I just finished reading Graham Greene’s “The Heart of the Matter”, which, according to the blurb on the back, is “widely considered one of his finest novels.”
I beg to differ. As with Brighton Rock, there’s a deep psychological improbability about the main character. Worse still, many of the musings on God and theology are so cryptically expressed, I can’t even understand them. Evelyn Waugh, as a very Catholic writer, was much easier to understand in this regard.
It’s interesting to note that I can broadly agree with George Orwell’s review of the book, to which Wikipedia conveniently links. (I would feel even better about that if I liked 1984, but I am amongst the handful of people in the world who can’t stand it. And while we’re on Orwell, why does comedian Will Anderson seem to be taking styling tips from him?)
This is the fourth Greene that I have read. I liked two, and thought the other two were bad. I might give one more a go. The Quiet American, perhaps?
2 comments:
haven't read any of his novels aside from The Quiet American which is worth being next on your list. I love his short stories. there's this undertone of seediness which he captures very well.
Jason
I agree about the short stories. It's a hundred years since I read the novels, but remember enjoying Our Man in Havana and Travels with my Aunt (which he labelled "entertainment"). The End of the Affair troubled me, IIRC, for a sort of wilful emotional cruelty tied to religion. But I may be remembering incorrectly. His autobiographical memoir of schooldays and early writing career, A Sort of Life, was fascinating - but then I am a sucker for writers' memoirs.
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