Our Man in Havana

Graham Greene
1958
Rating: 7

Based on having read and really dug The Quiet American (though a long time ago), I suspected that I was going to like Our Man in Havana, and it generally did not disappoint. The writing throughout is vivid and deft, with inspired gems of sentences on many pages. It was quite funny at moments as well.

Greene apparently considered this book to be among his “entertainments” rather than one of his Signfiicant Pieces of Literature, and maybe you could say that the whimsical tone qualifies it for the judgement, but given the caliber of the writing, it’s hard for me to think of it as anything other than a very good book.

I had the sense while reading it that there were cards he had up his sleeve that I would only see if I went back and re-read the story, which I may do at some point.