Product Description

Into the intrigue and violence of Indo-China comes Pyle, a young idealistic American sent to promote democracy through a mysterious 'Third Force'. As his naive optimism starts to cause bloodshed, his friend Fowler, a cynical foreign correspondent, finds it hard to stand aside and watch. But even as he intervenes he wonders why: for the sake of politics, or for love?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9037 in Books
• Published on: 2007-11-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Review
"'A great writer who spoke brilliantly to a whole generation. Prophet-like' Alec Guinness"

About the Author
Graham Greene was born in 1904. He was a member of the Order of Merit and a Companion of Honour. Graham Greene died in April 1991. Among the many people who paid tribute to him on his death was Kingsley Amis: 'He will be missed all over the world. Until today, he was our greatest living novelist.'

Customer Reviews

gripping and illuminating
This was my first Graham Greene novel, and it won't be my last. It's one of those cleverly constructed 'circular' novels that, after the initial scene, takes you right back to the beginning of the story which slowly unfolds to end with the same initial scene, but seen in a totally different light.

I picked up this novel because I imagined it to be full of the atmosphere of war-torn Vietnam in the 1950s, a historical portrait of the end of colonial Indo-China. And that is indeed one feature of the book, but it is more involving still: realistic characters, consistent only in their complexity, a moving story of a triangular relationship between two men and a woman, a stand-off between the opposing ideologies of cynicism and idealism. I was left wondering: was this a happy ending or not?

Faultless
Along with Waugh's "Decline & Fall" I read this book every year & never fail to get something new from it. Not one word is out of place, not one scene mis-judged. Greene's characters inhabit a world unfamiliar to all 21st century Western wage-slaves; a world of physical danger, intellectual doubts & moral crises. But yet their paranoias & motives render every one of them as believable as ourselves & make their world as real as our own. The hero of this book in particular fills us with the uncomfortable realisation that even despicable acts born of unashamed selfishness can sometimes not only strike a chord within ourselves, but make us favour the perpetrators of such behaviour over other more innocent players. If you find nothing in this book for you stop reading.

A fine novel of political scope about Vietnam
Into the intrigue and violence of Indo-China comes a young, idealistic and quiet American called Pyle who is employed in the Economic Aid Mission. He is sent there to promote democracy through a mysterious Third Force. But his naïve optimism about democracy starts to cause deaths and his friend the cynical British foreign correspondent Thomas Fowler finds it hard to stand aside and watch. As Fowler intervenes, he wonders whether it is for the sake of politics or for his love for the young Phuong.
Commissioned during the 1950s to write an article on guerrilla warfare in Malaya, Graham Greene stopped off in Vietnam to visit a friend, and soon fell under the spell of Indo-China. This novel is a result of his love for the country, inspired by his experiences there. Although the political situation has changed dramatically, The Quiet American continues to reflect accurately and powerfully the problems of war and the people involved in it.