Entertaining and thought-provoking, and so well written. Greene includes quite a mix of characters, and weaves an interesting story. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

While not one of Greene's better works, Orient Express is in keeping with his tendency to find fresh settings and surroundings for each new book. In this case, Greene captures the environment of traveling onboard the famous train that stretched from Ostend, Belgium to Constantinople, Turkey. n  This is a map of the route taken by the Orient Expressed as described by Greene.n

There are subtleties in Greene's narrative that allow for the realization of the sounds and movements of being on a train. He also brings to life the setting of being confined between narrow walls of wood and spans of glass windows. Greene captures the phenomenon of people who are packed into cramped spaces and practically forced to interact with each other. Thus, the passengers get to know one another while the train is making its steady progress towards its distant destination.

The story, however, never seems to gain momentum. It's a relatively short novel with quite a few characters interacting with multiple storylines. This has the effect of spreading out the fabric of the story rather thinly. I would place the love story that develops between two of the passengers as the best of the lot, but it does not go as deep as it should. The most disinteresting storyline concerns a communist dissident with aspirations for martyrdom. And the most daring storyline is one about a lesbian reporter, but 1930s Graham Greene backs off this subject almost as fast as he approaches it.

In the end, this is Graham Greene. As such, Orient Express is filled with his dead-serious writing and Greene's panache for sober observations that reflect life as it happens to be.

This early Greene novel is set on the Orient Express and follows a group of passengers as they travel to Istanbul (given its old name Constantinople in the book). Wealthy Jewish businessman Myatt is travelling to sort out his firm’s affairs, and finds relief from his worries in a tentative relationship with chorus girl Coral Musker. Dr Czinner is a Communist activist who is returning to the city that he fled 5 years ago. His idealism is contrasted with the opportunism of thief and murderer Josef Grünlich. Journalist Mabel Warren is on the trail of Czinner for a scoop, while her partner Janet Pardoe, and a novelist QC Savory, make up the core characters whose lives overlap for the space of the journey.

I found this rather bumpy reading for Greene, whose plots are usually smooth and skilfully connected. The opening chapters were engaging and had a cinematic feel (Greene often worked as a screenwriter) and there was a sense of pace and menace. Towards the middle though, it slowed down - the train is stuck in a snowstorm and the plot appears equally bogged down. Czinner and Coral are in a situation that should be terrifying and dramatic, but Czinner’s meditations on a life dedicated to Communism and a long drawn out escape scene blunt the impact.

The relationship between the characters works well, although the characters themselves sometimes slip into caricature. The Jewish character Myatt is subject to anti-Semitism and is aware of the reaction of others, but at times (describing Myatt’s facial features and gestures for example) it is not altogether clear whether Greene is reflecting these attitudes himself or trying to undermine them. Mabel Warren is at times a stereotypical manly lesbian figure, unkempt and hard drinking, while at other times there are glimpses of a more nuanced and interesting person, and I would have liked to see more of her in the story to bring this out. Coral and QC Savory are brilliantly portrayed.

This novel has an aura of tension and anxiety, and is interesting enough, but the espionage thriller aspect was uneven and not sufficiently thrilling for me. Enjoyable but not my favourite by this author.

This novel is one of his 'entertainments' personally categorized by himself to differentiate them from his other serious thrillers (how many titles overall belong to this less serious genre?) of which its title has long kept me wondering till I found out in the Wikipedia website (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stambou...) that Stamboul is a variant of Istanbul, the capital of Turkey, the novel's destination of the Orient Express the famous line starting from Ostend, Belgium connecting Europe and Asia.

I liked the way Graham Greene has narrated on the Ostend departure setting and how Carleton Myatt sees Coral Musker before leaving the station, how they meet and know each other while traveling on the train. His writing is so effective and powerful that, I think, we would love to follow and imagine the scene as if we were either one them or both. For instance:

The train's late, Myatt thought, as he stepped into the corridor. He felt in his waistcoat pocket for the small box of currants he always carried there. ... At the end of the corridor a girl in a white mackintosh turned and gazed at him. A nice figure, he thought. Do I know her? ... Doors slammed along the line of coaches, and a horn was blown. (pp. 8-9)

... Then she stood up and saw him watching her. She was tactful, she was patient, but to Myatt she had little subtlety; he knew that his qualities, the possibilities of annoyance which he offered, were being weighed against her companion's. She wasn't looking up for trouble: that was the expression she would use; and he found her courage, quickness, and decision admirable. 'I think I'll have a cigarette outside,' she said, fumbling in her bag for a packet; then she was beside him.
'A match?'
'Thanks.' And moving out of view of her compartment they stared together into the murmuring darkness.
'I don't like your companion,' Myatt said.
'One can't pick and choose. He's not too bad. His name's Peters.'
Myatt for a moment hesitated. 'Mine's Myatt.'
'Mine's Coral -- Coral Musker.'
... (p. 16)

To continue ...

Prima parte fortemente descrittiva, sia ambientazioni che personaggi: bellissima, quasi poetica.
Col passare delle pagine, l'azione va in crescendo, i personaggi e le situazioni si intrecciano e poi, puff, è finito.

I read the novel in one of its first editions, under its original title, Stamboul Train. It has a typical British detective story feel, but the motivations and backgrounds of the main characters are described through the lens of pure talent. You can tell right away that such insights are sketched by a master of understanding and portraying the human soul, even if it's among his first works.

I empathized with Coral, who gets the worst deal from fate, due to circumstances but also due to the gratuitous malice of one other character, Joseph Grunlich, who in a minute, when the opportunity arises, simply decides to keep quiet on a matter and screw her over. The elusive doctor John turns out to be a famous Serbian communist who is a wanted man, and when the border patrol catches wind of this they arrest him together with Coral and Grunlich.

Coral is simply there by mistake and desperate to get back to her new lover, Myatt. She is afraid that after just one night together he is not used to her - or tied to her enough - to think about inquiring about what happened to her, and that there will be no way to get in touch once that train leaves the station (in more ways than one). The three detainees make their escape, but the doctor gets shot and Coral stays behind to tend to his wounds, although he is dying.

The crook Grunlich moves on to the car where Myatt was, who did actually come to see what happened to Coral and why she got off from the train. And although he listened to her fears and worries that she might not be reunited with her lover and although he stood to gain or lose nothing from this, he denies having seen a girl, simply out of malice. The car moves further away, and Myatt moves on as well, towards a new life and a marriage.

Coral was, of course, a little silly and I guess not very likable for people who are repulsed by vulnerability (and sadly there are a lot of such people). But this kind of gratuitous cruelty is something I am really upset by, so Grunlich jolted me into disliking him. I think the author did a great job of managing to make us feel things about the various characters and make us also feel the drive to take sides.

--------------------------
A nice quote about Coral and how she felt solely focused on wanting Myatt to return and dimly hoping for it:
"Intimacy with one person could do this - empty the world of friendships, give a distaste for women's kisses and their bright chatter, make the ordinary world a little unreal and very uninteresting. Even the doctor did not matter to her as he stalked along in a different world, but she remembered as they reached the door of the waiting room to ask him: 'And you? What's happening to you?'"

Perhaps my expectations were just too high after The Third Man and The Quiet American, but Orient Express went wide of the mark for me. Greene has a knack for writing what people like to call "realistic" characters, but when I read a novel, I expect at least a few of the characters to have some redeeming qualities. A protagonist can be both realistic and noble. Greene does not seem to recognize this in the majority of his works.

Greene's style is formidable. His stories move mostly submerged, slowly, before emerging dripping in the final act with abrupt tragic fury before dropping back into a last bobbing calm. Stamboul Train is interwoven, switching focus from passenger to passenger as the narrative goes on. Until one is comfortable with the cast this is momentarily confusing, as the formatting does not signal a viewpoint character change as clearly as it might have, but one recovers one's bearings quickly enough.

It doesn't quite have the tragic force or depth that I remember from A Burnt-Out Case, but Stamboul Train is an interesting study in characters, coincidences, and unanticipated outcomes, thanks to its setting in a time and location where people who would not ordinarily have crossed lines of class or race were forced to interact. Who knows who you might meet on a train, or what might happen as a result?

Greene’s early “entertainments” were not as fluidly written as his later “catholic” novels, and that is evident when reading this book. Stamboul Train was probably intended as a screenplay, for it unfolds like one, with constant scene shifts, point of view shifts, and movement. The novel moves like the famed train from Ostend through several stops to its final destination in Constantinople. Snatches of dialogue hit the reader like overhead conversations in a dining car. What the camera will not capture however are the interior monologues running through the minds of the characters, which Greene articulates at great length, as they head towards their destiny at the Orient Express’s destination.

The characters form a motley crew: Coral, the loose chorus girl in search of love, who believes she has found it in Myatt, the wealthy Jewish businessman on a mission to acquire a new business; Mabel, the alcoholic lesbian journalist, out for a scoop that will double her income so that she can hold onto her young companion Janet; Savory, the novelist (there has to be a novelist in a Greene book) and Opie the priest (there has also got to be a priest); the police chief who is more concerned with the finer things in life (like champagne and caviar) to alleviate his boredom at snow-bound border crossings, and his counterpart the army major who is obsessed with military rules and strategy; Josef, the cat burglar turned murderer, who is seeking infamy; and Dr. Czinner (sinner?), the communist going back to meet his doom in Belgrade.

As the train moves forward, from cold weather to even colder weather, breaking down en-route at one point, the characters twine and untwine in shallow relationships with each other (what else can you expect from relationships formed in the isolation and unreality of a three-day train journey?) while dark secrets, prejudices and fears emerge. The only person with a real relationship, and who has a firm grasp of the unreasonableness of the world, seems to be the border guard, Ninitch, who is not on the train, and who regards his wife as the centre of his world.

Greene’s lifelong theme that would find more airtime in his later novels—that of the sinner seeking redemption—is at play here, as Dr. Czinner involves the passengers in the drama awaiting him at his destination. And yet, despite the harsh lesson coming out of the climactic episode in Subotica, a transit station near the end of the line, the passengers go back to their lives upon arrival in Constantinople, playing their default roles, dealing in their same shallow games and pretences, as if Czinner and the revolution he had promoted had not existed. Almost like the first coming of Christ to an unready audience.

This book would not rank as one of my unforgettable Greene novels, although I could see the emerging novelist grappling with the subject matter that would make him famous later in his career. And even though I got the feel of that trans-European journey, saw the changing landscape outside the window, felt the cold and isolation of the traveller, overheard the conversations of my fellow travellers, and witnessed their shifting allegiances, I never got to see and feel the Orient Express itself. It was almost as if Greene was on that train, spying on its occupants and chronicling their stories, but never once pausing to absorb and appreciate the famous locomotive he was travelling in.

Hevesle basladim ama elimde surundukce surundu. Sonunu gorev icabi okudum ve bitirdim. Sevemedim, acmadi beni.

1930'lar. Istanbul Ekspresi'nde gecen olaylar. Politika, cinayet, escinsellik, sosyal konular.

Yahudi karşıtlığının tavan yaptığı ve komünizm korkusunun her yeri sardığı bir Avrupa arka planında, hayatları bir tren yolculuğu sayesinde kesişen insanların yaşadığı şeyleri anlatıyor kitap. Ostende'de başlayıp İstanbul'da sona eren yolculuğun her bir durağı kitabın bölümlerini oluşturuyor. Ana hikayede önemli bir yer tutan karakterler oldukça çeşitli; bir revü kızı, alkolik ve eşcinsel bir kadın gazeteci, bir yahudi, bir hırsız ve bir devrimci. Her birinin istemsizce diğerinin hayatının yönünü nasıl da değiştirdiğini okuyoruz kitapta. Yer yer düşündüren, yer yer de geren bir kitaptı benim için. Yazara göre kitap, mesaj taşımadığı için 'hafif bir roman'. Yine de kurgunun geçtiği dönemin atmosferinden dolayı okunması ve kişide bıraktığı his pek de hafif değil bence.

We must be grateful to Penguin Vintage for ensuring the work of Graham Greene is accessible to new and old readers alike.

How strange having owed and read the book as a young adult I could now read it again via kindle in my sixties.
It was a struggle to get into Greene as a younger reader but Stamboul Train was one of my favourites; familiar because of Murder on the Orient Express and a genuine love of trains and such travel adventures.

It is also interesting to return to a book so many years after originally enjoying it first time around. Perhaps because of my age and the lack of a movie to cloud my memories; unlike The Third Man, the story remained fresh and mostly unremembered.

What is rewarding is the balance in the novel. The book follows the train via some of places it travels between all the way to Istanbul. In a way it is a character driven piece based on the purpose of their journey as much as the places they embark and alight.

The characters mix and interact and have some of that sense of unrealism of a stagnated life, a suspended stillness while the countryside passes by at some speed. A mixed class of people, of different nationalities, various financial means and locals travelling third class in crowded carriages.

I especially liked the interaction and bartering between the fiddle player and one of the first class passengers.

There is also the sense of entrapment within a train, a moving prison where anyone can be surprised at border crossings or met at a station along the route.

That individual lives bleed and influence other passengers on such a long and at times intimate journey maintain the reader’s curiosity. Unimaginable in modern times of air travel shrinking the world. It makes the book interesting and the input from those joining along the way makes each ensuing chapter more compelling and colourful. There are issues in each life we meet that mean the journey cannot resolve all their faults or achieve their ambitions. I found the sense of travel liberating as the story reveals twists and turns. A real sense of danger; with language barriers and an over-reliance on strangers, bringing more drama. Yet it is a celebration of life and the decisions we take.

Ultimately, it is an entertainment. A clear example of why I place Graham Greene among my favourite authors.