The Third Man and Other Stories

by Graham Greene

Graham Greene was one of the greatest story-tellers of the twentieth century. This anthology contains the novella The Third Man, on which Carol Reed's chilling film starring Orson Wells was based, as well as the story The Fallen Idol which Reed also filmed. Greene's often bleak view of humanity is leavened by the somewhat camp May We Borrow Your Husband? with its hilarious ending, the tragic-comic A Shocking Accident and ten more stories that illustrate the author's mastery of the short story. They are: Beauty, Chagrin in Three Parts, The Over-night Bag, Mortmain, Cheap in August, The Invisible Japanese Gentlemen, Awful When You Think of It, Doctor Crombie, The Root of All Evil and Two Gentle People.With an Introduction by Professor Richard Greene.

Genres: Short Stories, Thriller, Classics, Fiction

344 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2011

About the author

Henry Graham Greene was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading novelists of the 20th century.
Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquired a reputation early in his lifetime as a major writer, both of serious Catholic novels, and of thrillers (or "entertainments" as he termed them). He was shortlisted for the Nobel Prize in Literature several times. Through 67 years of writing, which included over 25 novels, he explored the conflicting moral and political issues of the modern world. The Power and the Glory won the 1941 Hawthornden Prize and The Heart of the Matter won the 1948 James Tait Black Memorial Prize and was shortlisted for the Best of the James Tait Black. Greene was awarded the 1968 Shakespeare Prize and the 1981 Jerusalem Prize. Several of his stories have been filmed, some more than once, and he collaborated with filmmaker Carol Reed on The Fallen Idol (1948) and The Third Man (1949).
He converted to Catholicism in 1926 after meeting his future wife, Vivienne Dayrell-Browning. Later in life he took to calling himself a "Catholic agnostic". He died in 1991, aged 86, of leukemia, and was buried in Corseaux cemetery in Switzerland. William Golding called Greene "the ultimate chronicler of twentieth-century man's consciousness and anxiety".

Reviews

[Georgia Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

My sister, when little, saw a gold tooth on a man and wanted to have one herself. Luckily for her, a dentist talked her out of it once she grew up. On a swarthy man with buccaneer looks, perhaps. But on a 5 foot 2 inch kid with ballerina dreams, not quite. Gold edging on the pages of this book struck me as being as out of place until I started to read.

These stories are gold. The range is vast. From gold dust to gold bars, the lightest and heaviest deserve gilding. The Victorians used gold to preserve their books' pages. Mine will need all the help they can get. I expect to turn these pages over again and again for years to come as I read these to myself and aloud to others.

Is the heaviest cross to bear knowledge? Reading these stories makes me think it is. I still feel the weight on my shoulders and ache from the pain and sometimes laughter.

[Diane Challenor · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Third Man and Other Stories is on my List of Betterment (refer to The Year of Reading Dangerously: How Fifty Great Books (and Two Not-So-Great Ones) Saved My Life for an explanation of what sort of books one puts on their List of Betterment - or my blog post written relating to the same subject, some time ago http://artuccino.com/index.php/my-lis...). It is also part of my special collection of the Macmillan Collector's Library. Why do I rattle on with a couple of things that don't seem to be important? Well, ... this book is part of a list that I struggle with, because my motto is "anything worthwhile is difficult". The struggle sometimes, is a mental block I have, of any book that is famous and/or a classic. When I read a book on my list of betterment, I feel like I've given myself access to a piece of writing that has held the attention of many readers for a very very long period of time. I want to know why that is so. You may notice I've given this book three stars, and that isn't because it isn't an excellent book, it is just that those stars on GoodReads mean the following: one star equals "did not like it"; two stars equals "it was OK"; three stars equals "liked it"; four stars equals "really liked it". So my three stars means I "liked it". It doesn't mean it was a three star book in terms of the "canon", or in terms of a "classic". I liked the book!

The book is made up of several stories, all good, filled with the unexpected. The famous of all the stories is "The Third Man", which includes and introduction by the author, Graham Greene, himself; plus a biography. I found both the introduction and the biography helpful.

The stories, all of them, are filled with unexpected surprises. I didn't know where my reading adventure was going to lead me, and I certainly didn't know that each story within the book would leave me with the feeling: wow! It may have been a three star "wow", but I'm so pleased I read this book. Another notch on my belt of betterment.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

“There are always so many things one doesn’t know about a person, even a person one loves - good things, bad things. We have to leave plenty of room for them.” p100

I have been keen to read The Third Man by Graham Greene. I’m not actually sure why to be honest. And the book I managed to get my hands on had a number of short stories with it, which was a real bonus!

The Third Man as the first of the short stories in this volume is kind of like a novella of sorts - a rocking good murder mystery set in post WW2 Vienna. On my way to Vienna currently so was keen to get a feel for something based in a city with so much history, and so many stories to tell. Centred around Rollo Martins and Harry Lime, this is a murder mystery with a sting. I loved it. The quote at the beginning of this narrative review stood out to me. It probably sums up the mysteries of this story and is probably a Freudian slip - which is apt considering it’s set in Vienna.

Among the other stories there were a few standouts for me:

“May we borrow your husband?” - very insightful, a touch of humour, melancholy, intrigue with an underlying theme reminiscent of Giovanni’s Room. Loved it.

“Mortmain” - echoes of “Fatal Attraction” and a little Hitchcock-esque imo. What do you do when your ex won’t stop leaving notes everywhere and helping you and your need partner get to know each other?

“A shocking accident” - this one actually made me laugh in all the right places. I wasn’t expecting to wonder what happened to the pig in any of these stories.

“Two gentle people” - poignant and reflective. “I was thinking that things might have been different” p304… say no more.

“The fallen idol” - I actually found this one quite shocking in so many ways. Riveting and not how I actually wanted it to end but who am I?

A great selection of stories. I reckon 4.5 stars, probably rounded down to 4.

[Rachelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've loved so many Graham Greene novels, and I really enjoyed absorbing him for the first time in short stories. Many people, including the author himself, seemed to think that The Third Man wasn't really up to his standards, since he wrote it out in novella form only to wring the screenplay out of it. But then you read passages like this, and realize that anyone who would create them, knowing full well that they'd be lost by the end product, sings eloquently in the written word: "It was very cold and I got up to close the window curtains. I only noticed my hand was on hers when I took it away. As I stood up I looked down at her face and she was looking up. It wasn't a beautiful face – that was the trouble. It was a face to live with, day in, day out. A face for wear. I felt as though I'd come into a new country where I couldn't speak the language. I had always thought it was beauty one loved in a woman. I stood there at the curtains, waiting to pull them, looking out. I couldn't see anything but my own face, looking back into the room, looking for her."

[Alastair Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collection of short stories, some funny others heartbreakingly sad, the two longer pieces are the Third Man and the Fallen Idol, both of which I struggled slightly with in passages. They didn't have the focus you'd expect from a longer work.

May we borrow your husband has been described as hilarious but really it's a sad tale about unrequited love in every form, Beauty was quite strange story about a dog going to find food, Chagrin in Three Parts was an overheard conversation between two people falling in love.

Overnight Bag was quite distressing about someone travelling with something in his luggage he shouldn't have, Mortmain I found really interesting, it's a recently married couple plagued by the grooms ex in the form of letters. Cheap in August is a story about loneliness and the need for company, A Shocking Accident is a funny story about how someone finds the true love of his life.

Invisible Japanese Gentleman is a debate between a couple about how they will spend their lives, Awful When you think about it is a story of self reflection and introspection, Dr Crombie is a funny little story about questionable medical advice,

The Root of all Evil is a funny story about how secrets can spiral out of control and the final short story is Two Gentle People who are both in unhappy marriages but spend an evening together and think of what could have been if they were happy

Thoroughly enjoyed the collection and would recommend wholeheartedly,

[John Hatley · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The Third Man" is an superb classic thriller. Until I'd read the introduction to this volume I didn't realise it had such an interesting history. Originally planned as a film manuscript, Graham Greene published it as a novella before it became a Hollywood film. Both the film and the book, though slightly different in a few details, were successful and - for good reason - are still popular today.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

My second time reading The Third Man after having read it at first a number of years ago. Even better the second time around. My first time with these stories though which were so satisfying and delightful. I believe that he's my favourite writer of all time and I've got a lot that I really like. Looking forward to re-reading The Human Factor very soon.

[Celeste · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gave this 4 stars not 5 because it is really just written as a background for the movie, and you can tell.

[David Krajicek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even in its sketched form, The Third Man is a fascinating bit of literary archeology from one of the best examples of mid-century filmmaking. I can almost hear the zither in between the lines.

[Amálie Rút Tesařová · Rating 5 out of 5]

vynalézavé vtipné a tak nějak prostě kvalitní vypravěčství, byla to jízda a bylo to skvělý!

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

In my ignorance, I hadn’t heard of Graham Greene before I read this book. And well, oh well—Greene is a pretty good writer. This is a collection of his shorter stories, including one longer one, The Third Man. I think I loved most of them.

The Third Man is a little bit of a detective story, set in divided Vienna at the beginning of the Cold War. Tensions from World War II are still high, but the Russians are already starting to cause problems. In this setting, we follow the story of Rollo Martins. It is disguised as a tale about murder and racketeering, but, as with his other stories, it is mostly about love, friendship, and all those complex and complicated personal relationships.

You can see this line of thought continue in Can We Borrow Your Husband?, where a couple of bored gay men try to seduce a lovely new husband, leaving an aging writer to console the newlywed. I’m really impressed by how easily Greene can put all these complex emotions on paper and explain to the reader what is actually going on in the minds of confused lovers.

There are more stories in the collection, all equally good and extremely refreshing to read. I’m not really a fan of short stories, but this one really deserves a good rating.

[Nick Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Third Man, probably the only reason anyone would buy this book in the first place, is a fairly typical crime drama. All of the other tales in this collection are ugly, hateful short stories full of petty, selfish people. I honestly don't understand why Greene was such a popular writer if this is the sort of thing he was producing.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not one of my GG faves, the short stories at the end were good

[Geriann Albers · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Lisa Hope · Rating 5 out of 5]

What I have to say is about “other stories,” since I have reviewed The Third Man and The Fallen Idol before. The stories were part of a 1960s collection titled May We Borrow Your Husband, which is one of the stories in the collection. Several of the stories are narrated by a writer who takes on the role of disinterested observer, though he is quite interested in the foibles of married couples. They are mostly bittersweet and funny in an awful way. A few are of the stories are what Graham called bad jokes. They are nebulous, even weird. For instance, the man who is carrying a dead baby from France to England in a carryon bag. It’s never at all clear why or who the baby is.

While not up to Graham’s usual brilliance the stories are as a whole are observantly wry.

[Lysergius · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marvellous tales. The evocation of post war Vienna in "The Third Man" takes the biscuit.