MobileRead May 2015 Discussion: Our Man in Havana (spoilers)

[WT Sharpe]

The time has come to discuss the May 2015 MobileRead Book Club selection, Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene. What did you think?

[Synamon]

I listened to this on a long car trip (8.5 hours) and was transported to pre-revolution Cuba through the eyes of Wormold, the naive vacuum cleaner salesman. What fun!

Greene brought to life some colourful characters, grounded by the ordinariness of Wormold who only wanted a few daiquiris and to make his daughter Milly happy. I loved the scenes with Captain Sagura, Wormold might not have really been a spy, but he was certainly a diplomat the way he tap danced around the Red Vulture.

Knowing the history of Cuba adds a layer of urgency to the story and raises the stakes of this spy spoof. Wormold's absurd made-up crisis wasn't so farcical after all. I wonder what Greene made of the events that unfolded a few years after he wrote this.

[sun surfer]

I loved the setting and enjoyed the humour, especially as it wasn't an all-out farce but would be half-serious one moment and then lapse into an hilarious silliness. My first laugh-out loud bit was the vacuum customers needing to be calmed about atomic fears, another favourite was the interlude in England where the plans Wormold has sent resemble vacuum cleaner parts and I also really enjoyed Wormold becoming so invested in his imaginary agents.

However, it all seemed to fizzle a bit in the last quarter or so for me. I just didn't find that part as funny as the rest and I suppose once most of the pieces were laid out it became a little more predictable than it had been before.

One particular thing seemed to break the story a little bit for me: at the dinner where Wormold was to speak, he's incredibly nervous about being poisoned, and he doubts everyone at first - except the very person who almost poisons him. If it were set up better I might have bought it better and I know Wormold wasn't any master spy but as it was the man was clearly suspicious and I thought it was a bit of sloppy plotting even for a humorous book; at least, it stuck out for me in this one.

Also, I didn't get that Beatrice was so bad at her job as the interlude first mentioning her made her out to be. I suppose that was so that we could buy her not realising Wormold was making things up?

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Jeremy Northam; he did a really good job and I enjoyed it, except that the music used in between chapters and breaks was a little overbearing and long. Sometimes the music seemed to last for half a minute or more! Synamon, did you listen to the same one? What did you think of the music if so?

ETA - Has anyone hear seen the Coen brothers' Burn After Reading? it's a great film and I thought of it as I listened to this book. It's very different in setting but has the similar feel of a black comedy with ordinary people getting roped into a bumbling covert agent plot.

[Synamon]

Originally Posted by sun surfer

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Jeremy Northam; he did a really good job and I enjoyed it, except that the music used in between chapters and breaks was a little overbearing and long. Sometimes the music seemed to last for half a minute or more! Synamon, did you listen to the same one? What did you think of the music if so?

I did listen to the same one and was grateful that I listened in the car since the very loud musical interludes would have blasted my eardrums if I'd been using earphones. I don't usually like music in audiobooks since it takes me out of the story, but on my long trip I found the music invigorating and it did set the mood for each chapter's location.

[BenG]

The movie, with Alec Guinness as Wormold and Noel Coward as Hawthorne, is excellent. You can get it on Netflix DVD or Amazon Instant Video.
http://mountainx.com/movies/reviews/our_man_in_havana/

[caleb72]

I listened to the Jeremy Northam audio book as well. I thought he did a terrific job of reading all the characters.

I found the music odd, but after a while I began to enjoy them. I listened while I was walking to station on my way to work each morning and I had to stop myself from shaking invisible maracas. It did go on a bit though.

I really enjoyed this story. I found it funny and utterly stupid - in a good way. After listening to the audio book I tracked down a library copy of the paperback and read it as well.

I think Beatrice was not necessarily introduced as incompetent, but troublesome. Given the attitude she had towards her employer, I'm not surprised the office looked for an excuse to send her somewhere else.

Burn After Reading was hilarious. I definitely see what you're getting at sun surfer.

[issybird]

I won't have time to post my thoughts until the weekend, but I can't resist adding that I also listened to Jeremy Northam. Did anyone actually just read It?

I couldn't stand the music, loud, long and obtrusive. Like Synamon, I'm glad I had to listen to it in the car (my Overdrive hold didn't come up in time so I borrowed the CDs) or I'd be permanently deafened.

P.$. Loved it, despite the weak ending. I wish it had ended with Wermold and Millie on the plane.

[Canuck_in_Japan]

I'm in. Seems to be no ebook option so I'm downloading the audio book. I loved The Quiet American.

[Bookworm_Girl]

Originally Posted by Synamon

Knowing the history of Cuba adds a layer of urgency to the story and raises the stakes of this spy spoof. Wormold's absurd made-up crisis wasn't so farcical after all. I wonder what Greene made of the events that unfolded a few years after he wrote this.

I listened to the audiobook like everyone else since it was available at my library. I also thought that it was interesting how it anticipated future political events in the region. Wikipedia has a good summary on the inspiration for Wormold. I had expected a serious espionage thriller rather than a lighter spoof. I still enjoyed it and found it entertaining.

Greene joined MI6 in August 1941. In London, Greene had been appointed to the subsection dealing with counter-espionage in the Iberian peninsula, where he had learned about German agents in Portugal sending the Germans fictitious reports which garnered them expenses and bonuses to add to their basic salary. One of these agents was "Garbo", a Spanish double agent in Lisbon, who gave his German handlers disinformation, by pretending to control a ring of agents all over England. In fact he invented armed forces movements and operations from maps, guides and standard military references. Garbo was the main inspiration for Wormold, the protagonist of Our Man In Havana.

Remembering the German agents in Portugal, Greene wrote the first version of the story in 1946, as an outline for a film script, with the story set in Estonia in 1938. The film was never made, and Greene soon realised that Havana – which he had visited several times in the early 1950s – would be a much better setting, the absurdities of the Cold War being more appropriate for a comedy.

Originally Posted by issybird

P.$. Loved it, despite the weak ending. I wish it had ended with Wermold and Millie on the plane.

Agreed! I like your suggestion of how it should have ended.

[Bookworm_Girl]

Deleted post sorry!

[caleb72]

I liked the ending mainly because of the reason given for him getting a job and commendation. But the final ending I could have probably done without.

Don't know if you caught it issybird, but I actually read the book as well. Of course, that was after the audio book so I was hearing Northam's voice in my head as I was reading. I loved his reading of the Chief.

[treadlightly]

I'm surprised this was nominated as a Mystery/Thriller read. I would consider it Humour. The only sense of mystery about it was wondering what the mystery was. Or thriller? I was not thrilled. The characters did not interest me. I read the ebook so if the audiobook improved upon things that is a plus. In fact, I'd consider it among one of the weakest Book Club selections that I've read so far. I see it is tagged as "Literature" on Goodreads which is surprising as I didn't feel the writing was overly stellar. I was thankful it was short.

[ccowie]

I guess I'm one of the few who read the book. I don't generally like audio books so I don't think to listen to them, but after the praise here I might give it a go at some point.

I loved this book. The ending was a little disappointing, but it kept me laughing and reading throughout. I actually laughed out loud when he dismantled the vacuum, drew the pieces and added a two inch man below the nozzle and "dressed him neatly in a dark suit, and gave him a bowler hat and an umbrella."

[issybird]

Not that long ago, I read a dual biography of the Dulles brothers, who were responsible for the failures in American foreign policy and intelligence in the 50s. This book was a hilarious and all too plausible counterpoint. The name Dulles was mentioned in passing at the businessmen's banquet, in fact.

I loved it, as I said above. It was simultaneously highly comic, pertinent, penetrating and menacing, as well as supremely inventive. I had so much fun reading it that I could forgive it for the prolonged and rather flat ending. I still snickered at bits, including their fetching up at a temperance hotel, for a man who was used to a mid-morning daiquiri for his pick-me-up. In itself, it expressed the vast gulf between the lush tropical life in Havana and the yet cold and gray life in England in the 50s.

One very minor quibble is that I didn't think the two women, Millie and Beatrice, were quite as credible as the men, but that might have been due to the inherent issue of a male narrator. At that, they were still believable to me, even to Millie's religious devotions.

Originally Posted by ccowie

I actually laughed out loud when he dismantled the vacuum, drew the pieces and added a two inch man below the nozzle and "dressed him neatly in a dark suit, and gave him a bowler hat and an umbrella."

This was my single favorite moment, too. I'm so glad you nominated this! Thanks.