel is dialogue: discussions between Andrews and Elizabeth in the first and last sections, with a lengthy trial scene in the middle. Although the novel doesn’t really drag until the end -- Greene draws out the final meeting between Andrews and Elizabeth for a little too long -- it’s not exactly a striking or memorable novel. The psychological examinations of twinned selves and absent father figures aren’t really new or revelatory, but I admire the effort, as Greene’s themes, diction, and pacing look ahead to some of his later greater works.
Worth reading for fans of Greene, or perhaps fans of brooding, gothic-y British historical fiction, but only after you’ve read Du Maurier first.
My biggest complaint is that so much of the novel is dialogue: discussions between Andrews and Elizabeth in the first and last sections, with a lengthy trial scene in the middle. Although the novel doesn’t really drag until the end -- Greene draws out the final meeting between Andrews and Elizabeth for a little too long -- it’s not exactly a striking or memorable novel. The psychological examinations of twinned selves and absent father figures aren’t really new or revelatory, but I admire the effort, as Greene’s themes, diction, and pacing look ahead to some of his later greater works.
Worth reading for fans of Greene, or perhaps fans of brooding, gothic-y British historical fiction, but only after you’ve read Du Maurier first.
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-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
Kind of reassuring for those of us with weekly aspirations to know that even the well-respected Greene was a bit crap when he first started. Also exhibits a quite remarkable degree of revulsion of women, in the classic "Damned whores and god's police" mode.
I had a notion I was going to read all of Greene's novels, in order. They better improve quick, our I'm never going to make it.
I had a notion I was going to read all of Greene's novels, in order. They better improve quick, our I'm never going to make it.