Tag: Panama

Graham Greene – Getting to Know the General | Review

June 3, 2015
Authors F-J (By Surname)Non-Fiction

Title: Getting to Know the General

Author: Graham Greene

Type: Non-Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 192

Rating: 8/10

 

Graham Greene - Getting to Know the General

Graham Greene – Getting to Know the General

 

This is another great example of the type of book that just doesn’t get written anymore – you just couldn’t make it up, “the story of an involvement” when Greene visited Panama and got to know General Omar Torrijos Herrera, the former dictator of the country.

And so, like several of Greene’s other works, the book is rooted in the past, and it stands out like a snapshot in time against some of the less literary works of the same era. Whether you’re a student of the history of the world or not, there aren’t many better ways to spend your time than to learn more about the events of the 20th century from the pen of Graham Greene.

Interestingly, I knew very little about either the General or his dictatorship, and so I heard all about him and his character from this book – I found myself almost admiring the man, and I’m pretty sure that that was what Greene’s goal was all along. A thankless task, in some ways.

 

Graham Greene

Graham Greene

 

Click here to buy Getting to Know the General.

Graham Greene – Monsignor Quixote | Review

May 11, 2015
Authors F-J (By Surname)Fiction

Title: Monsignor Quixote

Author: Graham Greene

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 256

Rating: 6/10

 

Graham Greene - Monsignor Quixote

Graham Greene – Monsignor Quixote

 

I feel kind of harsh about awarding this book a 6 out of 10 – after all, I usually reserve this rating for books that are riddled with typos, and there’s nary a typo in the whole novel. It’s just that Greene is capable of so much better than this, and even some of his non-fiction on subjects as ‘dry’ as the life and times of John Wilmot (the second Earl of Rochester) and Omar Torrijos, the former ruler of Panama, are more interesting.

Sure, Monsignor Quixote it easily readable, and it won’t pose any serious difficulty if you plan to get from cover to cover – it’s just that it’s also quite forgettable, a sort of odd pocket in Greene’s extensive bibliography which feels incompletely filled, as though he failed to live up to his potential. Not even the fact that it’s a pastische of Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes is enough to save it, but it probably didn’t help that I’d never read the original.

That said, I try to judge the books that I read on their own merit, and I just found Monsignor Quixote to be boring, too focused on religion and with a plot that I struggled to relate to, despite the fact that it was written towards the end of Greene’s career (and, indeed, his life) in 1982. It wasn’t for me, but perhaps you’ll enjoy it – just tread carefully, and consider some of Greene’s other work instead.

 

Graham Greene

Graham Greene

 

Click here to buy Monsignor Quixote.