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Usha's Reviews > Our Man in Havana
Our Man in Havana
by
"Childhood was the germ of all mistrust. You were cruelly joked upon and then you cruelly joked. You lost the remembrance of pain through inflicting it."
Our Man in Havana is a satirical espionage parody set in Cuba. The novel was published just few months prior to Fidel Castro toppling the Batista’s regime. James Wormold, a vacuum cleaner salesman is recruited by MI6 to spy and to set up spy network without any clear instructions on as to what he is to spy on. There begins the fabrication of concocted operatives, fictional intelligence reports, sketches of vacuum parts that pass as architectural drawings of rebel buildings.
"It couldn’t be a vacuum cleaner, sir. Not a vacuum cleaner.’
‘Fiendish, isn’t it?’ the chief said… I believe we may be on to something so big that the H-bomb will become a conventional weapon."
There is a conglomeration of Russian, American, British spy emissaries and Cuban secret police spying on each other, intercepting intelligence and trying to outdo each other. Hidden among the folds of the absurdity is logic, authenticity, intuition and an endearing story of friendship and love.
"At least if I could kill him, I would kill for a reason. I would kill to show that you can't kill without being killed in your turn. I wouldn't kill for my country. I wouldn't kill for capitalism or Communism or social democracy or the welfare state - whose welfare? I would kill Carter because he killed Hasselbacher. A family-feud had been a better reason for murder than patriotism or the preference for one economic system over another. If I love or if I hate, let me love or hate as an individual."
by
"Childhood was the germ of all mistrust. You were cruelly joked upon and then you cruelly joked. You lost the remembrance of pain through inflicting it."
Our Man in Havana is a satirical espionage parody set in Cuba. The novel was published just few months prior to Fidel Castro toppling the Batista’s regime. James Wormold, a vacuum cleaner salesman is recruited by MI6 to spy and to set up spy network without any clear instructions on as to what he is to spy on. There begins the fabrication of concocted operatives, fictional intelligence reports, sketches of vacuum parts that pass as architectural drawings of rebel buildings.
"It couldn’t be a vacuum cleaner, sir. Not a vacuum cleaner.’
‘Fiendish, isn’t it?’ the chief said… I believe we may be on to something so big that the H-bomb will become a conventional weapon."
There is a conglomeration of Russian, American, British spy emissaries and Cuban secret police spying on each other, intercepting intelligence and trying to outdo each other. Hidden among the folds of the absurdity is logic, authenticity, intuition and an endearing story of friendship and love.
"At least if I could kill him, I would kill for a reason. I would kill to show that you can't kill without being killed in your turn. I wouldn't kill for my country. I wouldn't kill for capitalism or Communism or social democracy or the welfare state - whose welfare? I would kill Carter because he killed Hasselbacher. A family-feud had been a better reason for murder than patriotism or the preference for one economic system over another. If I love or if I hate, let me love or hate as an individual."
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Reading Progress
June 19, 2020
– Shelved
(Other Paperback Edition)
June 19, 2020
– Shelved as:
to-read
(Other Paperback Edition)
January 2, 2021
– Shelved as:
2021-reads
January 2, 2021
– Shelved
January 2, 2021
– Shelved as:
to-read
February 11, 2021
–
Started Reading
February 11, 2021
– Shelved as:
literary-fiction
February 17, 2021
–
Finished Reading
August 19, 2022
– Shelved as:
guardian-1000
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Wonderful review, Usha. What a great premise for an espionage story. Would love to visit Cuba one day!
I enjoyed this one as well. A rare laugh from Greene.
Left Coast Justin wrote: "Interesting! I knew it was intended as satire, but I didn't know it was so broadly satirical that engineering drawings of vacuum motors were being passed of as weaponry or whatever. Didn't know old..."Greene is well known for his prognosticating and that holds true for both this novel as well as The Quiet American. The underlying focus for both books is control the spread of communism and both are set in times of significant historical moments. Despite the similarities, I think The Quiet American is much more complex. Choose according to mood, won't go wrong.
Orhan wrote: "Wonderful review, Usha. What a great premise for an espionage story. Would love to visit Cuba one day!"Thank you, Orhan. I hope you will get to visit, soon.
Sara wrote: "I enjoyed this one as well. A rare laugh from Greene."I was surprised by the extent of the farce too, Sara.....but it's brilliance was the vivacious, "tongue in cheek." Greene did it so well.
"If I love or if I hate, let me love or hate as an individual."Wow! Great line.
Inspiring review, Usha.
Superb review, Usha and what a masterpiece this book is. Oh what a man Greene was.
Julie wrote: ""If I love or if I hate, let me love or hate as an individual."Wow! Great line.
Inspiring review, Usha."
Thank you Juile. With that quote, I wanted to show that his satire came with depth of insight and thought.
Zoeb wrote: "Superb review, Usha and what a masterpiece this book is. Oh what a man Greene was."Thanks Zoeb! Your enthusiasm for Greene is very infectious and I am in for the Greene pandemic, with some caveat!
One of my favourite Greenes - must start re reading his novels soon. Nice review :)
It seems like up until now, whenever I've tried to read Greene, I've picked his worst books, like The Plumed Serpent. Time to give this one and The Quiet American a try.