Briljant boek!

An absolutely brilliant book. I think it is a genuine masterpiece to be enjoyed on numerous different levels. It goes straight to my favorites ever list! Graham Greene employs the right tone for this book, cynical yet compassionate. Correspondent Fowler's non-commitment is the best attitude for the place and time of his assignment in Vietnam, but whether it is psychologically healthy cannot be said with certainty. Written in 1955, it is shocking to see how very relevant the book still is today, perhaps even increasingly so. The ignorance and misconception of the stereotypical American proves to be truly deadly. In his ignorant fanatism CIA agent Pyle stays convinced of his good intentions, even when witnessing with his own eyes the devastation he brings about. I thought a few times that the saying: “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread” was very applicable. And that is still applicable in the world today. A pity that this book was not a mandatory book to be read by the U.S. military when sending the first troops to Vietnam halfway the 1960s. Might have warned them for a hopeless endeavour.
I am so impressed by this book and decided to read more Graham Greene novels this year. It was purely coincidental that I read Greene for the first time when reading 'The End of the Affair' with its annoying catholicism and that is exactly what kept me from reading his other novels. I found out that this was just a phase in his life which he abandoned after he divorced his very catholic wife.