Ciara’s pick this month – a comic classic about the adventures of James Wormold, a vacuum salesman in Cuba who accepts work with the British Secret Service. Wormold’s fake reports are taken at face value back in Britain, which unsurprisingly leads to complications in his already quite stressful life.Ciara, Dan and I loved the book. Neither Nicky or Paddy finished the book, and both reported that while they didn’t dislike it they couldn’t get into the story. I think we all agreed with Nicky that the writing was beautiful; Dan particularly admired his ability to sum up a concept in a single line. Paddy liked lots of the small details in the book such as the driniking checkers. Ciara pointed out that nothing was superfluous: every detail was used to further the plot.
Ciara really loved the story, finding it light and fun, and thought the characters were really well drawn. I mostly agreed but found Wormold’s character difficult to judge. Greene seemed to portray him as a bumbling idiot for the majority of the story which left me wondering why he was recruited in the first place, and how he manages to attract Beatrice. I suspected that I might have been missing some cues as a modern reader regarding his class and education that should in turn have led to particular assumptions. Dan agreed pointing out that Wormold was not considered part of the ‘torturable class’ by the terrifying Captain Segura. I also thought that he made a pretty good spy when he was under pressure: managing to escape some very sticky situations.Ciara, Nicky and I liked the character of Milly, who enables Green to bring some of his familiar Catholic themes into the book: faith, loyalty sin and sexuality.
We admired the way that the book managed to locate itself within international power conflicts while the action itself was kept within a small area. The information is woven well into the story, so you don’t feel like you’re on the receiving end of a lecture. Dan felt that the author successfully brought the international themes down to the level of the individual.
Graham Greene categorised this book as one of his ‘entertainments’. I would agree: a definite recommendation.
