First published 1935. Penguin paperback, 1973, pp 207, c.75,000 words.
This felt surprisingly modern, particularly as it was first published eighty-eight years ago. With only a few very minor tweaks it could have been written last year.
The main protagonist is a man who has failed to find a satisfying position in life. He is clever and articulate but is not able to make the compromises necessary to be ‘employable’. His twin-sister has a job as the personal assistant to a Swedish industrialist (not ‘financier’ as the back cover blurb has it.) She adores her brother and gets him a position as her boss’s bodyguard. It’s a position that conflicts with her brother’s sensibilities, just as every previous job has.
Greene’s world is inhabited by seedy, dissatisfied failures. People who aspire to better things, if not greatness, but have feet of clay. These are people with a measure of honour who are taken advantage of by those who don’t. The characters are given complex interior worlds that both engage and exasperate. Sometimes they seem not to have grown up, and like a recalcitrant child we want to give them a good shake and tell them to try harder. However, there is something of all of us recognisable in these characters who display very real human failings. Greene is an absolute master of creating ‘real’ people on the page with spare descriptions and clips of dialog.
There is enough of a story here to draw the reader in, and while we expect things will end badly from the outset, there are many ways that might come about. It’s not a warm or cheerful world that Greene creates, or an exciting and attractive one. But the quality of the observation of people is outstanding and the prose first rate, making this a worthwhile read.
© William John Graham, May 2022