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Our Man In Havana by [Graham Greene, Christopher Hitchens]

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Graham Greene

Our Man In Havana Kindle Edition

by Graham Greene (Author), Christopher Hitchens (Introduction) Format: Kindle Edition

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Discover Graham Greene’s blackly comic and timely espionage thriller, set amid the vice and squalor of pre-revolutionary Havana.

‘British Intelligence being sent up something rotten’ Daily Telegraph

Wormold is a vacuum cleaner salesman in a city of power cuts. His adolescent daughter spends his money with a skill that amazes him, so when a mysterious Englishman offers him an extra income he's tempted. In return all he has to do is carry out a little espionage and file a few reports. But when his fake reports start coming true, things suddenly get more complicated and Havana becomes a threatening place.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS

Print length

258 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Vintage Digital
Publication date

2 October 2010
File size

1931 KB
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Graham Greene’s blackly comic espionage thriller, set amid the vice and squalor of pre-revolutionary Havana. --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

From the Publisher

Graham Greene was born in Berkhamstead, England in 1904. The fourth of six children, he was educated at Berkhamstead school, where his father was headmaster, and then at Oxford University. He went on to work as a journalist for The Times where he met Vivien Dayrell-Browning, who was instrumental in his conversion to Catholicism. They married in 1927 and had two children. Greene's first novel, The Man Within (1929), was favourably received and kick-started a prolific writing career that included the novels Brighton Rock (1938) and Our Man in Havana (1958), short stories, biographies, plays and travel books, as well as film criticism. Considered one of the leading novelists of his generation, he was shortlisted for the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1967. Greene died in Switzerland in April 1991. --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

Book Description

Graham Greene’s blackly comic espionage thriller, set amid the vice and squalor of pre-revolutionary Havana. --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

About the Author

Graham Greene was born in Berkhamstead, England in 1904. The fourth of six children, he was educated at Berkhamstead school, where his father was headmaster, and then at Oxford University. He went on to work as a journalist for The Times where he met Vivien Dayrell-Browning, who was instrumental in his conversion to Catholicism. They married in 1927 and had two children. Greene's first novel, The Man Within (1929), was favourably received and kick-started a prolific writing career that included the novels Brighton Rock (1938) and Our Man in Havana (1958), short stories, biographies, plays and travel books, as well as film criticism. Considered one of the leading novelists of his generation, he was shortlisted for the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1967. Greene died in Switzerland in April 1991. --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

Review

"Comical, satirical, atmospherical." -- "Daily Telegraph""Graham Greene had wit and grace and character and story and a transcendent universal compassion that places him for all time in the ranks of world literature." -- John Le Carre "He had a sharp nose for trouble and injustice. In Our Man in Havana -- a witty send-up of an agent's life -- it was Cuba before Castro." -- "Financial Times" "From the Trade Paperback edition." --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

From the Author

Graham Greene was born in Berkhamstead, England in 1904. The fourth of six children, he was educated at Berkhamstead school, where his father was headmaster, and then at Oxford University. He went on to work as a journalist for The Times where he met Vivien Dayrell-Browning, who was instrumental in his conversion to Catholicism. They married in 1927 and had two children. Greene's first novel, The Man Within (1929), was favourably received and kick-started a prolific writing career that included the novels Brighton Rock (1938) and Our Man in Havana (1958), short stories, biographies, plays and travel books, as well as film criticism. Considered one of the leading novelists of his generation, he was shortlisted for the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1967. Greene died in Switzerland in April 1991. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

From the Inside Flap

Life in pre-revolutionary Cuba is not easy and James Wormold, a failing vacuum cleaner salesman, is struggling to fund the increasingly lavish lifestyle of his manipulative sixteen-year-old daughter, Milly. So when an enigmatic Englishman offers him an extra income in return for a little spying, he is sorely tempted. But when the fake reports he’s been sending to London start to come true, Havana suddenly becomes a very dangerous place indeed.

Both a brilliant Cold War thriller and a hilarious work of satire, this classic tale of an accidental spy is a truly gripping read.

With an afterword by Professor Richard Greene.

--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

From the Back Cover

‘Would the world be in the mess it is if we were loyal to love and not to countries?’ --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0044KLQ3C
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Vintage Digital; New Ed edition (2 October 2010)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1931 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 258 pages
Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 0099286084

Best Sellers Rank: 10,555 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
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- 102 in Fiction Classics

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Graham Greene

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Henry Graham Greene OM CH (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English novelist and author regarded by some as one of the great writers of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquired a reputation early in his lifetime as a major writer, both of serious Catholic novels, and of thrillers (or "entertainments" as he termed them). He was shortlisted, in 1967, for the Nobel Prize for Literature. Through 67 years of writings, which included over 25 novels, he explored the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world, often through a Catholic perspective.

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barbara gorman

When satire and the Secret Service collide

Reviewed in Australia on 21 November 2021

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A hapless vacuum cleaner salesman gets dragged into the British Secret Service. I suspect there's a lot of truth behind this tale. It's a little dated but still clever and funny. Enjoyable.

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wazbud

Espionage with a sly smile

Reviewed in Australia on 15 May 2015

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As most enjoyable read of a lovely light amusing story from another time - written by a master. I love espionage stories and this is an understated classic. Highly recommended if you enjoy spy stories with a light touch.

One person found this helpful

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Trevor Cobb

A very entertaining entertainment

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 January 2018

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Greene described some of his books, Our Man in Havana amongst them, as entertainments. This is a comedy novel that would work well on stage as a farce. The style reminds me a little of the recent books by Jonas Jonasson (The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed out the Window) though a little more restrained. There are more serious undertones, set in Havana in post revolutionary Cuba, the entertainment explores themes such as loyalty to family, friends and country, inequality and injustice, Castro emerged from the jungle only months after the novel was written. An unsuccessful and slightly boring English vacuum cleaner salesman, raising his demanding 16 year old daughter alone, is offered the chance to make some much needed income by spying. He decides to draw the income and creatively builds an alternative reality. All goes well until his imaginary world starts to come true. When I read classic writers I sometimes find their work a little staid. They set the gold standard in their time but other less creative novelists have built on their ideas. Our Man in Havana still feels fresh and remains a very entertaining entertainment.
Overall 4/5. (Plot 4/5, Characterisation 4/5, Literary Merit 4/5, Readability 4/5.)

18 people found this helpful

Mr. J. Hastings

Worth Reading but Dreary

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 February 2018

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I recently watched the film of this book, starring Alec Guinness, for which Graham Greene wrote the screenplay, and struggled to follow the plot. So I thought it would be a good idea to read the book in the hope of gaining a clearer understanding.

This is one of those books that I am glad to have read, and enjoyed reading, but do not intend to read again. It is well-written and carries you along. Having started, I certainly wanted to finish the story. It is a satire on the murky activity of spying but it is not humorous and not even witty. In fact it is one of the most dreary novels I have ever read. I was unable to identify with any of the characters.

The lives of Wormold and the other principal characters appear to be fuelled by whisky and rum. Wormold’s spoiled daughter Milly attends a convent school and practises the externals of Catholicism assiduously but she seems to regard her faith as a sort of fairy godmother. She says two novenas and two Masses to buy a horse which her father cannot afford and declares how wonderful it is, ‘…you always get what you pray for.’ This novel is not a good advertisement for Roman Catholicism.

The Vintage edition has an Introduction by Christopher Hitchens which I dutifully read first. This was a mistake. It gave me too many clues about what to look for. It would have been better to have read the book and formed my own conclusions, leaving the Introduction until later.

8 people found this helpful

Karl Wiggins

Quite daft!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 September 2020

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I found this book quite daft. The last chapter or two were (kind of) decent, but really, it’s a ridiculous storyline, MI5 are looking to recruit a new spy in Havana, so instead of considering their trained operatives they find a vacuum cleaner salesman …. Without even checking up on his political affiliation!

However, this was a book chosen for our book club, and I’m actually quite pleased I got to read it. The writing is very good and draws you into the story, and even though I found the whole storyline a little absurd, I came away feeling as though I’d like to read another of Graham Green’s books; maybe Brighton Rock perhaps

However, it wasn’t until last night when we were discussing it, that I learned its supposed to be a comedy, possibly more suited to the stage than a book. I’d found nothing humorous in the book at all, so perhaps all of that went sailing over my head. Well, evidently so.

I can’t honestly give it more than 2 Stars.

One person found this helpful

Wombutton

Enjoyable spoof spy story.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 January 2018

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An amusing take on the world of espionage. Published when the James Bond Era of spy fiction was at its height, Greene wrote this amusing tongue in cheek story. It tells of a vacuum cleaner salesman in Cuba in the pre-Castro days who is recruited by British intelligence. Not knowing how to go about the task, he decides to recruit "agents" from different walks of life without them being aware of the fact, and pocketing their expenses. He also sends copies of "secret plans" to London of the latest vacuum cleaner. When his so-called agents start getting killed, things begin to move apace. There is an amusing episode in the book were a game of draughts takes place with miniature whisky and bourbon instead of counters; the idea is when you take a piece you drink the contents, thus making the better player more drunk than his opponent.
The book is one of Greene's "entertainments", and makes very enjoyable reading.

7 people found this helpful

Great

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 31 December 2017

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A great read from a great author and, although it is 60 years old, it still stands up well, apart from some racism typical of the times.
Wormold, a fairly naïve and unworldly Brit, is a vacuum salesman in Havana, whose wife bailed out on him, leaving him with a high maintenance daughter to whom he is completely devoted; he is struggling financially (difficult selling electric vacuum cleaners in a place with regular power cuts) and is presented with the opportunity to earn extra cash by spying for his country.
Not knowing how to go about spying, he fakes it, with disastrous consequences, when he is taken seriously by both friends and foes.
This is a light, easy read, with a really good plot, some great characters and plenty of, often dark, humour.

5 people found this helpful

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