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Our Man in Havana
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Our Man in Havana, by Graham Greene
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As a parent who saw three daughters through adolescence (and the experiences of those years weren't always pleasant), I can relate to Wormold's feelings of inadequacy, frustrated uncertainty about what to do, and bemused alienation. Of course, the specific circumstances are different, as they would be for every family. But some of the general challenges and dynamics are universal, and they're hard enough to handle with the support and help of a loving wife. It would be exponentially more difficult for a single dad; so he has my fullest sympathy!
Has anyone else gotten a start on this book yet?
I am still traveling. I am starting the book on Tuesday. Sorry for the delay.
I will be starting the book sometime next week, probably around Wednesday.
Oksana and Rosemarie, that sounds good! No need for anyone to apologize; part of the reason these common reads are scheduled for a whole calendar month is in recognition of the fact that not everybody's going to be able to start right at the first day of the month. The schedule allows for everybody to start when they can, and still hopefully be finished by the end of the month. (And the chances of that are better with a short book like this than they'd be with a chunkster --although if some people don't finish by Aug. 31, that's no big deal either, since this thread will still remain open.)
Werner wrote: "Has anyone else gotten a start on this book yet?"I'm about halfway done, and enjoying it a lot. It's a pretty quick read, as well as being a rather short book.
Yes, it's shaping up to be a quick read for me, too. I'll be out of town and offline from Aug. 10-13, for a visit to my wife's family; but I expect to finish it soon after we return.
I just started reading the book. What a pleasure! The second chapter reminded me that when I was five, I informed my mother that I made arrangement to get a horse as my birthday present. We lived in an apartment in a high-riser. My room had a little balcony, and that was where I planned to keep my horse.Werner, I agree with you and sympathize with the main character.
Oksana, I have a feeling that was one planned present that you didn't get, after all. :-)We're not going out of town after all, so I'll expect to finish the book very soon.
I just read chapter 2 as well. The teenage daughter is a manipulative spender of her father's not so plentiful money. And a religious hypocrite into the bargain.
Rosemarie wrote: "I just read chapter 2 as well. The teenage daughter is a manipulative spender of her father's not so plentiful money. And a religious hypocrite into the bargain."Milly is all of manipulative, materialistic, self-centered and irresponsible with her father's limited money. But I'm not sure that Greene sees her religious beliefs as conscious hypocrisy. I think he might view the psychology involved as more complicated than that.
I have read about half the book now. Parts of it are funny, but in other sections the author seems to be trying too hard to create humor. I do like the fact that Greene shows us the serious happenings as well as the humour. The deserted streets of Santiago are due to the fear of the inhabitants.The daughter is friends with Captain Segura and is aware that he causes people to be beaten and tortured, but uses him for her own personal gain. Maybe she will see the error of her ways--I really hope so for her sake. She is at the age where she can become corrupted easily if she is not careful.
Rosemarie, I have to agree with your assessment that in places Greene is "trying too hard to create humor."
I finished the book this evening. The suspense picked up in the second half but there were some sad bits. It was an enjoyable read overall.
I finished the book on Friday. If anyone's interested, my three-star review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .
I am half way through the book, and I just cannot get into it. It is my first spy novel, and I was looking forward to try a new genre.
I just finished the book a few days ago, and I am still forming my opinion of it.A few thoughts, which I'll deliver in different comments.
COMMENT 1:
Milly at first is a little worrisome (the fact that she sets a classmate on fire seems at least as bad as her manipulation of her father), but eventually I think she is just a self-absorbed, narcissistic teenager girl--qualities many teenage girls share. We can tell she's come around at the end when she begins to approve of her father and Beatrice a s a couple. Her attitude towar her Catholic religion and prayer has more to do with Greenes views of his own fellow Catholics--folks that see their adherence to the letter of the law more important than the love that should give it form and motivation.
COMMENT 2:One theme of the novel is Greene's idea that love rather that law or institutions should be the basis of our moral judgments. We know Milly is okay when she values her father's happiness above the dictates of Catholic marriage law, and we know that Beatrice and Wormold transcend the value system of MI6 when they champion the lives of individual people more than the stuffy--and often harmful--structures of the goood old boy's network of the secret service. Indeed, Wormold himself is shown as being more admirable because he seeks to kill Carter, not because his secret service duties require it, but because he wishes to pay a debt to a murdered friend. The personal is more important than the political and the organization. Love and friendship are the values which are important.
COMMENT 3:I have to say that I really liked the funny parts, particularly the incredibly long scenes first at the Shanghai and then later when Wormold gets caught up in arguing with Professor Sanchez and Sanchez's jealous mistress. I especially like it because here Wormold, who has created a whole spy ring in his imagination, cannot seem to get a simple idea across in the course of a simple conversation. to one of the agents he has supposedly created.
COMMENT 4:I also really like the theme of Wormold as a writer of fiction, and how his romantic ideas of who spies might be and how they might act becomes frightfully real, a fiction he can no longer control and which puts both himself and the two women he loves in peril.
Bill, I enjoy reading your comments. They pointed out some details that I forgot.
I just love the quirkiness of this book and the plot. It is my second time reading it, and the first time I really did not understand what was happening the way the agent recruited Wormold. I laughed out loud about the drawing of the "secret installations". The quality of the writing is superb.
Wow, it's taken me a long time to get back to this thread! Sorry I've been sidetracked until now. I agree with a number of the comments that have already been made above. My review sounds predominately negative, but the three-star rating is a positive one; it's just that some of the aspects I liked are difficult to go into without including spoilers. (Although since the cat is now out of the bag here on some of them, I can discuss them more fully on this thread. :-) )Oksana wrote: "It is my first spy novel, and I was looking forward to try a new genre." Oksana, I'd say that this book is probably not a good choice for a genuinely representative introduction to the norm of the espionage genre. The more typical mainstream strand of the genre would be represented by novels like Alias Uncle Hugo by Manning Coles, The Secret Ways by Alistair MacLean, or even A Handful Of Dominoes by James Leonard Johnson. All of those take the espionage and the underlying conflict seriously.
Bill, I think your analysis of the messages Greene wants to convey here is correct. Milly is self-absorbed and narcissistic, but I agree that she does grow by the end of the book. Bill wrote: "The personal is more important than the political and the organization. Love and friendship are the values which are important." That does, IMO, sum up Greene's central theme; and Wormold's moral reasoning both in wanting to shoot Carter in the first place and later in being willing to spare him is a good illustration of it. And since I personally understand the Biblical view of divorce and remarriage to be less absolutist and more nuanced than traditional Roman Catholic canon law assumes it to be, I was sympathetic to Wormold and Beatrice getting engaged, and wished them well.
At the same time, I didn't condone everything Wormold did, and I think it's important to realize that ethics is more than a matter of "do whatever makes you feel good at the time, or whatever makes a family member or friend feel good at the time." (Love, of course, is the touchstone of ethical obligation; but love means giving others what they need for their best interests, not necessarily what they think they want.) Getting money under false pretenses isn't okay just because you're conning an organization rather than an individual; and the elaborate charade that Wormold constructs and the lies he tells actually wind up hurting individual people. There's a reason why traditional ethics regards truthfulness as a virtue.
Carol, I agree about the general quality of the writing. In my experience with Greene's fiction, he tends to be an author who keeps you reading steadily, because you're invested in the story.
I did not take the book seriously; to me it was just a spoof. But a very good one. I agree this is not a book to read for a first spy novel; in fact, to me, it was not even in that genre. In fact, I do not think it fits any genres. Greene's mind is on a totally different level.
Werner, thank you for the recommendations. I was also sidetracked with ER trips and being sick, but I finally finished the book today. I agree with the comments on the main leitmotif of the novel: that love and family stands above anything else. What I enjoyed most in the novel was the way the author developed his characters. I thought the portrayal of Milly maturing into an independent thoughtful woman was superb.
Glad you're feeling better now, Oksana!
Well, we've had an enjoyable discussion of this book. Thanks to everyone who commented, and/or participated in the read! (Of course, as always, this thread will remain open.) We'll look forward to sharing together in our group's next annual read.
I enjoyed the reading experience. I enjoy reading other readers comments and points of view. It helps me notice aspects of the book I may have overlooked.
Rosemarie wrote: "I enjoyed the reading experience. I enjoy reading other readers comments and points of view. It helps me notice aspects of the book I may have overlooked."My feelings exactly, Rosemarie!
It was a pleasure. See you next summer!
Oksana wrote: "It was a pleasure. See you next summer!"Of course, we hope to have some active discussion(s) on our other threads in the meantime! :-)
Fans of British Writers
Books mentioned in this topic
Alias Uncle Hugo (other topics)The Secret Ways (other topics)
A Handful of Dominoes (other topics)
The Collected Short Stories of Louis L'Amour, Volume 2: The Frontier Stories (other topics)
Greene (1904-1991) was a major 20th-century British novelist and short story writer, appreciated during most of his lifetime by both critics and the reading public. As a young man, he was a member of the Communist Party for a time, but converted to Roman Catholicism in his 20s. During World War II, he served his country as a spy for M16, the famous British intelligence agency (he was recruited by his sister, also a spy). His experiences in espionage provided grist for some of his later novels, including this one, set in Cuba on the cusp of Castro's take-over.