The End of the Affair in Classics Without All the Class

Jul 24, 2014 Audrey rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, catholic, wwii, england, fiction, classics, 1940s, listens, catholic-fiction, british-literature

The depths of the human soul are plumbed in this novel of love, longing, and fulfillment. I highly recommend it as a brilliant, breathtaking literary work to be savored and absorbed.

It is almost impossible to describe this story; it's one of the best books I’ve ever read. The narrow summary of the plot as a love story between a man, a woman, and God doesn’t begin to scratch the surface. It's about being human, grappling with love and longing, making sense of suffering, and finding meaning. Most The depths of the human soul are plumbed in this novel of love, longing, and fulfillment. I highly recommend it as a brilliant, breathtaking literary work to be savored and absorbed.

It is almost impossible to describe this story; it's one of the best books I’ve ever read. The narrow summary of the plot as a love story between a man, a woman, and God doesn’t begin to scratch the surface. It's about being human, grappling with love and longing, making sense of suffering, and finding meaning. Most of all, it is about finding God ... or letting Him find us. He is the Hound of Heaven, relentlessly beckoning through all circumstances of life, drawing us toward His unfathomable tenderness. Even in a post-Christian world where a loss of the sacred results in nothing being sacred anymore, the human heart does not change. St. Augustine’s words, spoken so many centuries ago, ring true for all time: "You made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You." Greene ruthlessly unveils the poisons of jealousy, bitterness, and hate that can disease even the deepest human love. True love cannot come from us; it must come from the one great source of all love, the Heart that never stops burning with love for us.

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Also, because this is about an affair, there are several intimate references, but I would not necessarily describe them as gratuitous. They are included because they tell something important to the overall theme of the story.

The Graham Greene Centennial Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition (that’s a mouthful!) features an introduction by Michael Gorra. I don’t agree with all his critiques of the novel, but the “Suggestions for Further Reading” contains some interesting items. I would especially like to read the contemporary reviews.

Colin Firth’s narration of this is beyond excellent (his performance won a 2013 Audie Award). Coupled with the incandescent beauty and piercing truth of Greene’s prose, it swept me away! ...more

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