Beginning with the end and then unspooling the events that preceded it, Greene offers a history lesson from a place and time not included in general education: Viet Nam during French occupation. Is it a who done it, or the examination of one man's insistence not to become engaged in the politics of the place he loves? Both and more.

Distinctive characters represent fading European colonialism (journalist Thomas Fowler), and the rise of American democracy (Alden Pyle) in competition for the love and loyalty of the beautiful and enigmatic (to westerners) culture and land of Viet Nam (Phuong).

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Revisited after recently finishing _Nothing Ever Dies_, originally read the month I left the Navy in 1999. Not only is Greene prescient on USAs Vietnam efforts, but this book is an excellent little novel and thriller. ( )

amazingly prescient. ( )

After listening to the Graham Greene Backlisted episode, I was tempted to try him again, after offputting experiences with high school reading. Really enjoyed the sordid betrayals and deceptions of this one, and rewatched the movie immediately afterwards. Then picked up a nice used 1957 copy. ( )

"I never knew a man who had better motives for all the trouble he caused."

These are the words of Thomas Fowler, an experienced and (rightfully) cynical British reporter, about Alden Pyle his new wide-eyed, and interminably idealistic, young American friend sent from Washington.

Fowler has been in Vietnam reporting on the First Indochina War for a couple of years. He remains steadfastly impartial throughout his time there. He prides himself on his ability to report facts and take no sides. Even when Pyle steals Phuong, Fowler's young Vietnamese girlfriend, he remains gentlemanly and as reasonable as possible. When Pyle's uniquely American idealism leads to lives being lost, however, Fowler must finally question the morality of his neutrality.

Graham Greene paints a vivid picture of Vietnam during the war. Fowler and Pyle represent the British and American Foreign Policy views expertly... One wanting to keep their distance, the other aiming to bring "democracy" and forge alliances. Phuong also perfectly represents the Vietnamese people as she is pulled to and fro between men who see her through their own lenses rather than as a fully formed individual with ideas and plans of her own.

While Greene starts off by making the point that this is a story and not an historical document, written in first person, it feels very much autobiographical. Greene did, in fact, report from there and held very similar sentiments to Fowler. The novel feels immediate and ( )