The Quiet American
Ratings69
Average rating3.9
A dark insightful view of war, espionage and the danger of ideology. The author accepts that no one is purely good or bad but in reality a bit of both. in some ways this is a very cynical perspective but it is closer to ‘real' than most authors get
Thomas Fowler, a British journalist, has been covering the French War in Indochina for several years. He has a live-in lover, a young Vietnamese woman named Phuong. Fowler meets Alden Pyle, an American CIA agent. Pyle falls in love with Phuong when he meets her, so part of The Quiet American is a story about relationships.
But a larger part of The Quiet American is the story of good intentions and poor decisions as they relate to war. Both Fowler and Pyle are visitors to Vietnam and both have thoughts about the ongoing war and how it should be resolved. Others in the story are native to Vietnam and they have other ideas about the war and how it should be resolved.
The Quiet American is a brilliant picture of morality and intelligence and how the two combine to determine actions. It's eerily prophetic of the acceleration of the Vietnam War and the inevitability of the inability of intruders to resolve the conflict.
A really informative and thought provoking read. I loved the depiction of life during the Vietnam war and the numerous moral issues raised were really intriguing.
One of Graham Greene's more well known books, and hovering around a relatively high rating on GR, although not as high as I might have thought (most of his books sit between 3.5 and 4 stars, but based typically on more than a thousand ratings).
I won't plot outline, as there are may good reviews already to offer that, but in terms of main points and themes: set in French Indo-China (Vietnam), the three central characters are a British war correspondent, an American CIA agent (under cover as an Economic Development officer), and a Vietnamese mistress. The story is fast moving, the book is short. The book examines relationships, personal morality and the complexity of foreign affairs.
Important to note this was written in 1955, so pre-dates the Vietnam War (I was initially incorrectly placing the time just prior to the Vietnam War when I started reading - for a few pages until they started talking about the French...).
An enjoyable 4 stars.
