| Product: |
Brighton Rock - Graham Greene |
| Date: |
22.10.07 (106 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Great writing, interesting viewpoint, strong characters
Disadvantages: Drags a bit
Author: Graham Greene
Genre: Fiction
Date of Publish:
Number of Pages:
RRP:
What’s is all about?
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Pinkie Brown, the anti hero protaganist of the book is a teenager and rising gangster after betraying the former gang leader in a foolish bid to gain control. Some have said he was a sociopath. Fred Hale, in Brighton working for a newspaper competition is Pinkie’s next target and he knows it. That day, on the piers, Fred is murdered and only one person, Ida Arnold can ensure justice is served when the death is ruled as a suicide.
What follows is the story of Pinkie’s attempts to cover his tracks and the lengths he will go to in order to ensure his freedom and control over Brighton in the wake of his predecessor’s rule. The journey he makes includes a string of further violent crimes, a struggle with faith, paranoia and even Pinkie’s unexpected marriage, but is his downfall unavoidable?
Who is Graham Greene?
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Graham Greene, 87 when he died in 1991 was one of England’s great writers, accomplished not only in massively successful novels such as Hear of the Matter and the End of the Affair and Brighton Rock, but also as a playwright and Journalist, even spending some time as a respected critic.
A keen traveller, Greene spent as much time as possible touring Europe and later further a field, however, his youth was plagued with depression, accumulating in several suicide attempts and eventually extensive psychoanalysis. Interestingly, Greene claims many of his suicide attempts were made by playing Russian Roulette, however this has been widely disputed by those who knew him.
It is thought by fans of Greene that although considered, he repeatedly lost out on the Nobel Prize for Literature because of his repeated use of religion as a key them in his work.
What did I make of it?
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I first read Brighton Rock, published in 1938, about 10 years ago and was left feeling a bit flat. Curious to understand why a book which originally did nothing for me had become known as a piece of Iconic Literature, and after having read and enjoyed several of Greene’s other novels, I decided to pick it up again recently to see if age would alter my perception of Brighton Rock.
In essence, and described so by Graham Greene himself, this is a Detective story. Hoever, it is a detective story with a twist – several twists in fact.
Few simple detective novels will delve into to world of religion but Greene compares Catholisism repeatedly with common-sense ethics. This instantly gives the story a philosophical edge. The internal struggle Pinkie suffers as a result of his distorted Catholic views takes the story to another level and opens him up enough for the readers to feel his weaknesses. In line with the religious turnoil surrounding the characters is a view on human sexuality which surprices the reader momentarily before becoming an integral part of the evolving tale.
Much more important than the act is the struggle Pinkie and his girlfriend of convenience endure when faced with what they see as a mortal sin. I found Pinkie’s fear and disgust of sex an interesting and telling point. This fear went a long way to showing Pinkie’s vulnerability and helped to bring what would otherwise be a very hostile readership, around to not only tolerating him but even sympathising with him.
The focus is very much on the mid of Pinkie, his growing parapnoia and how he grew into his own worst enemy. For me, the continuing development of this kept me interested.
In contrast Ida was the epitimy of motherhood and all things good. She was our confident, our guidance councellor to turn too when the darkness of Pinkie’s world became to much. When we couldn’t take the darkness anymore we could turn to the comfort or Ida who reminded us of the real world outside of underground Brighton. As a result, her character gave the story a completely different slant.
I found the book slow to take off and in fact I found it dragged somewhat throughout. Perhaps I have a limited concentration span as I also found it hard to follow the characters in some parts. It seemed the book had a large cast, and certainly, as far as Pinkie’s minions went, there was little to differentiate between them.
Conclusion
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I bet you didn’t know…
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- Brighton Rock has left it’s mark on Britain’s music world; - both Pete Doherty and Morrissey have made reference to the book or it’s main characters in songs. Morrissey first with “Now my Heart is Full” and more recently Doherty referenced the book in his song “I love you but you’re green”.
-The book was made into a film starring Richard Attenborough as Pinkie in 1947 and was hailed as one of the most successful British Films.
-In 2004 the book was revived briefly as a musical in London. Unfortunately it closed after only running for 3 weeks
Summary: Brighton Races Gang leader Pinkie discovers every action has a reaction
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