![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() I saw him in a family snapshot album, riding on a dude ranch, bathing on Long Island, photographed with his colleagues in some apartment on the twenty-third floor. “He looked more than every out of place: he should have stayed at home. “She was the hiss of steam, the clink of a cup, she was a certain hour of the night and the promise of rest.” I fell in love with Greene’s descriptions of his characters. We meet our three main characters: Fowler, our narrator, is an older man cynical, a British foreign correspondent Pyle is a young idealistic American diplomat and Phuong, a Vietnamese women who both men love (in their own way) and want to possess. The story is set in Vietnam, during the French Colonial war. And it is how Greene uses these words - nothing is wasted nothing is for mere trimming or padding every word is chosen with care. Originally published in 1955, it is still fresh and relevant, and at 180 pages it is a masterclass in conveying so much, with an economy of words. Maybe they will be, in time, but The Quiet American by Graham Greene is a classic. I have read a lot of books written recently that are lauded as ‘classics’. ![]()
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