★★★★★ Iona Main Stewart 26.03.2024 amazon.de

I found this to be one of Graham Greene’s better books; I am presently reading a couple of his other books that I don’t fully appreciate, and which I will not be giving five stars.The story takes place in West Africa during the Second World War.Major Henry Scobie is a police officer and deputy commissioner, married to Louise. There are various other characters, including Wilson, Harris, Yusef and Ali, Scobie’s “boy”.The white men have servants called “boys””, who have names, and also “small boys” who are just called that; we never learn their names.Scobie does not really love Louise but he has a neurotic need to please her and keep her happy, in fact keep everyone happy. Louise seems to believe she loves her husband and perhaps she does, perhaps she doesn’t. After all, to quote Prince Charles, “What is love?” (And when he said that, we knew he didn’t love Diana.)I found the beginning of the book rather boring. But then Louise, who doesn’t heel accepted by the other wives, feels the need to go on holiday and does so.I had difficulty in finding out where she goes to until later in the story it is revealed that it is South Africa.To send Louise on holiday, Scobie borrows money from Yusef, who later blackmails him.I found there to be various obscurities in the book; the author doesn’t always state matters directly, so one has to guess, which is not my forte.A number of persons arrive in an open boat; they have been travelling for forty days. Some die, including two children.I never found out where these people in the open boat came from; there may have been an incident involving a submarine.There is also a 19 year-old widow, Helen, who is carried in on a stretcher grasping a stamp album, with her eyes shut.Helen recovers and, with Louise out of the way, Scobie seemingly falls in love with Helen and immediately starts an affair with her.It is from this point that the book gets interesting.Scobie is in love with Helen, who is half his age, but feels he loves Louise too.Louise returns and is aware of her husband’s relationship with Helen. Wilson and Louise are both fond of poetry and communicate well with each other and Wilson falls in love with Louise.Scobie is a Catholic like many of the characters in Greene’s books and he has a crisis of conscience owing to his adultery.Not being a Catholic myself, there is much I don’t understand about Scobie’s moral/ethical/religious problems.He seems to feel that it is a sin for him to go to Mass or Communion, and I don’t really know the difference between these. It is as if Greene assumes that everyone understands all about Catholicism so he fails to explain adequately the reason for his problems and feelings of sinfulness, He feels damned.Scobie feels he loves both Louise and Helen, but it is doubtful whether he really does, and who knows? He knows his adultery is a sin but can’t give up Helen because that would hurt her, and he can’t abandon Louise for the same reason.The book turned out to be very readable, and Scobie’s character plausible and well-rounded.

★★★★★ HansBlog 26.03.2024 amazon.de

Dichte, intensive Geschichte um einen ehrlichen, katholischen Polizisten, der in Gewissensnöte gerät und keinen Ausweg mehr weiß. Gut konstruiert - oder schon zu ausgedacht? -, und ein paar sehr trockene, coole Dialoge dazu. Der katholische Aspekt wird mir gegen Ende zu stark; möglicherweise gibt es nicht viele Menschen, die die Rituale so ernst nehmen. Greene hielt das Religiöse später wohl selbst für übertrieben.Das Buch spielt in Sierra Leone, Westafrika. Die Schwüle trieft aus allen Zeilen, Ratten und Geier belagern die Hauptakteure; das drückende Klima korrespondiert mit Gewissensnöten und drängenden Problemen. Letztlich könnte die Geschichte aber auch in London spielen, die tropische Hafenstadt bleibt exotische Kulisse, fast alle Hauptakteure sind Engländer.Die englische Originalfassung ließ sich leicht lesen. Die Verfilmung von 1953 mit Trevor Howard hat mich nicht beeindruckt (s. m. sep. Besprechung).