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Title: The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene ISBN: 0-14-028332-3 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 October, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.65 (46 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Twentieth century cavalier
Comment: Graham Greene's "The Heart of the Matter" is a powerful story about the choices a man has to make with regard to love, duty, and honor -- his responsibilities to his wife, his job, and God. There are heavy religious overtones to this novel, but they never feel preachy or compromise the strength of the drama.
The main character is Major Henry Scobie, the deputy-commissioner of police in a British-occupied West African state during World War II. He's an honest cop on a force that is given to corruption: Some officers routinely take bribes to overlook diamond-smuggling operations, many of which are masterminded by a sly Syrian named Yusef, who manipulates his friendship with the officers through favors and blackmail.
Scobie's wife, Louise, is miserable; she is lonely and feels ostracized by the other officers' wives in the community. She would like to leave and go to South Africa for a while, but Scobie can't leave his post to go with her or afford to send her because he's been passed over for promotion to commissioner. His last resort to scrape together the money is to borrow it from Yusef, which puts him squarely under Yusef's thumb.
After Louise's departure, Scobie meets a girl named Helen whose husband drowned when their ship was attacked. He falls in love with her despite the fact that she's young enough to be his daughter and mocks his piety. He wonders if adultery can be a sin if the love is genuine, but this is not just a cynical attempt to rationalize his infidelity. Adding to the conflict is a clerk named Wilson who is in love with Louise and, while he pretends to be Scobie's friend and moral compass, acts a sort of dual role as watchdog and betrayer.
Like the protagonist of Greene's "The Power and the Glory," Scobie's character is defined by the fact that he is a devout Catholic who is contritely aware of his sins. Although he believes that suicide would be eternal damnation, he poses a crucial question for himself: Would it be better to kill himself for the sake of honor than to live shamefully, insulting God by kneeling before the altar while living adulterously?
I see Scobie as a "white knight" type of character -- a cavalier, a protector, someone who was born to be a policeman, someone who is sworn to follow the moral code of Christianity. When he fails in this task, or believes that he fails, he is forced to question the validity of continuing his mission; that is, his life. After reading so many novels about people with moral uncertainties, I find a fresh perspective in this man who draws courage from his convictions and acts accordingly.
Rating: 5
Summary: The violent collision of desire and duty
Comment: "The Heart of the Matter" - I couldn't quite understand why Graham Greene chose this title. But a few weeks after reading the book, I now think I know. The main character, Scobie, is confused when his life is turned upside down by events that seem to be beyond his control - his sincere desire to make his wife happy, and the sincere comfort he finds in his relationship with another woman. This emotional dilemma crosses over into his professional life, where he finds his obligation to duty overcome by his desire to cover-up the confusion he finds in his personal life. He has no problem with sincerity, except that he has too much of it. Thus, the title, "The Heart of the Matter," seems to represent the violent collision of desire and duty that ultimately leads Scobie to take extraordinary measures.
Greene's performance in writing this work is stunning, as it is in many of his other novels. (I would compare "The Heart of the Matter" to "The End of the Affair" and "The Quiet American," both very powerful novels.) He is able to paint a perfect setting, and his description of the human psyche resonates in a strong way with one's inner soul. How he is able to achieve this very much amazes me.
Rating: 5
Summary: The Missing Link Between Joeseph Conrad and Robert Stone
Comment: Orwell reviewed the "Heart of the Matter" and somewhat trashed it making fun of Greene's perception of Catholic damnation. Orwell taunted Greene saying that his view of Hell was not some horrific Boschian Inferno but more of a Night Club of the damned. However, religous perception's aside, Graham Greene could weave a tale and bring characters to life on the page through dialogue and crystalline detail of the physical world in a way that Orwell never could. THOTM stands out as a great literary achievment for the way it studies the relationship of a Man to his Faith and to Love, not divine love but human love, or in Scobie's case: all too human love. Only Graham Greene can fuse the plot lines of a thriller replete with murder, diamond smuggling, adultry, bureacratic careering in the African sub Sahara with a novel whose central question is conflicted GRACE & FAITH. This novel is truly a study of the human soul of Scobie the police officer whose world is ruptured when his integrity becomes impugned by acts of Love that cause him to lie and commit crimes. Greene pits good against evil and then blurs the boundaries until the world of his fictional landscape is inverted and nothing is as it seems. A masterpiece by a writer who easily courts immortality.
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Title: The End of the Affair by Graham Greene ISBN: 0140184953 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 1991 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene ISBN: 0142437301 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 25 February, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Our Man in Havana: An Entertainment by Graham Greene ISBN: 0140184937 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 1991 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: The Quiet American by Graham Greene ISBN: 0140185003 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 1991 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Brighton Rock by Graham Greene ISBN: 0140184929 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 1995 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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