I have only read three novels by Graham Greene so far but that is enough for me to know the power of his prose – all of them have impressed me (Brighton Rock and The Power and the Glory being the other two).

The Quiet American is set in a fascinating era and place in history: Indo-China, as named by the French, whose colony it was, and later re-named Vietnam, of course.

This story is set around 1955 and the French are slowly losing the war to the Viet Minh (named after their leader, Ho Chi Minh) and a few years later called the Viet Cong by the Americans, when they took over from France once it had had enough. [Someone told me once that the CIA named the Viet Cong because they thought it more sinister than Viet Minh and that it would resonate with Americans, being reminiscent of ‘King Kong’. Since then, I have read that that’s untrue.]

The narrator is Thomas Fowler, an opium-smoking, middle-aged cynical British journalist who stays in Indo-China because the thought of returning to England to a desk job (albeit a promotion) and living with his all but estranged wife is something he cannot face. He lives in Saigon with a very young (about 20) Vietnamese girl, Phuong, who lives in hope of him marrying her and taking her away from her war-torn country, though she knows this is unlikely, as Fowler’s wife is a Catholic and will not divorce him.

The other main character is Alden Pyle, a young, intelligent and energetic American from a wealthy and influential family. He works for an aid agency, though Fowler believes he also works for a more sinister and manipulative employer. Pyle displays the kind of confidence shown by those who know that they will one day be a Senator or a senior government official as long as they don’t mess up in the meantime.

Fowler believes Pyle to be naïve and too wrapped up in pushing the Western democratic ideal that he is blind to the harm he causes to the local people, whereas Fowler believes he is truly neutral and will engage with anyone from any side in the war without judging them.

Pyle falls in love with Phuong at their first meeting and soon tells Fowler that he intends tempting her away from him – he believes in being a ‘gentleman’, so lays his cards on the table.

The rest of the story concerns the relationships between these three, set against the backdrop of the war the French are fighting but which would not be possible without American help and money. The war is represented by small actions that affect only a small number of people but this makes it all the more poignant, as one can feel for each individual tragedy in a way that is not possible with more sweeping descriptions of action. Indeed, the war in this novel is an important but not dominant character.

What makes this more interesting is that as a journalist Fowler goes to the north to report on the war from time to time, staying in Hanoi and traveling to other towns and villages nearby, something that seems strange to me because most of my previous knowledge about the Vietnam War refers to the American era, long after Hanoi had fallen to the Communists (or should we now call then Nationalists?)

Greene is wonderful at getting into a person’s head and describing very effectively the conflicting emotions, thought processes and actions of his characters. All the characters feel real, with faults, nasty thoughts and complications, so one wonders what one would do in their places.

I cannot tell you what happens but there are a few twists and turns that in the end make this a very powerful novel that makes you think.
Five stars.

This is an amazing story about the French colonial war in Vietnam and an incompetent CIA-wanna be agent seen through the eyes of a opium-addicted British journalist. Cynicism abounds. Great writing, gripping scenes. Excellent read. A true classic. I definitely need to read more Graham Greene.

If you enjoyed this book and wish to have more background on the historical canvas on which the story was painted, I highly suggest Fredrik Logevall's Embers of War about the French Indochina War and Frances Fitzgerald's masterful Fire in the Lake about the Vietnamese and the American conflict. Gripping stories.

I have to give this book 5 stars, as it has a special meaning to me. I actually read this in Saigon in the late '80s (before Americans were supposed to be traveling to Vietnam; but since I was living in Taiwan at the time I was somehow able to get a visa). It was an amazing experience to sit in the Continental Hotel itself and read about how little the place had changed in the intervening 30+ years. (I remember looking around the hotel restaurant and noticing that almost all the foreigners in the place - mostly Europeans and Russians - were reading the same book!)

I haven't read much else by Greene, so can't comment on him as an author other than from this book; but as far as a novel of pre-Vietnam War-era Southeast Asia, this rates right up there with le Carré's The Honourable Schoolboy.

UNNECESSARY UPDATE: While Saigon apparently didn't change a whole lot between 1955-1987, it's certainly become unrecognizable since then. I made the mistake of returning in 2015, and found it had become just another traffic-clogged, shopping-malled, Starbucks-saturated* Asian metropolis, well on its way to becoming a clone of other increasingly-flavorless capitals like Manila, Jakarta, Bangkok, etc. And yes, I feel suitably guilty criticizing a city or country for prospering, since it's obviously been a huge positive for the Vietnamese people themselves - who are of course the ones who really matter. But still, I'm finding that at least for me, it's generally been a mistake to return to those "charming" places I enjoyed in an earlier life - Chiang Mai, Beijing, Bali, Macau - the one exception being Kathmandu. For better or worse, that place is always going to feel like it's stuck in the mid-1800s.

* Well, not JUST Starbucks...



And yes, I know - very childish. But also kind of irresistable.

‘The Quiet American’ is set in Vietnam in the early 1950s, right at end of the French colonial involvement in Indochina, and at the point when the USA start to get involved in Vietnamese politics. The main protagonists are an older and cynical English newspaper reporter (Fowler), a young and callow undercover CIA man (Pyle), and a young Vietnamese woman (Phuong).

The main story is a love triangle between these three. ‘Love triangle’ is not really the right expression, since the two men’s wrangling over who wins over Phuong is more about possession than love. This is really the least attractive part about the book and the only reason why I didn’t give it 5 stars.

In any case, the subtext of the novel is really politics. The inexperienced Pyle and his US masters surreptitiously support one of the non-communist liberation factions that fight against the French. Towards Fowler, who is skeptical about US involvement in Vietnam, Pyle keeps spouting empty phrases from a (fictional) book by York Harding, called ‘The Role of the West’. This book tries to justify US involvement in Vietnam by proposing a benign and well-meaning ‘Third Force’. In Fowler’s opinion, the book really represents US neocolonial ambitions, based on the hypocrisy that pretends to promote democracy, whereas it is really about US political and economic control rather than supporting Vietnamese independence. Furthermore, the USA have this crazy and irrational fear of communism and therefore need a pretext to get involved before China and the Soviet Union gobble up Vietnam once French colonial rule comes to an end, which was on the cards at the time (ok that’s not actually in the book but I thought I would add it because it’s apposite).

As you would expect from a master storyteller of Greene’s stature, the personal and political strands of the story eventually converge. Pyle is involved in supplying plastic explosives to an insurgent group, which end up maiming and killing innocent people. Furthermore, Phuong leaves Fowler to live with Pyle, who promises family and security. Fowler professes, disingenuously, not to take sides in the struggle of the Vietnamese people. However, eventually he does take sides and he betrays Pyle. He likes to think that the betrayal is on political grounds, but is it really?

As usual, Greene conjures up the magic and squalor of southeastern Asia masterfully and uses acerbic and sarcastic humour to great effect. Deep down, however, he is telling us that what Western powers are doing in Vietnam is immoral and evil. By the way, according to many analyses, this novel is supposed to be ‘famous’ for predicting the eventual failure of the US campaign in Vietnam. Nothing could be further from the truth: they’ve obviously all misunderstood the point Greene was trying to make! In any case, I suspect that much of this fabulous novel is autobiographical, since Greene was in fact a correspondent in Vietnam for French and British newspapers at the time.

Second reading. Five stars here. Reading this as an adult reinforces th adage that old age and treachery defeats youth and enthusiasm. Th numerous reviews since 1955 are more insightful on th various themes and metaphors. It remains a crisp little read that punches above its weight class. I loved it th second time through as a Fowliar as I did th first time when a Pyle… m

In this book, humor is used for a purpose. It’s here for a reason. At the start you simply smile, and then later you understand the role it plays.

The book has humor but also an important message. You can see it as a book about America’s early years of engagement in the Vietnam War, but it has as well a political message and a philosophical message about people of different cultures. I like this book very much.

One’s view of the characters changes dramatically as one reads.

I have a new criterion by which I judge the prose in a book. If reading the lines several times is rewarding and never boring, then you know you have a winner. Really good lines can be read several times and each time you get something new! This describes the writing here in this book. There are so many wonderful lines. I have quoted merely one short but important line:

“Sooner or later one has to take sides….if one is human.”

I do tend to attach myself to the philosophical and writing that makes you think.

David Banks narrates the audiobook unbelievably well. His narration I have given five stars. He uses different intonations for the different characters. A Vietnamese woman, an American and an English man, the three central characters, each have a voice that fits them perfectly. You think you are listening to different narrators, but you are not. Banks doesn’t overdramatize. He has simply given each of them a voice that mirrors their respective culture, age, sex and the personality traits that make them who they are. Even the less important characters are given voices that fit them well. Every word is easy to hear. The audio narration by David Banks is outstanding.

This book is much better than all the other books I have so far read by the author. Do not shy away from Greene’s books of espionage. I hesitated when I began; I worried I might not be able to follow what was happening. Books of espionage can be difficult to follow. Do NOT worry as I did!!!!! You will understand. The prose is superb. The humor is used for a purpose. The book makes you smile and then think!

This is a very well written book. I have been toying with the idea of giving it five stars. First published in 1955, The Quiet American could very well be considered way ahead of its time and in this way quite amazing!

There are so many fantastic books. I stuck with four stars. It is almost impossible to know which deserve a 5-star rating! Here I was sorely tempted.

***************************

*The Quiet American 4 stars
*The End of the Affair 2 stars
*Travels with My Aunt 2 stars
*The Heart of the Matter TBR
*The Human Factor TBR
*Brighton Rock TBR

Set in Indo-China of the fifties, against the backdrop of the Vietnamese insurgency against their French colonial rulers and the onset of US involvement in the conflict, a love triangle unfolds between the narrator, a wry middle-aged English man, his gorgeous Vietnamese girlfriend and a wide-eyed, good-intentioned young American.

In flowing, lucid, evocative, at times gorgeous prose, Greene brings to life a bygone era, and although some of the social conventions restricting the characters seem today totally outdated, his observations of the human heart and its flaws have retained all their freshness.

As a critique of American intervention in foreign affairs, the story was excellent. The "quiet" American (he never shuts up) steps into a world he knows nothing about and creates havoc.

My problem with the book was a problem common to many similar authors (DeLillo, I'm looking at you): it was very male-centric and I got annoyed. Phuong, the love/lust/possession interest in the book, was never given a character, described as innocent, childish, a sexual object, and a caretaker in turn. I realize the character was supposed to be symbolic of the country--both men, American and British, wanted to possess her, without understanding her. But it's hard to read a book where women aren't allowed to be women--full fleshed, intelligent and capable of self determination.

Here, I was doing acrobatics to make the story palatable. It reminded me of reading Lolita. During both books, it was an interesting character study of the people watching the women, if you considered it from the woman's perspective. I still felt slimy reading it. I get that the sliminess is the point, but ew.

It makes me grateful for books like "Regeneration" which make important points, but with all the characters fully drawn. (It's my new favorite book this year.)

In any case, I'm glad I read it. The writing is beautiful and it tells an important story.

A re-reading of this Graham Greene masterpiece has convinced me that Mr. Greene's target is not U.S. imperialism in Viet Nam during the French War (1946-1954) but the idealism that fostered that intervention. Want proof? The realpolitik practitioner Eisenhower paid for the French War but refused to put American troops into the country. John F. Kennedy introduced 15,000 U.S. advisors into South Viet Nam, secretly bombed the North, and approved the use of napalm on Vietnamese villages. The brutish and cynical British correspondent who narrates THE QUIET AMERICAN tells us that "idealists are the most dangerous people in the world." They cause more harm than people who act purely out of self-interest, like himself. His bleak view of the Vietnamese, "To these people 'Democracy', 'Independence' 'self-determination' means nothing. They want a bowl of rice and security for their families" is sardonic but less harmful than the U.S. secret agent, Pyle, with his attempt to Americanize everything and everyone from his Vietnamese mistress to the Catholic Church. THE QUIET AMERICAN not only foretold the disastrous, for everyone, American intervention starting in the Kennedy years but also the "humanitarian interventionism" of presidents Bill Clinton (Somalia, Serbia) and George W. Bush (Afghanistan, Iraq). Please do not take this novel merely for a prophecy. THE QUIET AMERICAN is more like a court indictment of all people who are convinced they are doing the right thing every time, particularly with other people's lives. This is one reason why Graham Greene was a Catholic, not a liberal.

THE QUIET AMERICAN zeroes in on one of those queer figures who operate in the margins and yet manage to change the course of history while staying in the shadows. Colonel Edward Lansdale, renamed "Pyle" by Greene, a spy for the Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner to the CIA, did more to move America down the road to the Viet Nam quagmire than just about any other spook, soldier, or politician. By way of his intelligence gathering in Indochina Pyle finds himself in the odd position of recognizing that U.S. support for French colonialism will only help the Communist Viet Minh and at the same time withdrawing that support will achieve the same end. Pyle's reports to Washington reflect that conundrum, while he juggles in his personal life a Vietnamese mistress and nosy foreign reporters. His fate will become the fate of America in Viet Nam, though no one will know this until after his death and the U.S. defeat and withdrawal. Seldom has a novel been more prophetic and strangely poignant at the same time.

“البراءة دائمًا تطلب الحماية بلسان أخرس، عندما نوغل في الحكمة ونعمل على حماية أنفسنا منها؛ ما أشبه البراءة بمجذوم أخرس فقد ناقوسه يجوب العالم ولا يبغي إساءة لأحد”

“لقد اعتاد الناس، دائمًا وفي كل مكان، أن يحبوا أعدائهم، وأن يُبقوا على أصدقائهم للألم وحياة الفراغ”.

“إن الزمن له أسلوبه في الثأر، بيد أن ثأره مر في غالب الأحيان. أليس من الخير لنا أن نكف عن أي محاولة للفهم، ونسلم بالحقيقة الواقعة”.

The perfect novel.

Ingenious in its pace & tone, the plot unravels in a peculiar, non-linear way, easily enviable by even the most capable of MAJOR writers. Perhaps because it is more like a meaty novella about star-crossed lovers, hidden intentions, and the war of "the classes" that it makes it's powerful, jarring punch to the gut.

I LooooVE this book. It's elegant, both prophetic and historic, & very very adult.

آمریکایی آرام رمانی است از گراهام گرین، نویسنده مشهور انگلیسی ؛ کتاب او را که باید فراتر از یک داستان سیاسی ساده دانست ، لحظه شگفت انگیز جانشینی استعمار نو با استعمار قدیم ، در ویتنام را نشان می دهد . این رمان در فضایی سیاسی و اجتماعی پیچیده و در دل جنگ سرد ، ماجرای یک خبرنگار انگلیسی در ویتنام را روایت می‌کند که درگیر بازی‌های قدرت و ایدئولوژی می‌شود.
آمریکایی آرام ، زمانی را روایت می کند که فرانسه ، استعمار گر کهنه دیگر در باتلاق جنگ بی پایان ویتنام فرو رفته و هیچ امیدی به پایان جنگ و یا پیروزی ندارد و آمریکایی ها کم کم به بهانه مبارزه با کمونیست و کمک به متحد خود ، در حال افزایش حضور خود و کمک های نظامی و اطلاعاتی به فرانسه هستند .
قهرمانان کتاب او ، فاولر ، یک روزنامه نگار میانسال انگلیسی که گزارش های جنگ را به روزنامه ارسال می کند ، زنی زیبا و جوان به نام فوئونگ و پایل یک آمریکایی جوان هستند که در چنین فضایی برای عشق به زن ویتنامی با هم می جنگند .
شخصیت‌های اصلی رمان ، هر یک دنیایی از پیچیدگی‌ها را به تصویر می‌کشند. فاولر، روزنامه‌نگاری انگلیسی و میانسال، با نگاهی سرد و بی‌طرف به وقایع جنگ می‌نگرد. فوئونگ، زنی زیبا و جوان ویتنامی، در دل جنگ بین دو مرد با ملیت‌ها و ایدئولوژی‌های متفاوت گیر افتاده و پایل، جوان آمریکایی ایدئالیستی که با شور و شوق جوانی، به دنبال تحقق آرمان‌های آمریکایی خود یا همان تبدیل دنیا به مکانی بهتر است.
نگاه استعماری گرین را در همه جای کتاب می توان دید ، فقط انگلیسی ها ، آمریکایی ها و فرانسوی ها هستند که حرفهای مهم و فلسفی می زنند و دختر ویتنامی غیر از ورق زدن مجلات زرد اروپایی و آمریکایی ، دیدن عکسهای خانواده سلطنتی انگلیس ، آماده کردن وافور و تریاک و البته عرضه بدن خود کاری دیگر ندارد .
گراهام گرین، نگاهی انتقادی به سیاست‌های استعماری و مداخله‌جویی‌های خارجی، به ویژه آمریکا در ویتنام دارد. گرین از زبان شخصیت‌های انگلیسی و آمریکایی، به ویژه پایل، برای بیان دیدگاه‌های نژادپرستانه و خودمحورانه‌ای استفاده می‌کند که نمایانگر تفکر استعماری است. برای نمونه ، پایل، با اعتماد به نفس کاذب و ایدئولوژی‌های ساده‌انگارانه، خود را مأمور نجات ویتنام می‌داند و بدون درک از پیچیدگی‌های فرهنگی و اجتماعی این کشور، اقدام به مداخله می‌کند. مداخله ای که فاجعه بار است .
فاولر را می توان یکی از تلخ ترین شخصیت های ادبیات جهان دانست . سال‌ها حضور در مناطق جنگی و مواجهه با بی‌معنایی جنگ، او را به فردی بدبین و سرخورده تبدیل کرده است. زهرآگین بودن کلام‌های فاولر، نه تنها نشانه‌ای از شخصیت بدبین او، بلکه بازتابی از واقعیت تلخ و بی‌رحمی است که او در آن زندگی می‌کند. رقابت عشقی با پایل، بر آشفتگی‌های درونی فاولر افزوده. این رقابت، نه تنها به دلیل حسادت، بلکه به دلیل ترس از از دست دادن چیزی که به آن وابسته شده است، او را آزار می‌دهد. فاولر، در ظاهر بی‌طرف و بی‌تفاوت به نظر می‌رسد، اما در باطن، احساسات پیچیده‌ای را تجربه می‌کند .

گرین ، از فاولر و حرفه خبرنگاری او استفاده کرده و فضای خوفناک شهر جنگ زده سایگون و هم چنین جبهه های جنگ را به روشنی شرح داده . فاولر هم چنین سوار بر یک هواپیمای جنگنده فرانسوی ، از آسمان جنگ و کشته شدن مردم را نظاره می کند . نکته جالب این است که اوریانا فالاچی هم سالها بعد ، سوار بر هواپیمای آمریکایی نظاره گر قتل و کشتار ملت می شود و خاطراتش از پرواز با اندی ، خلبان آمریکایی را در شاهکار خود ، زندگی ، جنگ و دیگر هیچ می نویسد .
کشتار ویتنامی ها به دست ارتش فرانسه ، گرچه شوکه کننده و تکان دهنده است ، اما نسبت به سلاخی وحشتناک که سالهای بعد توسط آمریکا انجام می شود ، عملا صفر و ناچیز است .
در پایان آمریکایی آرام را می‌توان نقدی طعنه‌آمیز دانست که در آن، نویسنده با نگاهی دقیق به نفوذ استعمارگران جدید به ویتنام می‌پردازد. گرین ، با استفاده از استعاره، تقابل بین یک قدرت استعماری قدیمی و رو به زوال و یک قدرت نوظهور و جاه‌طلب و البته پیامدهای آن بر مردم را به تصویر کشیده.