The Third Man in Never too Late to Read Classics

May 14, 2014 Suzan (Suus Leest) rated it really liked it

From my blog athousandwhirlingdreams.blogspot.com

In 1948 the film The Third Man premiered. The director Carol Reed had asked Graham Greene to write the screenplay, and he agreed to do so. He quickly found out he could not write a film without first writing a novel. Although the concept (thus the book) was never meant to be published, it later was. This should be kept in mind when reviewing this novel. Greene knew he would be able to edit it when turning it into a script and thus may not have foc From my blog athousandwhirlingdreams.blogspot.com

In 1948 the film The Third Man premiered. The director Carol Reed had asked Graham Greene to write the screenplay, and he agreed to do so. He quickly found out he could not write a film without first writing a novel. Although the concept (thus the book) was never meant to be published, it later was. This should be kept in mind when reviewing this novel. Greene knew he would be able to edit it when turning it into a script and thus may not have focussed too much on writing the perfect novel. I have to admit I've never read another novel by Greene, so I cannot agree nor disagree, but many other people think the novel can pass as a concept, but canot compare to Greene's other works which are said to be more complex and much better written. As I thought The Third Man was a very well-written and well developed novel, I am quite excited to be reading more by this author.
The Third Man follows Rollo Martins, an author of Westerns, who goes to Vienna to visit his old friend Harry Lime. Upon arrival, Rollo discovers Harry has been killed in an accident. The protagonist is suspicious about this, and tries to find out what really happened.
The narrator of the story is detective Calloway, who recounts the story Rollo told him. Although this is sometimes confusing, it also adds depth to the story in the sense that credibility is almost completely gone. Rollo probably was already biased telling the story to Calloway, who in his turn gave his own twist to it when informing us. Our job as a reader is to figure out to what extend the plot is to be believed.
Although a significant part of the novel is rather predictable, it does remain compelling until the very end. The characters are complex and we become interested in their fates. Greene elaborately shows how our characters end up. This may, however, be one of the flaws of the novel: it has such a closed ending that there's no space for interpretation for the reader (which is solved nicely in the film version).
An interesting feature of Greene's writing is the way in which he inserts humour. Everything is slightly exaggerated which makes the characters caricatures and the story less serious - which is positive in this case. The humour is also highlighted by the voice. The language used is simple yet highly entertaining, although at this point I cannot quite pinpoint exact quotes.
In short, I'd say go and read the novel. It's just over a hundred pages, and you will not regret having spent time on it. I'd also recommend seeing the film by Carol Reed, which is, in a very interesting way quite different from the novel. ...more

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Aug 04, 2018 Kelly_Hunsaker_reads ... rated it really liked it

Shelves: 1001-books

I enjoyed this novella set in post-WW2 Vienna. But after reading it I listened to a dramatized version starring Kelsey Grammer which was even better. Greene made me believe that I was in Austria shortly after the war. It was a place where there were so many non-Austrians ruling over the Austrians, and the novella really made me see the prejudices that were in place at the time. It felt very real to me. It made me think about what it would be like to have foreigners in power in my country and tal ...more

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Jan 12, 2019 Lars Martin rated it really liked it

Shelves: klassiker, noir, engelsk-klassiker, filmatisert

It's just entertainment. That's all it is. There's no deeper meaning. That's what Graham Greene said about his own work. I have no reason to doubt him, but being a fan of Joseph Conrad he couldn't avoid playing with evolutionary theory in a social context (the child becomes the father) and humanity's darker sides. ...more

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