The African Queen, by C. S. Forester“Although she herself was ill enough to justify being in bed had she been a person weak-minded enough to give up, Rose Sayer could see that her brother, the Reverend Samuel Sayer, was far more ill.” That is the opening line of the book they made into a classic movie. Read the book.
The sailors amongst you will appreciate Forester, who also gave us Horatio Hornblower, knows and tells us what it really takes to voyage down a river in a working steam launch. He considers the machinery, the boat, the river, and the logistics. We feel the labor of the requirement for the
boat and its crew. This is a story you can appreciate.
The warriors amongst you will appreciate the commitment to a mission. Forester shows you the exhaustion, the roadblocks, the rise and fall of doubt, the courage that you find and the fears that accumulate, the comrades you support, and the support they give you; all that it takes to preserver, and the very real possibility of failing. This is a story you can appreciate.
This is a story for the poets and the incurable romantics amongst you. Forester gives you a story
to make you believe there is reason to hope; shows you the unlikeliest people, who’ve given up on love if they ever believed in it, can still find love, can fall in love, can be uplifted by love. This is a story you can appreciate.
This is a page turner that tells you what the movie could only try to show you, what Hepburn and Bogart could only hint at. Read the book.
The Confidential Agent by Graham GreeneFrom the jacket of my talking book:
“Without Graham Greene we might never have had Le Carre’, Ludlam, Follett and the rest. They owe him much. He made authentic detail, evocation of atmosphere and meticulous plotting essential elements of the “spy thriller.” It wouldn’t be going too far to say that Graham Greene created the genre."
I cavil at only one word of that description. I would call the book a “spy drama” rather than thriller. There is no daring-do, no skilled and carefully developed “trade craft,” no martial arts training that disables foes at a glance and a flick of the wrist. It had none of the excitement television and movies have made common place. There is one car chase, but that does not end well.
The plot is simple. From a foreign country ravaged by civil war a confidential agent comes to 1930’s England to bargain for coal, a resource which both sides need. He is opposed by an agent from the other side, and not entirely trusted by his own side.
This book has my complete recommendation without any of the quibbling, half-hearted and caveat-laden words of the previous recommendation of a Greene story (This Gun For Hire). The
Confidential Agent is a far more thoughtful “entertainment” which is how Greene described all his works. I will offer a warning: It starts slowly, very slowly. There is no grabber first sentence, first paragraph, first half, but perseverance is rewarded with a thoughtful story, a storyline that pulls you in with compelling gentleness, convincing credibility, and a well thought-out philosophy that smacks of all the ambiguities of Smiley and Le Carre’. I will tell you now the ending is perfect, perfectly unexpected, and yet easily predicted in hindsight.
I will make one other recommendation. Listening to this story in the talking book format is probably better than reading it. The narration is in the third person, but the voice of the narrator as the author wrote him shares the lead character’s tired disillusionment at life, his ennui with death and fear, distrust and small unintended treacheries. When I read, it is hard for me to hear all that reflected from the text to echo in my inner ear. The reader of my talking book achieved it. Choose the format that is convenient to your habits, but try to keep this in mind.
This story also explores some interesting questions. In America, when a quiet, unassuming, pacifist character is pushed too far, made to accept too many indignities, faced with an unacceptable injustice he snaps to become John Wayne on the trail of revenge. Is that true of everyone, even a middle aged disenfranchised professor of Romance Languages in 1930’s England? What does he do when he snaps? What about the idea of war as infection, a communicable disease that infects the people around the carrier agents? When you are not trusted, should you remain trustworthy, committed? There are others to roll around in your head as you enjoy this “entertainment.”
