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A review by katykelly
The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene
4.0
A difficult read - sin and shame, heat and corruption.
An acknowledged classic, this has sat on my shelf for nearly 20 years unread. There have always been 'easier' books, quicker ones to get through first. But I bit the bullet and finally decided I needed to get this out of the 'to read' pile.
And it was hard. Both thematically and being of its time, Scobie and his story aren't straightforward. The heat of his town comes off the page, the sweating and humidity. As do the corruption, the racism,the attitudes. All of which make it hard to read at times.
But at the heart of this is a religious man who tries to do right, who sees his wife unhappy, who is disappointed himself in a lack of promotion, and who gets caught up in his own personal hell of taking decisions that could lead to his downfall, one by one.
An ending I was shaking my head at as well, one that is just as understandable today as back then, if for different reasons. I didn't like pretty much any character, even Scobie was rather 'grey area' for me, though I admired his attempts to remain above corruption and could see the slippery path ahead of him that might make this impossible.
Not an easy book in many ways for contemporary readers, but I'm glad it's moved to my 'read' list finally.
An acknowledged classic, this has sat on my shelf for nearly 20 years unread. There have always been 'easier' books, quicker ones to get through first. But I bit the bullet and finally decided I needed to get this out of the 'to read' pile.
And it was hard. Both thematically and being of its time, Scobie and his story aren't straightforward. The heat of his town comes off the page, the sweating and humidity. As do the corruption, the racism,the attitudes. All of which make it hard to read at times.
But at the heart of this is a religious man who tries to do right, who sees his wife unhappy, who is disappointed himself in a lack of promotion, and who gets caught up in his own personal hell of taking decisions that could lead to his downfall, one by one.
An ending I was shaking my head at as well, one that is just as understandable today as back then, if for different reasons. I didn't like pretty much any character, even Scobie was rather 'grey area' for me, though I admired his attempts to remain above corruption and could see the slippery path ahead of him that might make this impossible.
Not an easy book in many ways for contemporary readers, but I'm glad it's moved to my 'read' list finally.