The Quiet American
Ratings36
Average rating3.8
One of Graham Greene's best works. The story is set at the time of the French war against the Viet Cong and tells the story of liberal British journalist Thomas Fowler, his mistress Phuong, and their relationship with American idealist Pyle. The latter is an earnest young man indocrinated with geo-political theory and whose attempts to shape the world to American ideals ends in his own personal tragedy and drastically alters the lives of the other two participants. Written before the US involvement in Vietnam this is a strangely prophetic work and seriously encapsulates the British viewpoint towards that conflict. A beautifully written book and highly recommended.
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A brilliant novel of love and war, The Quiet American is set in the early 1950s as the French fight their own Viet Nam war. English foreign correspondent Thomas Fowler, exiled from a failed marriage, lives a life of quiet cynicism, reporting on the war, sleeping with his Vietnamese mistress and smoking opium. Into this comes the quiet American of the title, Alden Pyle, who may or may not be OSS or CIA.
Pyle is all clean cut American idealism, believing that a “third force” can break the deadlock and end the war. Covert operations, bombs and killings derail his plans somewhat, but his steadfast belief in American Imperialism is undaunted.
Pyle falls for Fowler's mistress, Phuong, much to the delight of her sister. Fowler, his world falling apart, investigates Pyle's covert actions - with awful consequences.
Greene's writing is superb. He captures both the futility of the war, of all war, but also the desperate human interactions, the triangle of Pyle, Fowler and Phuong. Fowler is disgusted by Pyle, who in turn cannot understand Fowler's cynicism. Caught in the middle is Phuong, who simply wants a better life.
A great novel.
A really informative and thought provoking read. I loved the depiction of life during the Vietnam war and the numerous moral issues raised were really intriguing.
