Orient Express

I really love Graham Greene but haven't read him in a while, and this probably wasn't the best book to get back into his work. It's an early one, 8 years before The Power and the Glory, nearly a quarter century before The Quiet American, and I found it unsatisfying. I never fully bought into the characters; admittedly, it's hard to flesh them out when the story is set on a single train ride, although adding in substantial backstory set elsewhere for more of the characters would have helped. That might have helped a great deal, but of course this would have made it a different novel that was perhaps less focused on the train ride itself.

Published in 1932, the casual antisemitism of nearly all the characters was difficult both to understand and appreciate as a part of the story. Was this really what the world was like? I'd like to hope not, but it tended to make the characters a little less believable: I was constantly wondering about characters like, "Wait, you really find this person revolting because he's Jewish?" And the internalized antisemitism—the shame—of the Jewish characters was uncomfortable to read. Now, I don't believe books need to be (or really, should be) safe spaces where a reader is protected from all discomfort, but what I'm trying to explain is that the ongoing, casual, sustained antisemitism assumed by all the characters actually made the story a bit less believable for me. (Now, going back and reading the introduction after finishing made it clear that a lot has been written about this subject in the novel, so I'm fully aware I'm oversimplifying the issue. I'm not trying to make a literary case about Greene's intentions or anything, I'm just pointing out the effect of this theme on me as a reader of this piece of literature. YMMV as always!)

One of Greene's early novels.
It was an interesting premise - a number of unconnected characters on the Orient Express from Ostend to Constantinople, whose story becomes connected - and the characters are interesting and built well.
It seems like an opportunity was missed however when events took place off the train, which seemed to distract from, or weaken the story a little for me.
I was also a bit confused about the route of the train, as according to Wikipedia, the train never followed the route of the book: Ostend - Cologne - Vienna - Budapest - Belgrade - Constantinople. Wikipedia Orient Express

Anyways, no spoilers, as the characters do a good job of providing information as the book progresses, so I wouldn't want to ruin it...
A comfortable three stars for me.

The first of Greene's so-called “entertainments” (as opposed to his serious works of literature) Stamboul Train is essentially a character study in search of a plot. First we meet down on her luck showgirl Coral Musker as she sets off on the Orient Express for a job in Constantinople, and Carleton Myatt, a Jewish businessman, as well as Dr Czinner, a Serbian communist who has been living in exile in England as a schoolmaster. There is also a best selling author, QC Savory. At Cologne lesbian journalist Mabel Warren and her companion Janet Pardoe join and finally the thief Josef Grünlich at Vienna.

The lives of these people become intertwined as their journey through a winters Europe continues. Warren is supposed to be interviewing Savory, but sniffs out the bigger story of Czinner returning home. Myatt's act of kindness causes Coral or fall in love with him.

The major turning point of the story is at the out of the way stop at Subotica in Serbia, where another uprising has failed. There is tragedy and racism and anti-semitism and we lose characters along the way. There is little humour in the novel, instead a sense of doom and inevitability pervade the pages.

There is no real resolution to this episodic novel but it's an enjoyable enough read. It's just gossamer thin compared to Greene's weightier works.