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Heirate nie in Monte Carlo
Bertram is not a believer in luck. An unambitious accountant, his plans for his second marriage are typically quiet: St. Luke’s then two weeks in Bournemouth. But he comes to the attention of Dreuther, the director of his company, who changes Bertram’s plans for him: wedding and honeymoon in Monte Carlo, on board his private yacht. Inevitably Bertram visits the casino, and loses. But then his system starts working, and his trouble really begins.
124 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1955
66 people are currently reading
1005 people want to read
About the author
Graham Greene
801 books6,118 followersHenry Graham Greene was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading novelists of the 20th century.
Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquired a reputation early in his lifetime as a major writer, both of serious Catholic novels, and of thrillers (or "entertainments" as he termed them). He was shortlisted for the Nobel Prize in Literature several times. Through 67 years of writing, which included over 25 novels, he explored the conflicting moral and political issues of the modern world. The Power and the Glory won the 1941 Hawthornden Prize and The Heart of the Matter won the 1948 James Tait Black Memorial Prize and was shortlisted for the Best of the James Tait Black. Greene was awarded the 1968 Shakespeare Prize and the 1981 Jerusalem Prize. Several of his stories have been filmed, some more than once, and he collaborated with filmmaker Carol Reed on The Fallen Idol (1948) and The Third Man (1949).
He converted to Catholicism in 1926 after meeting his future wife, Vivienne Dayrell-Browning. Later in life he took to calling himself a "Catholic agnostic". He died in 1991, aged 86, of leukemia, and was buried in Corseaux cemetery in Switzerland. William Golding called Greene "the ultimate chronicler of twentieth-century man's consciousness and anxiety".
Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquired a reputation early in his lifetime as a major writer, both of serious Catholic novels, and of thrillers (or "entertainments" as he termed them). He was shortlisted for the Nobel Prize in Literature several times. Through 67 years of writing, which included over 25 novels, he explored the conflicting moral and political issues of the modern world. The Power and the Glory won the 1941 Hawthornden Prize and The Heart of the Matter won the 1948 James Tait Black Memorial Prize and was shortlisted for the Best of the James Tait Black. Greene was awarded the 1968 Shakespeare Prize and the 1981 Jerusalem Prize. Several of his stories have been filmed, some more than once, and he collaborated with filmmaker Carol Reed on The Fallen Idol (1948) and The Third Man (1949).
He converted to Catholicism in 1926 after meeting his future wife, Vivienne Dayrell-Browning. Later in life he took to calling himself a "Catholic agnostic". He died in 1991, aged 86, of leukemia, and was buried in Corseaux cemetery in Switzerland. William Golding called Greene "the ultimate chronicler of twentieth-century man's consciousness and anxiety".
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 223 reviews
September 27, 2019
Read online here. Graham Green wrote a fairy tale. It was a proper fairy tale for grown ups. There is the princess, the prince who instead of having to win her love, has to win it back. through The Task, here it is called The System. There is a fairy godfather and the old biddy with good advice and a gift, an old witch, and the false prince, there is even a palace. And it's all set far, far away in a land that might as well be mythical. A moral rounds out the end of the story which is what makes it so damn silly.
But it is enjoyable because Graham Greene's writing is a joy to read whether it is satire, literary fiction, humour or fairy tales. Like so many of his books, it's very visual and would make a good film. As it is so short, maybe a half-hour costume drama for tv would work better. Really enjoyable, really silly.
But it is enjoyable because Graham Greene's writing is a joy to read whether it is satire, literary fiction, humour or fairy tales. Like so many of his books, it's very visual and would make a good film. As it is so short, maybe a half-hour costume drama for tv would work better. Really enjoyable, really silly.
August 31, 2024
I read this little mini-masterpiece in the 1990's, one winsome summer's weekend.
Shopping done, grass cut, I needed a good break from the unrelenting stress of my radically downsized office, and found it in this wonderful brief entertainment.
I had (under direction of my necessary mood stabilizers) become an affably nondescript B-type person like Bertram in my life, not aiming at any higher a goal than to succeed at my work.
I was scrupulous and anxious to please.
(Bullies there were of course, but bullying had now burned them all out.)
So Greene's Bertram is an underachiever like I had been. Bertram and I have our prototype in Pushkin's Eugene Onegin - we are examples of the Superfluous Man who can't.see himself as he appears to the more worldly.
Unnecessary to the workplace or society.
Unknown to himself, though, Bertram has found himself an anonymous fan for his clever adroitness, and now, on his honeymoon, is whisked away to Monte Carlo.
And there, with a bean counter's canny head for numbers, he wins big at Roulette. A King's Ransom, in fact.
You see, his system works... as did mine.
Though never a gambler, I systematically walked the straight and narrow good path, never veering too far to left or right, in a mode similar to Bertram's.
A fence-sitting do-goodnik.
But in the end, like Bertram, I won the 'gros lot' of peace and love.
How so? Well, I broke the bank with a wonderful wife, affable neighbours, true-blue friends - and my work was pensionable.
Zeno once had the timid tortoise defeat the flashy hare in his mythical race, and - seeing my life on earth as a brief paysage moralisé the way I did - to me it was no wonder.
Goodness is its own reward in this world - and a heavenly one in the next!
But the hares of this world, like Pushkin's superficially worldly Onegin, eat dust for dessert at the end of their life's smorgasbord. And they are thus made doubly superfluous by their sin.
But Bertram and I, superfluous and perennial Losers, have Taken it All:
The peaceful pot of simple golden goodness at the end of life's rainbow.
Shopping done, grass cut, I needed a good break from the unrelenting stress of my radically downsized office, and found it in this wonderful brief entertainment.
I had (under direction of my necessary mood stabilizers) become an affably nondescript B-type person like Bertram in my life, not aiming at any higher a goal than to succeed at my work.
I was scrupulous and anxious to please.
(Bullies there were of course, but bullying had now burned them all out.)
So Greene's Bertram is an underachiever like I had been. Bertram and I have our prototype in Pushkin's Eugene Onegin - we are examples of the Superfluous Man who can't.see himself as he appears to the more worldly.
Unnecessary to the workplace or society.
Unknown to himself, though, Bertram has found himself an anonymous fan for his clever adroitness, and now, on his honeymoon, is whisked away to Monte Carlo.
And there, with a bean counter's canny head for numbers, he wins big at Roulette. A King's Ransom, in fact.
You see, his system works... as did mine.
Though never a gambler, I systematically walked the straight and narrow good path, never veering too far to left or right, in a mode similar to Bertram's.
A fence-sitting do-goodnik.
But in the end, like Bertram, I won the 'gros lot' of peace and love.
How so? Well, I broke the bank with a wonderful wife, affable neighbours, true-blue friends - and my work was pensionable.
Zeno once had the timid tortoise defeat the flashy hare in his mythical race, and - seeing my life on earth as a brief paysage moralisé the way I did - to me it was no wonder.
Goodness is its own reward in this world - and a heavenly one in the next!
But the hares of this world, like Pushkin's superficially worldly Onegin, eat dust for dessert at the end of their life's smorgasbord. And they are thus made doubly superfluous by their sin.
But Bertram and I, superfluous and perennial Losers, have Taken it All:
The peaceful pot of simple golden goodness at the end of life's rainbow.
November 2, 2023
What an entertaining read. This is my first Graham Greene, and it won’t be my last.
A lowly accountant in a firm is about to get married, anyway he is summoned to the boss's office on the 8th (no less) floor. The boss wants to ask his opinion about some accounting discrepancy, he’s impressed by his response – consequently, the boss invites our accountant, and his fiancee to enjoy his hospitality in Monaco, get married and join him on a cruise on his private yacht.
Wow!!
Well our accountant gets obsessed with a roulette system he created in Monaco and starts gambling. What starts out as a bit of fun turns into a disaster that threatens his relationship. Or does it??
What writing. Suspenseful, surprising, humorous, cheeky, colourful and engaging.
4 Stars
A lowly accountant in a firm is about to get married, anyway he is summoned to the boss's office on the 8th (no less) floor. The boss wants to ask his opinion about some accounting discrepancy, he’s impressed by his response – consequently, the boss invites our accountant, and his fiancee to enjoy his hospitality in Monaco, get married and join him on a cruise on his private yacht.
Wow!!
Well our accountant gets obsessed with a roulette system he created in Monaco and starts gambling. What starts out as a bit of fun turns into a disaster that threatens his relationship. Or does it??
What writing. Suspenseful, surprising, humorous, cheeky, colourful and engaging.
4 Stars
March 19, 2022
“It would be so terrible”, she said, “ if we became a couple. You know what I mean. You with your paper. Me with my knitting.
“You don’t know how to knit.”
“Well, playing patience then. Or listening to the radio. Or watching televisions. We’ll never have a television, will we?”
“Never”.
O melhor desta obra menor de Graham Greene, centrada em Bertram e Cary, um casal inglês de classe média que vai casar-se a Monte Carlo a convite do patrão dele, são as observações de Cary. Apesar de ser bastante mais jovem do que o noivo e um pouco inocente, mostra-se bastante madura e assertiva.
“It’s not a game,” she said.”You said it your self – it’s work. You’ve begin to commute. Breakfast at 9.30 sharp, so to catch the first table. What a lot of beautiful money you’re earning. At what age will you retire?
“Retire?”
“You mustn’t be afraid of retirement, darling. We shall see so much more of each other, and we could fit up a little roulette in your study.”
Com o atraso da chegada do iate do patrão, onde irão passar a lua-de-mel, acabaram por ceder à tentação dos casinos e, nessas incursões, a relação dos recém-casados passa por todos os altos e baixos em pouco mais de uma semana, tudo devido ao vil metal.
“You don’t know how to knit.”
“Well, playing patience then. Or listening to the radio. Or watching televisions. We’ll never have a television, will we?”
“Never”.
O melhor desta obra menor de Graham Greene, centrada em Bertram e Cary, um casal inglês de classe média que vai casar-se a Monte Carlo a convite do patrão dele, são as observações de Cary. Apesar de ser bastante mais jovem do que o noivo e um pouco inocente, mostra-se bastante madura e assertiva.
“It’s not a game,” she said.”You said it your self – it’s work. You’ve begin to commute. Breakfast at 9.30 sharp, so to catch the first table. What a lot of beautiful money you’re earning. At what age will you retire?
“Retire?”
“You mustn’t be afraid of retirement, darling. We shall see so much more of each other, and we could fit up a little roulette in your study.”
Com o atraso da chegada do iate do patrão, onde irão passar a lua-de-mel, acabaram por ceder à tentação dos casinos e, nessas incursões, a relação dos recém-casados passa por todos os altos e baixos em pouco mais de uma semana, tudo devido ao vil metal.
April 21, 2021
I think Graham Greene—a writer who was constantly financially strapped despite turning out such a prolific output of books, plays, stories and screenplays while also earning income from journalism and other more secret employment with various political entities—was looking to make a quick buck like his protagonist, Bertram, when he wrote this short book. It has plot contrivance at its height, with only a hint of redemption at the end, nothing in comparison to Greene’s major works like A Burnt Out Case or The Power and the Glory. A story-to-go, which, given his connections, turned into a lucrative movie as well.
Bertram, a fortyish divorcee, a sub-accountant by trade with a penchant for gambling, is about to be married to Cary, twenty years his junior. They are the most ill-matched couple, for while he prefers money and power, she prefers modesty and living poor. Their humble honeymoon is scheduled for Bournemouth. All this is upended when one of the senior shareholders of his company, Dreuther (a proxy for the Devil), impressed by Bertram’s handling of an accounting problem at the firm, changes plans and has the couple marrying in Monte Carlo, spending their first night in a hotel with an attached casino and then getting onto his boat for a Mediterranean cruise. All this is fine, until Dreuther doesn’t show up for several days, and Bertram is drawn towards the casino as the couple kick their heels in the Riviera.
All the elements of temptation, greed, and ambition are in play. We expect to see Bertram losing it all, but Greene turns the tables on us and has our hero actually winning with a “system” that he perfects to beat the house. Then the contrivances start and without giving the game away, suffice to say that Greene, probably being reminded that he needs to bring in that redemption thing of his, forces Bertram to confront what is more important to him: money or his marriage.
The plot twists keep you reading, but this story is probably better off as a screenplay, and I would put it down to one of Greene’s “entertainments” that he wrote in between his serious Catholic novels.
Bertram, a fortyish divorcee, a sub-accountant by trade with a penchant for gambling, is about to be married to Cary, twenty years his junior. They are the most ill-matched couple, for while he prefers money and power, she prefers modesty and living poor. Their humble honeymoon is scheduled for Bournemouth. All this is upended when one of the senior shareholders of his company, Dreuther (a proxy for the Devil), impressed by Bertram’s handling of an accounting problem at the firm, changes plans and has the couple marrying in Monte Carlo, spending their first night in a hotel with an attached casino and then getting onto his boat for a Mediterranean cruise. All this is fine, until Dreuther doesn’t show up for several days, and Bertram is drawn towards the casino as the couple kick their heels in the Riviera.
All the elements of temptation, greed, and ambition are in play. We expect to see Bertram losing it all, but Greene turns the tables on us and has our hero actually winning with a “system” that he perfects to beat the house. Then the contrivances start and without giving the game away, suffice to say that Greene, probably being reminded that he needs to bring in that redemption thing of his, forces Bertram to confront what is more important to him: money or his marriage.
The plot twists keep you reading, but this story is probably better off as a screenplay, and I would put it down to one of Greene’s “entertainments” that he wrote in between his serious Catholic novels.
March 20, 2021
My ongoing quest to read a book from every country left me with very few options for Monaco, but Graham Greene wrote a novella that manages to be about a brand new marriage with a big age difference and gambling, set of course in Monte Carlo.
I always find Graham Greene to have a lot to say about relationships and life; here are a few quotations:
"It would be so terrible if we became a couple. You know what I mean. You with your paper. Me with my knitting."
"'Why bother? Our marriage was going to be unlucky - you've read the omens, haven't you?'
'I don't care,' she said. 'I'd rather be unlucky with you than lucky with anyone else.'"
"I like being somewhere without footprints."
This novel was originally published in the mid 1950s. If you Google Monte Carlo now, there are a lot of articles about if/why Monte Carlo is "so over" and the rich have found new playgrounds. But Loser Takes All shows it in its height.
I always find Graham Greene to have a lot to say about relationships and life; here are a few quotations:
"It would be so terrible if we became a couple. You know what I mean. You with your paper. Me with my knitting."
"'Why bother? Our marriage was going to be unlucky - you've read the omens, haven't you?'
'I don't care,' she said. 'I'd rather be unlucky with you than lucky with anyone else.'"
"I like being somewhere without footprints."
This novel was originally published in the mid 1950s. If you Google Monte Carlo now, there are a lot of articles about if/why Monte Carlo is "so over" and the rich have found new playgrounds. But Loser Takes All shows it in its height.
August 18, 2015
I SUPPOSE the small greenish statue of a man in a wig on a horse is one of the famous statues of the world. I said to Cary, ‘Do you see how shiny the right knee is? It’s been touched so often for luck, like St Peter’s foot in Rome.’
She rubbed the knee carefully and tenderly as though she were polishing it.
‘Are you superstitious?’ I said. ‘
Yes.’
‘I’m not.’
‘I’m so superstitious I never walk under ladders. I throw salt over my right shoulder. I try not to tread on the cracks in pavements. Darling, you’re marrying the most superstitious woman in the world. Lots of people aren’t happy. We are. I’m not going to risk a thing.’
There is not much I can say about Loser Takes All other than it is a delightful story of a newlywed couple on honeymoon. I have heard Loser Takes All being compared to Coward's Private Lives and just for once I have to admit that this comparison also came to my mind when reading Greene's story.
However, where wit and humor and sheer slapstick in Private Lives shows a couple (or two) that is very sure of itself, Greene's approach is different: His story is based on a couple who isn't sure of anything at all, and in the course of the book, this uncertainty keeps the story interesting.
"ONE adapts oneself to money much more easily than to poverty: Rousseau might have written that man was born rich and is everywhere impoverished."
She rubbed the knee carefully and tenderly as though she were polishing it.
‘Are you superstitious?’ I said. ‘
Yes.’
‘I’m not.’
‘I’m so superstitious I never walk under ladders. I throw salt over my right shoulder. I try not to tread on the cracks in pavements. Darling, you’re marrying the most superstitious woman in the world. Lots of people aren’t happy. We are. I’m not going to risk a thing.’
There is not much I can say about Loser Takes All other than it is a delightful story of a newlywed couple on honeymoon. I have heard Loser Takes All being compared to Coward's Private Lives and just for once I have to admit that this comparison also came to my mind when reading Greene's story.
However, where wit and humor and sheer slapstick in Private Lives shows a couple (or two) that is very sure of itself, Greene's approach is different: His story is based on a couple who isn't sure of anything at all, and in the course of the book, this uncertainty keeps the story interesting.
"ONE adapts oneself to money much more easily than to poverty: Rousseau might have written that man was born rich and is everywhere impoverished."
July 26, 2014
Dear Frere, As we have been associated in business and friendship for a quarter of a century I am dedicating this frivolity without permission to you. Unlike some of my Catholic critics, you, I know, when reading this little story, will not mistake me for 'I', nor do I need to explain to you that this tale has not been written for the purposes of encouraging adultery, the use of pyjama tops, or registry office marriages. Nor is it meant to discourage gambling. Affectionately and gratefully, Graham Greene.
And in a few words Graham Greene dismisses this "entertainment" as he did most of his lighter work as a little bit of fun, not to be taken seriously. And who could take something so obviously designed to be a James Stewart and Audrey Hepburn vehicle with a set up of two young lovers mooning, pouting, quarrelling and generally playing around in Monte Carlo seriously? It is exactly what Greene says it is, frivolous, and latterly adapted in to a Molly Ringwald comedy called Strike it Rich.
Calling it slight might be an insult to the word, there's very little here but what is here is both fun and as ever coloured slightly with Greene's constant struggle with his Catholic faith and it's conflict with the natural order of Human life.
And in a few words Graham Greene dismisses this "entertainment" as he did most of his lighter work as a little bit of fun, not to be taken seriously. And who could take something so obviously designed to be a James Stewart and Audrey Hepburn vehicle with a set up of two young lovers mooning, pouting, quarrelling and generally playing around in Monte Carlo seriously? It is exactly what Greene says it is, frivolous, and latterly adapted in to a Molly Ringwald comedy called Strike it Rich.
Calling it slight might be an insult to the word, there's very little here but what is here is both fun and as ever coloured slightly with Greene's constant struggle with his Catholic faith and it's conflict with the natural order of Human life.
March 11, 2020
40th book of 2020.
I feel slightly guilty, and surprised, at giving Greene a 3 star rating. This isn't a bad book, really. I just feel as if it isn't quite up to his usual standards, and with only 5 stars to rate from, there isn't much way to illustrate that. It's a 3.5, if anything. I still enjoyed it, there were a few good lines and all - just wasn't anything special.
As the title and cover suggest, this is a little Casino Royale in nature. A guy gets married and wants a good honeymoon, his boss offers them to go abroad and he would meet them. Things don't go according to plan - the husband gets addicted to gambling, and does well, for a time, but threatens his world and relationship. But most of all, this is just over one hundred pages long, so doesn't take much time to read it. Not his best, but hey, it's Greene.
I feel slightly guilty, and surprised, at giving Greene a 3 star rating. This isn't a bad book, really. I just feel as if it isn't quite up to his usual standards, and with only 5 stars to rate from, there isn't much way to illustrate that. It's a 3.5, if anything. I still enjoyed it, there were a few good lines and all - just wasn't anything special.
As the title and cover suggest, this is a little Casino Royale in nature. A guy gets married and wants a good honeymoon, his boss offers them to go abroad and he would meet them. Things don't go according to plan - the husband gets addicted to gambling, and does well, for a time, but threatens his world and relationship. But most of all, this is just over one hundred pages long, so doesn't take much time to read it. Not his best, but hey, it's Greene.
December 1, 2021
Loser Takes All concerns Mr. Bertram, a mid-level accountant in a large London firm, and his young fiancée, Cary. Just before their wedding day, their plans for a modest church wedding are upended when one of the owners of Bertram’s firm, Herbert Dreuther, makes Bertram an unexpected and very generous offer. He tells him to take Cary to Monte Carlo and get married there instead. He’ll meet them there and serve as a witness, and then they can join him on his yacht for a Mediterranean cruise. Cary is reluctant, but Bertram persuades her to go along with the change in plans.
Mr. Dreuther puts them up in a suite in a luxurious Monte Carlo hotel, but he doesn’t show up for the wedding. The newly married couple has very limited funds, but Bertram, putting his skill with numbers to use, comes up with a system to win at the roulette table. Unfortunately, his system begins to consume him, and Cary gets fed up. Is the marriage doomed, or will the newlyweds repair it before it’s too late?
I love Graham Greene’s writing, and this short novella, although characterized by the author as a “frivolity,” is no exception. It’s a testament to Greene’s storytelling talent that, in the short span of the book, I found myself caring about Bertram and Cary and hoping that they would make the right choices.
Mr. Dreuther puts them up in a suite in a luxurious Monte Carlo hotel, but he doesn’t show up for the wedding. The newly married couple has very limited funds, but Bertram, putting his skill with numbers to use, comes up with a system to win at the roulette table. Unfortunately, his system begins to consume him, and Cary gets fed up. Is the marriage doomed, or will the newlyweds repair it before it’s too late?
I love Graham Greene’s writing, and this short novella, although characterized by the author as a “frivolity,” is no exception. It’s a testament to Greene’s storytelling talent that, in the short span of the book, I found myself caring about Bertram and Cary and hoping that they would make the right choices.
October 2, 2013
I've been on a Graham Greene kick and while this one may not be one of his greats -- it seems to have been dashed off, to be turned into a film -- it is quite delightful. The dialogue reminds me of Noel Coward, and you get wonderful descriptions, deftly sketched as in this brief insight into the main character's boss, a rather laconic figure who possesses a subtle mind:
Greene's writing, even when he is not giving it his full attention, is better than most of us can muster on the best of days.
He was a prisoner in his room, and small facts of the outer world came to him with the shock of novelty; he entertained them as an imprisoned man entertains a mouse or treasures a leaf blown through the bars.
Greene's writing, even when he is not giving it his full attention, is better than most of us can muster on the best of days.
April 23, 2013
Was GG drying out, or somepun, when he wrote this '54 short story? It opens like "Private Lives," w married couple arguing on adjoining Monte Carlo hotel balconies, and ends up like a first draft romcom of an unpublished E. Phillips Oppenheim.
August 1, 2021
Bertram is 40 and marrying Cary who is 20. He is an accountant working in a company headed by wealthy men who only care about themselves. A chance encounter has him invited to Monte Carlo by one of the company owners.
They go and then we read of uncertainty between the couple when Bertram devises a system and starts winning large sums at the casino. Instead of happiness they instead quarrel and are miserable. Be happy with what you have and do not aspire above your station seemed the message in this short novella. Amusing, ironic and disturbing describe the story.
Not Greene’s best but still entertaining.
They go and then we read of uncertainty between the couple when Bertram devises a system and starts winning large sums at the casino. Instead of happiness they instead quarrel and are miserable. Be happy with what you have and do not aspire above your station seemed the message in this short novella. Amusing, ironic and disturbing describe the story.
Not Greene’s best but still entertaining.
May 22, 2016
Three stars on Goodreads means "I liked it," but two stars means it was just "OK." Well, I liked this lightweight novella by Graham Greene, even though, ultimately, it was just OK. So, it gets two stars, even though I liked it. Dig where I'm coming from here?
The story covers about two weeks in the topsy turvy early days of the marriage of lower-echelon Brit accountant, Mr. Bertram, and his young bride, Cary. He's 40 and on his second marriage and she's a virginal 25. Their plans for an unremarkable church wedding followed by a Bournemouth honeymoon are turned on end by a twist of fate, and suddenly the couple find themselves sent off to Monte Carlo for a wedding and casino-filled holiday, thanks to the machinations of Bertram's eccentric and mysterious boss, Mr. Dreuther (also known as the GOM, or Grand Old Man, but which could easily also mean GOD). Things do not go as planned when Dreuther fails to sail to Monte Carlo in time for the couple's wedding, which precipitates the couple's financial crisis, a growing gambling urge, Bertram's development of a failsafe mathematical way of winning at the tables, and a marital crisis when Cary begins to favor a hungry young man over her increasingly petty and greed-obsessed husband. But, in the end, domestic happiness and poverty win out.
The book starts out rather amusingly; Dreuther is like one of those benevolent capitalists straight out of a 1930s screwball comedy movie, and the initial scenes between he and Bertram are funny, but the book doesn't sustain this level of humor and becomes a bit dour when it tries to examine (somewhat shallowly) the causes of marital strife. The moral hardly rises above the "money doesn't buy happiness" ilk, and in the end Greene seems to plump for boring British marriages.
The story covers about two weeks in the topsy turvy early days of the marriage of lower-echelon Brit accountant, Mr. Bertram, and his young bride, Cary. He's 40 and on his second marriage and she's a virginal 25. Their plans for an unremarkable church wedding followed by a Bournemouth honeymoon are turned on end by a twist of fate, and suddenly the couple find themselves sent off to Monte Carlo for a wedding and casino-filled holiday, thanks to the machinations of Bertram's eccentric and mysterious boss, Mr. Dreuther (also known as the GOM, or Grand Old Man, but which could easily also mean GOD). Things do not go as planned when Dreuther fails to sail to Monte Carlo in time for the couple's wedding, which precipitates the couple's financial crisis, a growing gambling urge, Bertram's development of a failsafe mathematical way of winning at the tables, and a marital crisis when Cary begins to favor a hungry young man over her increasingly petty and greed-obsessed husband. But, in the end, domestic happiness and poverty win out.
The book starts out rather amusingly; Dreuther is like one of those benevolent capitalists straight out of a 1930s screwball comedy movie, and the initial scenes between he and Bertram are funny, but the book doesn't sustain this level of humor and becomes a bit dour when it tries to examine (somewhat shallowly) the causes of marital strife. The moral hardly rises above the "money doesn't buy happiness" ilk, and in the end Greene seems to plump for boring British marriages.
April 29, 2020
Graham Greene called "Loser Takes All", a tongue-in-cheek yet surprisingly tender and poignant little novella as a "frivolity". Indeed, frivolous, in a good sense, is what one would like to call this little piece of work; instead of the writer's trademark clipped, journalistic realism to be found in almost all his major works, what one discovers is a cheeky, witty and droll sense of humour and an unabashedly frothy, superfluous approach to plotting, with surprisingly layers of exquisite melancholy to be found in the most unexpected places - in a nutshell, this can be considered as a practice run for what Greene pulled off with his freewheeling end of the Sixties masterpiece 'Travels With My Aunt' so smoothly.
But what a practice run, indeed. As with the greatest storytellers, "Loser Takes All", being even a minor piece of work, is a brilliantly constructed fable, a modern and endearing fairy-tale unfolding in the glitzy yet somewhat dangerous backdrop of the high-stakes gambling playground of Monte Carlo and also a concise and powerful parable about Greene's favourite theme - the elusiveness of God and the strange, seductive allure of the Devil.
Bertram, a middle-aged, mild-mannered accountant with a natural penchant for deciphering numbers, is all set to marry his much younger lover Cary in a rather modest and even austere little ceremony in an English church. However, when Mr. Dreuther, the affluent and affable director of Bertram's company, is taken by the latter's mutual liking for poetry, the Grand Old Man, or the Gom, as he is referred to by Bertram, arranges for him to be married expensively in Monte Carlo. As fate would have it, the Gom fails to make it in time and Bertram and Cary, already intrigued and bewildered by the buzz of the gamblers and their various "systems", and driven to a nearly debt-ridden state due to their lavish stay in the hotel, fall prey to the sinful thrill of the game of chance being played on roulette tables.
That is all that this little book should have been about and staying true to the writer's "frivolous" intentions, this is essentially like an Ealing comedy in its comedy of manners and witticisms and its pompous, dotty English caricatures, all in the take. But that said, this is Greene we are talking about and he fleshes out this flimsy narrative skeleton with not only a wry, subtly assured gift of rich, pitch-black comedy but also, most crucially, real heart and emotional weight.
Yes, that is what makes "Loser Takes All' a worthy read, even as it frequently borders on the silly and even the farcical; somewhere, behind all this frothy fun, there is a real moral to be found and that is what one discovers about half-way into the book and it would floor any reader, just as any of Greene's spiritual novels would do, pulling the rug beneath the feet with much Machiavellian and perverse glee.
Then again, this is a wistful love story of sorts too, the one that we have come to expect from Greene so easily now, and we end up rooting for Bertram and Cary's love and new marriage to stay strong against the odds that are inevitably stacked against them. This warmth, not surprising in Greene, makes this story so oddly and unexpectedly believable.
Am I making it sound too serious? No, dear friends, this is a light-hearted lark of a tale, one that is best savoured without taking any of it seriously. So, try out your luck with "Loser Takes All" and your system of believing in Greene all the way through is bound to work miracles.
But what a practice run, indeed. As with the greatest storytellers, "Loser Takes All", being even a minor piece of work, is a brilliantly constructed fable, a modern and endearing fairy-tale unfolding in the glitzy yet somewhat dangerous backdrop of the high-stakes gambling playground of Monte Carlo and also a concise and powerful parable about Greene's favourite theme - the elusiveness of God and the strange, seductive allure of the Devil.
Bertram, a middle-aged, mild-mannered accountant with a natural penchant for deciphering numbers, is all set to marry his much younger lover Cary in a rather modest and even austere little ceremony in an English church. However, when Mr. Dreuther, the affluent and affable director of Bertram's company, is taken by the latter's mutual liking for poetry, the Grand Old Man, or the Gom, as he is referred to by Bertram, arranges for him to be married expensively in Monte Carlo. As fate would have it, the Gom fails to make it in time and Bertram and Cary, already intrigued and bewildered by the buzz of the gamblers and their various "systems", and driven to a nearly debt-ridden state due to their lavish stay in the hotel, fall prey to the sinful thrill of the game of chance being played on roulette tables.
That is all that this little book should have been about and staying true to the writer's "frivolous" intentions, this is essentially like an Ealing comedy in its comedy of manners and witticisms and its pompous, dotty English caricatures, all in the take. But that said, this is Greene we are talking about and he fleshes out this flimsy narrative skeleton with not only a wry, subtly assured gift of rich, pitch-black comedy but also, most crucially, real heart and emotional weight.
Yes, that is what makes "Loser Takes All' a worthy read, even as it frequently borders on the silly and even the farcical; somewhere, behind all this frothy fun, there is a real moral to be found and that is what one discovers about half-way into the book and it would floor any reader, just as any of Greene's spiritual novels would do, pulling the rug beneath the feet with much Machiavellian and perverse glee.
Then again, this is a wistful love story of sorts too, the one that we have come to expect from Greene so easily now, and we end up rooting for Bertram and Cary's love and new marriage to stay strong against the odds that are inevitably stacked against them. This warmth, not surprising in Greene, makes this story so oddly and unexpectedly believable.
Am I making it sound too serious? No, dear friends, this is a light-hearted lark of a tale, one that is best savoured without taking any of it seriously. So, try out your luck with "Loser Takes All" and your system of believing in Greene all the way through is bound to work miracles.
September 1, 2023
A minor though very enjoyable Greene novel. It was a brilliant idea for Greene to transpose his knack for obsessive behavior within his characters to a casino venue. I was slightly disappointed that the atmosphere of Monte Carlo seemed curiously muted or, rather, was confined to the characters: in this case, Bertram and Cary, newlyweds (with an age gap) who hope to win big on their honeymoon. I like how Bertram's ambitions are only fired up through gambling and his "system," not with his career. It would have been nice to learn more about Cary, who comes across as a bit of a one-dimensional character who cavils with Bertram's schemes. Given the Dreuther stuff, I'm wondering why Greene made this a novella instead of a richly executed novel. All of the Greene ingredients are here, but the novella length causes much of the story's potential to be squandered. Maybe there's a parallel universe in which Greene DID write a 400 page novel and THAT version is one of his lost masterpieces?
December 15, 2020
The finishing scene of this amusing novelette is just like the ending of a James Bond movie. Very entertaining read interspersed with some wise insights on life, love, relationship and money.
April 9, 2022
I finished a book yesterday morning and this title popped up in an e-mail, so I just grabbed it from the library because I love Graham Greene. I didn't realize that it was only 170 pages or so, so I kind of devoured it in just a couple of days.
Graham Greene is, I think, the writing equivalent of a five-tool baseball player. The guy can just write in all sorts of genres. Mainstream fiction, humor, thrillers, etc. He must have fallen out of bed writing great sentences.
This book was a very light piece...a short, humorous morality tale. Even though it was light, it was still very well written. It won't ever get ranked up there with Greene's best work, but I'm glad for having read it. And I'm glad that it turned out to be a short book and got me back on track for my 40-book goal this year.
Graham Greene is, I think, the writing equivalent of a five-tool baseball player. The guy can just write in all sorts of genres. Mainstream fiction, humor, thrillers, etc. He must have fallen out of bed writing great sentences.
This book was a very light piece...a short, humorous morality tale. Even though it was light, it was still very well written. It won't ever get ranked up there with Greene's best work, but I'm glad for having read it. And I'm glad that it turned out to be a short book and got me back on track for my 40-book goal this year.
December 7, 2019
Kaybeden Hepsini Alır, okuduğum ilk Graham Greene kitabı oldu. Bu ince kitap beni çok etkilemese de Greene hakkında bende olumlu bir izlenim bıraktığını söyleyebilirim. O sebeple kısa zamanda Greene'in daha klasikleşmiş bir eserini okumayı düşünüyorum.
Kitaptan çok fazla etkilenmeme sebebim aslında kumarı odağına alması. Baş karakterler, Bertram, Carry ve şans oyunları. Şans oyunları ilgim ve bilgim olmayan bir alan olduğu için bu husus üzerine temellendirilen hikâyelerden de çok hoşlanmıyorum. O sebeple bu kitabı da sıkılmadan okusam da kitaptan çok keyif aldığımı söyleyemem.
Kitaptan çok fazla etkilenmeme sebebim aslında kumarı odağına alması. Baş karakterler, Bertram, Carry ve şans oyunları. Şans oyunları ilgim ve bilgim olmayan bir alan olduğu için bu husus üzerine temellendirilen hikâyelerden de çok hoşlanmıyorum. O sebeple bu kitabı da sıkılmadan okusam da kitaptan çok keyif aldığımı söyleyemem.
December 23, 2024
In een boekenkastje aangetroffen en min meer tussendoor gelezen. Gedateerd, maar toch een aardig boekje uit 1955 over liefde en gokken in Monaco. Titel dekt de lading. Qua sfeer stijf-Brits, vooroorlogs. Gaat terug in het kastje.
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February 12, 2025“Mitte summas ei ole asi, sir Walter. Teie ja mina vastutame suure ettevõtte eest. Me ei saa oma kohustusi teiste kaela ajada. Osanikud…”
“Te ajate ülespuhutud loba, Dreuther. Osanikud oleme meie kahekesi.”
“Te ajate ülespuhutud loba, Dreuther. Osanikud oleme meie kahekesi.”
March 13, 2021
didn't dislike it? stressful & bad decisions were made. i also don't understand roulette, so there's that.
October 11, 2014
A short GG novel about an accountant whose employer offers to finance his wedding in Monte Carlo. The accountant, of course has a system for the casino.
A quick read. Entertaining, but not what I normally look for in GG.
A quick read. Entertaining, but not what I normally look for in GG.
September 5, 2024
Graham Greene divided his novels into two categories, which he designated as "entertainments" and "novels". The novels include his more literary works, on which Greene thought his reputation would lie.
The story in this slight 1950s novella involves an unambitious assistant accountant named Bertram who is about to be married to his fiancée Cary. When Dreuther, the director of the company, learns of Bertram’s plans he strongarms Bertram into bringing Cary to Monte Carlo to stay at his expense, get married there, and then board his private yacht for a honeymoon cruise. But things don’t go as planned. Gambling, especially competing gambling ’systems,’ money issues, greed, ambitions and corporate politics play vital roles in the storyline.
This novella clearly fits into Greene’s “entertainments” category. But this is different than the majority of his entertainments, which are either crime, mystery or espionage-based thrillers or humorous thrillers. This novella has humor but is not a thriller; it does not involve espionage, crimes or mystery. In fact, it comes off like a fable, a slightly over-the top humorous tale. While most fables have a moral involved, Greene specifically states in his dedication that ‘this tale has not been written for the purposes of encouraging adultery, the use of pyjama tops, or registry office weddings. Nor is it meant to discourage gambling."
So, was I entertained? Yes, I was. It was an enjoyable sometimes humorous fable with a lightly satirical message. I take Greene at his word that he didn’t mean to discourage any activity. But he did mean to poke fun at the activities and satirize certain people such as gamblers with systems, the wealthy, corporate ownership and the quest for money.
This is one I might have rated 3 stars during the years I was reading many Greene novels. But as it’s been awhile since I have read a Greene, even this novella’s lighter than normal dialogue felt welcome to me. I rate it as 3.7 stars rounded to 4 stars.
The story in this slight 1950s novella involves an unambitious assistant accountant named Bertram who is about to be married to his fiancée Cary. When Dreuther, the director of the company, learns of Bertram’s plans he strongarms Bertram into bringing Cary to Monte Carlo to stay at his expense, get married there, and then board his private yacht for a honeymoon cruise. But things don’t go as planned. Gambling, especially competing gambling ’systems,’ money issues, greed, ambitions and corporate politics play vital roles in the storyline.
This novella clearly fits into Greene’s “entertainments” category. But this is different than the majority of his entertainments, which are either crime, mystery or espionage-based thrillers or humorous thrillers. This novella has humor but is not a thriller; it does not involve espionage, crimes or mystery. In fact, it comes off like a fable, a slightly over-the top humorous tale. While most fables have a moral involved, Greene specifically states in his dedication that ‘this tale has not been written for the purposes of encouraging adultery, the use of pyjama tops, or registry office weddings. Nor is it meant to discourage gambling."
So, was I entertained? Yes, I was. It was an enjoyable sometimes humorous fable with a lightly satirical message. I take Greene at his word that he didn’t mean to discourage any activity. But he did mean to poke fun at the activities and satirize certain people such as gamblers with systems, the wealthy, corporate ownership and the quest for money.
This is one I might have rated 3 stars during the years I was reading many Greene novels. But as it’s been awhile since I have read a Greene, even this novella’s lighter than normal dialogue felt welcome to me. I rate it as 3.7 stars rounded to 4 stars.
July 12, 2024
This is crap.
Dated, silly fluff, with an awfully drawn lead female character who's like a bad Holly Golightly.
There is vague interest in the Reggie Perrin world of British industry long gone but this is very much a case of Greene being flavour of the month/year and everyone going along with it.
An indulgence not worth indulging in.
Dated, silly fluff, with an awfully drawn lead female character who's like a bad Holly Golightly.
There is vague interest in the Reggie Perrin world of British industry long gone but this is very much a case of Greene being flavour of the month/year and everyone going along with it.
An indulgence not worth indulging in.
August 9, 2025
Greene called this one a trifle, and I wholeheartedly agree. It might make a nice little romantic comedy movie, except it's light on laughs. Thanks to a blip at work, a soon-to-be-married accountant is invited to Monte Carlo by his millionaire boss, but when the couple goes-- apparently at their own expense--the boss doesn't show, leaving them stranded and broke. It's a fair premise, but the couple is so annoying and obtuse, I only wished for a murder-suicide to spice things up. There are a few good moments, but this one is most notable for revealing Greene's utter ignorance about how gambling works.
October 2, 2021
I've read a number of Graham Greene's novels the past few years and have enjoyed exploring his unique brand of story-telling. He's become one of my favorite authors. Loser Takes All, published originally in 1955, was a neat little gem. It would have been perfect as one of those movies you watch on TCM. In fact, checking it out I noticed that it was turned into a movie in 1956.
Basically, Bertram, an accountant at a firm in London and is about to marry for the 2nd time. He and fiance, Cary, will be married and then plan to celebrate their honeymoon in Bournemouth. This is turned topsy - turvy when his boss, nicknamed gom - the Grand Old Man, calls Bertram (or Bertrand as he mistakenly calls him) up to his office. Bertram sorts out a minor accounting problem and during their follow-on conversation, he offers instead to have Bertram and Cary a trip to Monte Carlo, a wedding with the Mayor and then a trip on his yacht.
GOM, in reality Mr. Dreuther, doesn't show up on time, the wedding takes place, and Bertram discovers the joy of gambling at the casino, winning with his system. The effect on his marriage is the crux of the story. I won't get into any more of the plot but suffice it to say that it moves along nicely, and resolves very satisfactorily. Greene shows his skill at weaving an interesting, fun story that ultimately leaves you totally satisfied. He really can write about anything, dramatic or humorous or heavy or light. Check out his work (4 stars)
Basically, Bertram, an accountant at a firm in London and is about to marry for the 2nd time. He and fiance, Cary, will be married and then plan to celebrate their honeymoon in Bournemouth. This is turned topsy - turvy when his boss, nicknamed gom - the Grand Old Man, calls Bertram (or Bertrand as he mistakenly calls him) up to his office. Bertram sorts out a minor accounting problem and during their follow-on conversation, he offers instead to have Bertram and Cary a trip to Monte Carlo, a wedding with the Mayor and then a trip on his yacht.
GOM, in reality Mr. Dreuther, doesn't show up on time, the wedding takes place, and Bertram discovers the joy of gambling at the casino, winning with his system. The effect on his marriage is the crux of the story. I won't get into any more of the plot but suffice it to say that it moves along nicely, and resolves very satisfactorily. Greene shows his skill at weaving an interesting, fun story that ultimately leaves you totally satisfied. He really can write about anything, dramatic or humorous or heavy or light. Check out his work (4 stars)
December 1, 2010
Even Graham Greene takes a shot at the soulless despair of the late 1950s in this silly love story about a lowly middle-aged accountant in a London firm. Mr Bertram is about to be married, for the second time, to a young lighthearted girl he met in a restaurant. He gets summoned to the big boss' office and invited to honeymoon on the man's yacht in the Mediterranean.
Of course it all goes wrong and Bertram winds up in the casinos of Monte Carlo trying to use his mathematical powers to beat the house and losing his new bride in the process. The happy ending reads like a Doris Day romantic comedy of the day. (In fact there was a movie in 1956 with Greene writing the screenplay.)
I know that Greene wrote what he called "entertainments" next to his literary novels to pay the bills and usually they are almost as good but this one was too light for me.
February 7, 2018
At just under 125 pages, it's the perfect length for the amount of story Greene has to tell. He famously divided his fiction into novels and entertainments. This one doesn't even make it into the second category--in a dedication he calls it a frivolity. Given Greene's religion I was strongly tempted to see the elderly, kind-hearted, forgetful, fabulously rich, controller of the main character's life as a figure for God, especially since his only rival is described as "small, spotty, undistinguished, and consumed with jealousy." But I'm probably reading too much into it. It's probably nothing more than a charming tale of boy finds girl, boy loses girl because of his greed, and boy finds girl again when he reforms.
August 1, 2017
Apparently Loser Takes All (1955) was written at the same time Graham Greene was writing one of his masterpieces, The Quiet American. Greene considered it as one of his lesser works, an "entertainment" that was written for profit. That being said, it is a well written and conceived novella about a hapless couple that decides to get married in Monte Carlo despite financial problems. However, there are several compelling themes that he undertakes in the short novel. In summation, he arrives at the fact that money doesn't buy happiness and often causes major problems. It is a quick and entertaining read, but not a major work. Nonetheless, it is a worthwhile read at any rate.
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