Love, Murder, Suicide, Corruption, Faith... (The Heart of the Matter - Graham Greene)

Member Name: allybally

Product:	The Heart of the Matter - Graham Greene
Date:	21/06/07 (175 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A Thought-provoking read with a central character to care about

Disadvantages: Mildly depressing on occassion

I have read Graham Greene casually over the years and had in fact started The Heart of The Matter Years ago before the book became misplaced during a move. I was drawn back to it recently when I uncovered it in a box of my stepson’s toys.

Author: Graham Greene
Publisher: William Heinemann
Date of Publish: 1948
Genre: Classic Fiction
No of Pages: 272
RRP: £8.99
Amazon Price: £5.59

>>>What its all about<<<
Henry Scobie is an impeccibly honest, longserving police inspector in a colonial town on the West Coast of Africa during the second world war. He is responsible for providing both local and wartime security and has also tasked himself with the duty of ensuring his wife Louise’s happiness despite not being able to love the desperately lonely woman. . His assuming duty to care for those who others have deemed unworthy is a reoccuring theme throughout the book.
When his wife asks her husband to send her away, Major Scobie goes against his personal instincts and sacrafices his moral fibre to make it happen, jeopordising the few remaining ideals important to him. Having done so, he finds a different sort of happiness he hadn’t planned on.
When his wife returns to her husband Scobie is forced to face up to the sins he has comitted and the damnation they bring according to the faith he thought he had long since turned his back on.
Bribary, Blackmail, Jewel Smuggling, Murder, Suicide, and assorted Tragedies aside, It soon becomes clear why Scobie has spent 15 years of his life in the desolate, rat infested town he calls home.
>>>Who is Graham Greene<<<
Graham Greene is one of England’s great writers, accomplished not only in massively successful novels such as Brighton Rock and the End of the Affair but also as a playwright and Journalist, even spending some time as a respected critic.

A keen traveler, Greene spent as much time as possible travelling through Europe and later further afield, however, his youth was plagued with depression, accumulating in several suicide attempts and eventually extensive physcoanalysis. Interestingly, Greene claims many of his suicide attempts were made by playing Russian Roulette, however this has been widely disputed by those who knew.

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 I enjoyed<<<
I often struggle to read ‘war-time books’ no matter what the subject. I usually feel too far removed from the characters and the lives they are living. The Heart of the Matter on the other hand, being a book set during the second world war, was not difficult for me to identify with in the least. Greene takes his time developing his characters revealing new information about them slowly and at his own will throughout his story. Greene very much does everything at his own pace and the reader if very much in his hands; desperate to learn more about the hero I at least grew fond of quickly.

Like Hemingway (who I reviewed recently) Greene has a talent for descriptive writing that meant I could imagine the times and the place and the squalour and sadness that went with it. I could understand the magnitude of things that now a days we wouldn’t stop to consider. I appreciated the limitations set on the characters by their surroundings and the continuing war and I recognized their bitterness and how they hung their heads low, as if already resigned to defeat.

I found myself totally absorbed in Scobie; the depth of his character and his growing dilemmas. Without avoiding his weaknesses, Greene managed to centre his book around a character that as a reader, I truly felt genuine compassion for. He created a man I wanted to know more about with each page; a man I liked.

His descriptions of the annual rains were particularly moving – as if I could actually fee the raindrops against my cheeks. The last 50 pages or so (I can’t say any more without giving the ending away) were also tremendous. His use of suspense and his ability to set a scene several chapters in advance gives the book an added intrigue and mystery which is not so easily come by today.

>>>What I wasn’t so keen on<<<
As much as the descriptive nature of Greene’s novel was a feature for me, it occasionally became difficult to read momentarily simply because we are not programmed for misery. Reading about the tragic and pestimistic life Scobie has chosen; even if there is still hope that things will work in his favour by the end, can be tiring and difficult. There were times when I felt the focus had been given to something perhaps not entirely necessary. For instance, many pages were dedicated to a game revolving around catching and killing cockroaches for fun.

>>>Conclusion<<<
This is an emotional book to read. It is challenging in that it forces the reader to consider their own views and what, if faced with some of the choices Scobie is faced with, would we do. An eloquently written, thoughtful and surprisingly compassionate book which I would strongly recommend to anyone who prefers character over plot.

Summary: Scobie finds himself questioning all the values he once knew