⭐⭐⭐⭐
288 pages
You can buy Brighton Rock...Here
- The Blurb...
- My Review...
As well as setting the scene, Greene creates some remarkable characters. Ida is a buxom, woman of the world who enjoys the company of men, singing gaudy songs in pubs and the odd Guinness. She is a vivacious, outgoing character with a lust for life. The man Pinkie kills briefly meets Ida. Ida after consulting a ouija board decides to find out what happened to the dead man and to find the person responsible because it's the right thing to do and it is fun.
While Pinkie is an absolutely astounding character. A 17 year old thug who is both innocent and vicious. He is simultaneously vulnerable, lacking in knowledge of the ways of the world and also a terrifying, razor-carrying monster, capable of murder. Pinkie is a Catholic and knowledge of his soul and it's eternal damnation weighs heavy on his shoulders. In addition he is a virgin and is both fascinated and horrified by the thought of sex. Think cute toddler carrying a hand grenade and that's Pinkie.
Pinkie kills a man and Rose, a 17 year old waitress, has information that could land Pinkie in the hands of law. To stop this eventuality Pinkie decides to woo (showing my age again there!) and marry Rose as a wife cannot be made to testify against her husband. Pinkie begins to groom her. When Ida finds out Pinkie's plan she now has the motive of saving Rose as well as doing the right thing in memory of the dead man.
Bearing in mind that Greene was a strong Catholic I find it interesting that the "good guy"is a hard drinking, promiscuous, occult dabbling woman and the villain is a Catholic, tea total, man and the seemingly naive, seemingly gullible Rose is also a Catholic.
I must confess that I do like the way Greene writes. Greene is known as the catholic author and this heavily influenced his writing. He has a way of getting in one's head so that you are wrestling with the moral implications of the book days after you have finished reading. It's like an ear-worm for literature rather than music. It burrows into the conscience and will not be removed.
So, Greene's prose gets you to examine your own moral compass. However, there is an air of self loathing and misery as well as impending doom through-out the book, that can start to seep into your soul after a while. I don't know whether that's down to the writing or the guilt ridden religion of the writer.
Next time I tackle a Graham Greene book I think it may be one of his espionage ones (Our Man In Havana, The Third Man etc) as I am led to believe they are bit less spiritually complex. Not that I haven't enjoyed this book. I love a thick, juicy steak but I couldn't have one every day, time for beans on toast I think.
- Selected Quotes...
'Oh, no they don't. Look at me. I've never changed. It's like those sticks of rock: bite it all the way down, you'll still read Brighton. That's human nature.”
“I know one thing you don't. I know the difference between Right and Wrong. They didn't teach you that at school.'
Rose didn't answer; the woman was quite right: the two words meant nothing to her. Their taste was extinguished by stronger foods--Good and Evil.”
Rose didn't answer; the woman was quite right: the two words meant nothing to her. Their taste was extinguished by stronger foods--Good and Evil.”
“But you do believe, don’t you," Rose implored him, "you think it’s true?"
"Of course it’s true," the Boy said. "What else could there be?" he went scornfully on. "Why," he said, "it’s the only thing that fits. These atheists, they don’t know nothing. Of course there’s Hell. Flames and damnation," he said with his eyes on the dark shifting water and the lightning and the lamps going out above the black struts of the Palace Pier, "torments."
"And Heaven too," Rose said with anxiety, while the rain fell interminably on.
"Oh, maybe," the Boy said, "maybe.”
"Of course it’s true," the Boy said. "What else could there be?" he went scornfully on. "Why," he said, "it’s the only thing that fits. These atheists, they don’t know nothing. Of course there’s Hell. Flames and damnation," he said with his eyes on the dark shifting water and the lightning and the lamps going out above the black struts of the Palace Pier, "torments."
"And Heaven too," Rose said with anxiety, while the rain fell interminably on.
"Oh, maybe," the Boy said, "maybe.”
“Don't you believe it. I'll tell you what life is. It's gaol, it's not knowing where to get some money. Worms and cataract, cancer. You hear 'em shrieking from the upper windows- children being born. It's dying slowly.”
“He laughed again: the horror of the world lay like infection in his throat.”
The Road by Cormac McCarthy (See our review Here)
To select the The Road may seem an odd choice especially given the vast differences in the prose of the two authors, McCarthy being pared back and direct while Greene is more loquacious and self theorising. However what struck me is that both novels have an over-arching and inescapable air of doom and tragedy.
- About the Author
Henry Graham Greene, OM, CH was an English novelist, short story writer, playwright, screenplay writer, travel writer and critic whose works explore the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world. Greene combined serious literary acclaim with wide popularity. Although Greene objected strongly to being described as a “Catholic novelist” rather than as a “novelist who happened to be Catholic,” Catholic religious themes are at the root of much of his writing, especially the four major Catholic novels: Brighton Rock, The Heart of the Matter, The End of the Affair, and The Power and the Glory. Works such as The Quiet American, Our Man in Havana and The Human Factor also show an avid interest in the workings of international politics and espionage. (from Goodreads)
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