From the Bookshelf of Never too Late to Read Classics…

The Quiet American

Graham Greene,

Robert Stone (Introduction)

Start date: August 1, 2018

Finish date: August 31, 2018

Discussion: Lesser Know/Wilderness Classics

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What Members Thought

Jul 09, 2022 Chrissie rated it really liked it

Shelves: usa, france, england, philo-psychol, classics, hf, humor, relationships, love, 2022-read

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 ...more

35 likes · Like · see review

Jun 03, 2019 Kelly_Hunsaker_reads ... rated it really liked it

Shelves: american-lit, read-in-2019, classics, asian, 1001-books

Graham Greene's The Quiet American is a beautifully written, prescient book, and I am so glad that I went into it blind. The story is quiet and rich, the characters are unique, interesting and mostly likable but still flawed. But what impressed me most is that when I checked the publication date and saw 1956 I was surprised and even more impressed with what I had just read. This one is very close to a 5 star read for me.

Mr. Greene had his pulse on what happened in Vietnam. He gave us an insightf Graham Greene's The Quiet American is a beautifully written, prescient book, and I am so glad that I went into it blind. The story is quiet and rich, the characters are unique, interesting and mostly likable but still flawed. But what impressed me most is that when I checked the publication date and saw 1956 I was surprised and even more impressed with what I had just read. This one is very close to a 5 star read for me.

Mr. Greene had his pulse on what happened in Vietnam. He gave us an insightful, strong and predictive novel that foresees the war to come and America's involvement in it. But he also seemed to talk about Western countries (especially the USA) getting involved where they may not belong, creating a political and financial mess and then leaving the country without fixing the problems. It is something that we have done many times all around the world, and of course did in Vietnam 10+ years after the publication of this book. Mr. Greene is not exactly arguing in favor of Imperialism, but he is certainly arguing that the anti-Imperialist USA is not handling things any better.

But, even ignoring this philosophical, political and prescient aspect of the book it is a darn good story.

Thomas Fowler has been living in Vietnam for more than two years. He is a 50+ year old British journalist covering the French/Vietnamese war. Thomas is in a relationship with a Veitnamese woman named Phuong, but he is also married to a woman who has remained in the United Kingdom. Phuong would like to get married, but Thomas is not willing to leave his wife. He is a cynical man with little to offer Phuong.

The title character -- the "quiet American" is Alden Pyle. Pyle is an undercover CIA agent. He is thoughtful, intelligent, quiet and idealistic. (Thomas sees Alden as naive.) Alden comes from a privileged background, with a brilliant father and a respected mother. He graduated from Harvard where he studied government. Due to his studies Alden has formed a strong opinion that neither Communism nor colonialism works. Alden falls in love with Phuong and aims to convince her to leave Thomas and spend her life with him.

Phuong is beautiful and young. She finds security with Thomas, but he offers her no future. Eventually she must choose between Thomas and Alden, and that choice will be about who offers her more protection. Phuong is a character that moves the story forward and yet she is never well-developed or revealed. We know little about her life, her desires or her thoughts. She is there to create the tension between the two men and to show what each man wants for Vietnam.

This is a book that I will definitely read again because I think I missed so much.

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Feb 02, 2012 Laura rated it liked it

Shelves: british-literature, e-books, viciados-em-livros, mtbr-challenge-2014, fiction-20th-century, read-2014, book-and-movie, 1001-books-you-must-read-before-you, vietnam

Two movie versions were made based on this book: The Quiet American (1958) with Audie Murphy, Michael Redgrave, Claude Dauphin:

and The Quiet American (2002)with Michael Caine, Brendan Fraser, Do Thi Hai Yen.

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Aug 08, 2009 Jenny rated it really liked it

I enjoyed this sort book about the initial stages of the Vietnam War described by a British Journalist. In classic Graham Greene style it captures the ambiguity of the situation and the difficulty in imposing American and European ideas and idealism on other cultures.

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