The Quiet American

This month was The Quiet American by Graham Greene.  We made the decision to read this book based on two factors.  One, Tim has been suggesting Graham Greene for quite sometime.  And two, we needed to read something short since we needed to reconvene at Ed's before Louise left for Argentina so that we could see her glorious garden of irises and peonies.  We were sorry that Tim could not make it.  And we were once again treated like royalty by Louise who had planned a cold dinner, but since it was cold and drizzly out, she had to made some changes and add some warm dishes.  Needless to say, it was a lovely dinner.

In terms of what we thought about the book,  the majority of the members thought the book was amazing.  We had a great discussion about the beginnings of our involvement in Vietnam (helped along by our history experts) and about the fifties in general.  We were all able to appreciate the timelessness of this work.  The theme of the ivy school educated American who thinks that they know what is best for another culture is portrayed  well with Pyle's character.  And the older, journalist, Fowler who avoids taking sides or taking a stand must finally take action.  We had a long discussion over the moral nature of his action which inevitably led to Pyle's death and the winning back of Phuong.  We had some disagreement over whether it was a love story or a story of loneliness and a need for companionship.  In general, many of us were inspired to read more Greene.

We are meeting next at Fred's home.  Fred is very interested in World War I.  This year is the 100 year anniversary of the war.  In order to commemorate, we are reading The Middle Parts of Fortune by Frederic Manning-not Her Privates We which is the expurgated version of the work.  See you on July 29th.