The Quiet American by Graham Greene

Kevin writes:

The novel The Quiet American by Graham Greene starts off with Tom Fowler standing outside of his apartment in Saigon. He is a British reporter who is covering the French war in Vietnam and he is in love with a local girl named Phoung. Phoung lives with Fowler in his apartment but she doesn’t love him because he is married. Fowler is standing outside of his apartment waiting for a man named Pyle who is also in love with Phoung. Pyle never comes and you can sense that Phoung and Fowler are worried. Phoung and Fowler decide that they have been up long enough and they go to bed. The next morning a man from the surete comes to take Fowler and Phoung to question them on what has happened to Pyle. The surete is equivalent to the police in America. When they show up at the office where the surete is located they get out and go inside where they see a man named Vigot. Vigot is a French inspector. He is supposed to be questioning the death of Pyle but he is torn between what is right and what would be better for his country. The death of Pyle would make the Vietnamese seem like bad people because they killed Pyle who is an American. The novel takes place in Vietnam during a time of war. The people in the city don’t have a lot of money. The weather in Vietnam is warm which makes rough conditions for the soldiers and for Fowler while they are trying to do their job The main characters are Fowler, Pyle, Phoung and Vigot. So far I do not like the book because it is confusing. I don’t understand some of the parts of the book which is leading me to be more confused as I read on. Also, there aren’t many things that occur in the first part of the book that make me want to pick it up and continue reading. I would not recommend this book to a friend because most of my friends have the same interests as me and this book isn’t interesting for me.